London's Maltese diaspora

The ICN news service reports on the activities of the Maltese diaspora in London:

..It may seem surprising that the traditional Maltese festa has carved its niche in London and perhaps that the statue of the Bambina stops the London traffic as it wends its way in procession along the roads of the English capital from Westminster Cathedral to the Horseferry Road Sacred Heart Chapel of Ease at the head of three generations of Maltese. The Maltese diaspora has migrated to the United Kingdom at times when jobs in Malta were scarce. War and revolution uprooted from their homes along the North African littoral.

The most recent wave follows Malta's accession to the European Union, mainly young professionals and technicians who gave up Malta based jobs for more rewarding positions or better compensation packages. Throughout the years generations of Maltese immigrants have integrated well within their adoptive communities. In the years that preceded World War II and shortly after that terrible catastrophe Maltese brides married sailor sweethearts and their male counterparts took British wives. They set up home in the London area, the south of England and Wales. The next wave followed in the sixties and seventies.

During the latter part of that period the flow of unemployed technicians and their families was augmented by medical practitioners at odds with government and explains the presence and success achieved by Maltese doctors in British hospitals and health institutions. Many of their children, grandchildren and others who migrated to the UK in more recent times occupy important and prestigious positions in the UK's professional and cultural milieu. Some have started successful businesses and followed innate Maltese entrepreneurial instincts...