OS to fund The Malta Bus Archive
Six months funding to keep important work going in Malta
The Omnibus Society is delighted to announce that it will be funding the Malta Bus Archive for a six-month period starting from 1 February this year.
For the last four years, The Malta Bus Archive project has been funded jointly by the Maltese Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure & Capital Projects and by the National Archives of Malta. Its work will continue, thanks to the grant the Omnibus Society is giving to the Friends of the National Archives of Malta, which takes over as the lead body responsible for the project.
The Archive will continue essentially as it has done over the next six months, continuing to gather information, photographs, documents and other items to do with the Maltese bus industry, and to interview as many people as possible with connections to the industry past and present. It will continue to form a key part of the MEM[O]RJA project at the National Archives of Malta. The Malta Bus Archive also has a YouTube channel where various interviews and educational videos can be found (search YouTube for ‘Malta Bus Archive’).
Funding options beyond July 2022 are currently being pursued with private sector companies and non-governmental organisations which support cultural history projects in Malta. This may see the work of the Malta Bus Archive change to focus on specific areas of research appropriate to the particular funding partner.
Richard Stedall, coordinator of the Malta Bus Archive thanks the MTIP and the NAM for their support over the last four years, and also thanks the Omnibus Society for its faith in the important work being done in Malta. ‘I look forward not only to working with the OS and the Friends of the National Archives of Malta over the first half of 2022’, he said, ‘but I also look forward to working with other funding partners later in the year on what could be some very exciting and ground-breaking projects.’
Omnibus Society Chairman Nigel Eggleton said that as an educational charity, the OS is very pleased to be able to assist with the work of recording and making known the importance of the local bus network on Malta, with its close historical links with Great Britain. ‘We shall certainly be aiding the dissemination of this information to Members and hope that the links between our countries will continue to grow’, he said.
Dr Charles Farrugia, National Archivist at the NAM and Vice President of the Friends of the National Archives of Malta says: ‘Through this collaboration between the Omnibus Society and the Friends of the National Archives we are exploring new ground and building networks to the benefit of local archives and the dissemination of their contents beyond our shores.’
Any organisation wishing to find out more about becoming a funding partner can contact the Malta Bus Archive via maltabusarchive@gmail.com.
Back to News