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St. Philip Band Club A.D. 1851  St. Philip Band traces its origins to A.D. 1851 when Mro. Filippo Galea organised a formal band and gave it the name of Banda di San Filippo. Since then it has continuously participated in the feast of St. Philip and various other secondary feasts in Zebbug as well as in many other localities. For a very long time it has been the most senior among the performing local bands in the Maltese Islands. Almost from the start it was organised under a committee with written rules. During the 150 years of its existence St. Philip Band has had a very central role in the social and cultural life of Zebbug. During the first hundred years of its life St. Philip Band was one of the few bands giving concerts and playing band marches in most of the feasts around Malta. At one time this went up to as many as eighty musical services in a one-year period. After the last World War this activity gradually wound down as many other bands were set up or matured in almost every village and town. Among the many historic occasions in which it was directly involved, it is worth mentioning the giving of a Sword of Honour to Lord Gort, the Governor of Malta, in 1944. St. Philip Band was then chosen by all the band clubs of Malta and Gozo to perform a musical program to mark the occasion and the president of St. Philip Band Club, Rev. Loreto Callus, was the one to present the sword on behalf of the other clubs in the presence of the highest civil and ecclesiastical authorities of the time. So far it has had 20 Presidents and 19 Musical Directors during its 150+ years of activity. The current President is Dr. John Attard Montalto B.A.(Hons.), LL.D., MP, a member of Parliament and an ex-Minister of the Maltese Government. The present musical director is Mro. Richard Bugeja A. Mus.LCM, ACIB. What started off as a musical band has grown into a large club with many and varied interests. St. Philip Band is the core part of St. Philip Band Club A.D. 1851 of Zebbug. This entails a lot of work and a good organisation. All the work is carried out on a voluntary basis without any remuneration. Indeed the people directly involved are the first to contribute financially to the club. At present the club is managed by an Executive Committee with the support of the Women's Section, the Youth Section and separate sub-committees for the Band, Fireworks and a Social & Cultural Organising Committee. The running of a small school of music for all ages has been and still is a primary activity and tuition is given free of charge every week. Indeed promising students are even provided with a musical instrument by the band club for his use. Nowadays some twenty musical services are performed in public every year, varying from full blown concerts to street band marches. The club also boasts of an active choir directed by Mro. John Ciantar. Club members are active all the year round. Participation in the feast of St. Philip in Zebbug is naturally the main focal point. This includes the band, the fireworks, street decorations and social activities for all the club members. The club runs a fireworks factory that manufactures a variety of sky rockets and Catherine wheels which are all fired during the second week of June on occasion of the feast of the patron saint of Zebbug. The members who manufacture these fireworks are all volunteers who work all year without any remuneration. The club however provides them with the raw materials at its expense. This activity involves some twenty selfless people organised and functioning as a close-knit team. Another group of active members put up a grand annual exhibition prior to Easter. This Good Friday Exhibition takes up three large halls inside the club premises. In one hall the Last Supper and in another the Crucifixion scenes are presented with artistic life-size statues, the work of well known Alfred Camilleri Cauchi. The third hall contains a set of miniature statues plus a model of the Mdina Cathedral Sepulchre. Yet another team organises various social activities such as outings, dinners, coffee-mornings, parties, dinner-dances and even an annual travel tour abroad for members their families and friends. In the last few years such tours have been conducted to Switzerland, Milan, Venice, Prague, Vienna and Sicily. Through such activities the club derives useful funds to subsidise its band. Every year the club publishes two booklets: one on the occasion of the Good Friday Exhibition and the second prior to the Feast of St. Philip. On top of all this, there is the day-to-day running of a social club which opens daily for its approximately 1000 members.