Timeline

80s

80s

…sings Freddie from Queen in 1986. Meanwhile, on a little island in the Mediterranean Sea, a movement is growing. As we know, YMCA had been inaugurated in Malta in 1976. The 80s sees the organisation taking firm root in Maltese civil society.

The local Y offers people, young and old, a place to be together, to share food and quality time with one another. Remember, these were the days before mobile phones, before social media…you know, when people actually talked to each other!

Malta Sajf (1983)

Like today, youth are given ample opportunities to express themselves. Whether you’re a poet, musician, table tennis enthusiast, painter, actor or journalist––there’s always something to do at the Y.

Malta Sajf (Malta Summer) is an experimental and alternative youth music festival which runs for six consecutive years. Whether you’re punk, goth, glam, hip hop or hardcore, everybody and every preference is welcome to perform on stages across the capital and beyond. These festivals are about bringing people together; showing them that they have a community that embraces them. We want to keep youth off the streets and feeling as though they’re a part of something: our ethos remains unchanged to this day.

Malta has always been a low-cost alternative for Hollywood productions. Here in 1984, YMCA volunteers participate as extras in the filming of a 6-hour TV miniseries called Christopher Columbus. This American/Italian production was shot in Malta, Spain and the Dominican Republic, and starred Faye Dunaway and Gabriel Byrne.

Always at the forefront of cataclysmic changes in Maltese society, this taboo-breaking publication offers advice on sex, sexuality, gender, employment and vocational life. One of our very first publications L-Għajn Taż-Żgħożija (The Eye of Youth) invites youth to write articles, op-eds and inspiration for their peers.

The National Council is established in Malta in 1989 to consolidate all previous work done by our budding organisation. The EAY, YMCA Scotland, and the Swiss parish of Wil provide our initial funding.

In line with the federated structure of the YMCA Movement, local YMCAs begin operating in Malta under the direction of a national office. Over the years these localised programmes and services include YMCA San Ġwann, YMCA Canoeing, YMCA Support Group, YMCA Homeless and YMCA Valletta. We register with the Office of the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations as YMCA Valletta. This is also how we will be colloquially known to the public until 2019.

The last year of the 80s also sees us move into bigger premises in Valletta: inaugurated on 29 March 1989, the new YMCA Centre welcomes a delegation from the Maltese Government.

This magnificently colourful decade is coming to a close. We dance, eat cake, protest…and pray. A young movement is growing, fighting for justice, forging community, and having a whole lotta fun along the way!

We also host YMCA Secretary General of Europe Egon Slopianka, who played a crucial role in building the YMCA network in former Eastern-bloc countries before and after the Wall fell: a momentously charged time for Europe, and our world.