Annual General Meeting at Torri Ta Lanzun, Mensija, San Gwann on Wednesday 15th April 2026
The Bailliage de Malte successfully held its 2026 Annual General Meeting on 15th April 2026, with a majority of our members attending, in the Knights Hall of the Mediaeval “Torri Lanzun” in Mensija, San Gwann, and with a cocktail reception afterwards for members, their spouses and partners.
Our board members share a passion for good food, fine wines, and convivial company, which brings the bailliage together. Over the past year, each has contributed their time, expertise and enthusiasm to enriching the Bailliage’s activities.
The summaries below outline key contributions and salient points for each board member’s role and achievements during the reporting period.
Including Board Members, 36 bailliages members attended the AGM.
In his address, the Bailli Délégué, Dr Joseph Xuereb, explained what can be called a seismic shift in the composition of our board, with our Chancelier/Argentier, Charles Gatt, handing over the reins to Alain Rigodin for the post of Chancelier and Ruben Galea for the post of Argentier.
He also mentioned membership and noted that, overall, we continue to see a decline in Professional Membership, and that the imbalance between professionals and non-professionals remains striking.
The challenge also remains in identifying a new Conseiller Culinaire, given recruitment constraints, as the individual must be a professional Chef.
While reading his report, the new Chancelier, Mr Alain Rigodin, shared an update on membership and our activities in 2025, with particular reference to the Grand Chapitre, which was held in March.
As key objectives moving forward, we aim to take a bit more risk and work with new venues, focusing more on collaborating with independent restaurants.
Our Echanson, Dr Ramiro Cali-Corleo, read his OMGD report, including the two OMGD events held in 2025 and an update of OMGD membership. Also, feedback regarding wine pairings for events was invariably positive and encouraging.
The report of the Conseiller Culinaire, Mr Marc Besançon, was read by Mr Bernd Ritschel, Conseiller Gastronomique, who commented on various menus featured in 2025 and explained that, although there were some hiccups, in general, all the diners considered our events an enjoyable experience. The Chefs were trying their best to be creative, and beef as a main course seemed to be the favourite in 2025.
Mr Charles Gatt, our Argentier for the past 20 years, presented his annual report for the last time, sharing financial statements and the status of accounts for the year 2025, with events mostly self-sustaining or profitable. Thus, handing over the role of Argentier with some positive reserves and an annual surplus.
Our Chargé de Presse, Dr Mark Bailey, shared that our events continue to be recorded, in photographs and in words. We are also creating an archive of Bailliage’s moments. Our contributions are well featured on the international website.
The closing remarks from our Bailli Délégué included his heartfelt thanks to the members of your Board, his special appreciation for the outgoing officers (Charles Gatt & Marc Besançon), and his hope that 2026 will see us build on the success of previous years.
A word about the caterers. Since 2008, the bailliage AGMs have been held at Torri Lanzun, with catering consistently provided by Zest at Hotel Juliani in Sliema. They have looked after us extremely well, serving delicious Asian finger food that has always been much appreciated.
In recent years, Charles has liaised with Jasmine Manolova, a very pleasant and efficient coordinator, who has overseen the ordering process and has also attended functions in person.
The wine service has been handled by Charles and Darren Bonnici, both courteous and experienced, and always attentive to our needs.
The minutes of the AGM, as well as a photo gallery of the events, are available at the links below.
