Sammy says goodbye to Pastoral Centre in Mellieha
After 11 very successful years as manager of the La Salle Pastoral Centre in Mellieha alongside his wife Yvonne, Sammy Borg retired from the role on December 31st. As he embarks on a new chapter in his life, Sammy reflects of the many happy times he had in the role:
As we always say for every beginning there is an end, and this was my end last December after 11 years as Manager of the La Salle Pastoral Centre in Mellieha where I was the first layman as a Manager after the Brothers .
The centre had been managed by the Brothers since it opened in 1978 and in May 2010 I was contacted by Bro Saviour who was at that time in charge of the Centre. He informed me that the Brothers were no longer staying in Mellieha, and asked me if I was still interested in taking over the running of the Centre. Brother Saviour asked me so because even before 2010 I have showed him that the place need a renovation and refurbishing project to attract more people and that I was willing to help with this project.
After that meeting with Bro Saviour, I was asked to make a projection report about the running of the place in the future. He showed my projections to Bro Martin, Brother in charge, who accepted and from that time we never looked back. We closed the Centre in 2010 summer and that the beginning of 2011 we start the works of construction, renovation and refurbishing of the whole place which included new furniture, kitchen refectory, lounge, hall, Chapel, garden landscape, etc. After one year of work and preparations we made the place available to take bookings and we opened in June 2012,
As we opened, we were blessed by the bookings that start entering, first from our Colleges, De La Salle and Stella Maris and other Lasallian partners from Malta and abroad. We also hosted a lot of organisations within the Church in Malta such as priests, nuns, friars and Brothers, altar servers, choir members, married couples’ groups, along with laypersons involved in pastoral work in their parishes. We hosted the CPD organised from our District for nine years, RELEM meetings, the General Council annual retreat, students from De La Salle Colleges from Spain St Celoni, Jersey, Australia, and St Helens UK, along with Courses for Spanish Teachers, and others.
As I started my work, my wife Yvonne decided to quit from her job in a hotel in Mellieha to come and work voluntary with me. She took on the housekeeping side, organising the laundry and schedule for the cleaners and offered her help in the kitchen especially in cooking. Over these 11 years we stayed at the Centre we always slept there and where present for every event.
To write an article about our experience would take too long, because we were blessed by so many moments that we can say that for us it was not taken as our work place but our second home. We gave our best to make the centre an oasis of peace and spirituality and socialising in tranquillity.
We the help of God and many praying of intercession from many people we can say that we ended our term happy that we succeeded. Not everything was plain sailing as there were times of anxiety, and difficulties but we have found the way to continue.
We want to say big thank you to the Brothers in Malta, Ireland and GB for their support and help through these 11 years. Also, to many others including, our staff, Heads and administrative staff from our Colleges De La Salle and Stella Maris.
I am confident that Mr Melvin Mifsud will continue to move forward. He will build on what they have and continue to introduce new ideas and methods so the centre can continue to be a place of worship and place which touches our hearts.
I will close this message by again thanks the Providence for these time of blessing that we were given to continue on the steps of St John Baptist de La Salle and the Lasallian spirit. To all our colleagues wish you all the best,
Live Jesus in our hearts …forever
Sammy & Yvonne
