Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1537913
7 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 JULY 2025 COMMERCIAL BOV leadership team visits Hospice Malta BANK of Valletta (BOV) has reaffirmed its steadfast com- mitment to supporting the local community through a recent visit to Hospice Malta by members of its leadership team. The delegation, which in- cluded Chairperson Dr Gordon Cordina, CEO Kenneth Farru- gia, Chief Operations Officer Ernest Agius, and Antoinette Caruana on behalf of the BOV Foundation, toured the St. Mi- chael Hospice complex to gain further insight into the organ- isation's holistic palliative care services. The visit underscored BOV's long-standing support for Hos- pice Malta, whose mission is to provide free palliative care to patients with life-limiting illnesses, offering essential physical, psychological, and emotional support to both pa- tients and their families. Dur- ing the visit, the Hospice Malta team offered a tour of the state- of-the-art complex and shared their future vision and current needs in delivering specialised care with compassion and dig- nity. "Our commitment to Hospice Malta is a reflection of our val- ues as a community bank," said Dr Gordon Cordina. "The care and compassion shown here is a powerful reminder of the im- portance of supporting the most vulnerable among us." BOV CEO, Kenneth Farrugia added, "As an organisation with deep roots running across our com- munity, we believe in making a positive impact beyond finan- cial services. Hospice Malta's work touches the lives of many, and we are honoured to contin- ue contributing to this essential service." Speaking on behalf of the BOV Foundation, Ernest Agius stat- ed, "Supporting Hospice Malta goes hand in hand with our re- sponsibility to create a positive social impact. Beyond financial support, the Bank, through the BOV Foundation, is keen to explore opportunities for col- laboration, such as volunteer- ing initiatives and awareness campaigns, to ensure that this exceptional service continues to thrive." The visit also served as a plat- form to explore new avenues for cooperation, reinforcing BOV's ongoing commitment to strengthening its relationship with Hospice Malta through both financial and non-finan- cial means. As one of Malta's leading community-driven in- stitutions, Bank of Valletta re- mains dedicated to promoting care, and well-being across the Maltese Islands, building strong partnerships with organisations that make a real difference in people's lives. The best beer collection in the world? Probably SOME annual celebrations are sacred. For Carlsberg, International Beer Day on 1st August is marked as one of the most signif- icant moments in the calendar. In a similar tradition to the zoo world and ahead of the celebrations, the team in Co- penhagen has been busy carrying out the first annual 'beer count', calculating, clean- ing, and inspecting the Home of Carlsberg's 22,000 unopened bottles of beer including some of the oldest in the world. Thought to be the largest collection in the world, the collection is one of a kind and houses some of the world's rarest beers, including the Carlsberg Royal Lager 1932, brewed by the Prince of Wales, the Alliance Pale Ale – a Carlsberg export on its way to the Virgin Islands but never made it as it was fished out of Hamburg's harbour in the 1990s and the Ratcliff Ale - one of the oldest beer bottles in the world. Carlsberg's Director of Brewing Science and Technology, Zoran Gojkovic, led a team of beer experts in an annual count of the Home of Carlsberg's prized collection, ensuring its 22,000 beers, some dating back to 1883, are secure and protected from thirsty, enthusiastic visitors. This meticu- lous preservation reflects the Danish brew- ery's core value of conservation, a signifi- cant concern for the scientific community. The Home of Carlsberg's beer collection originally came from Leif Sonne, an en- gineer from Svendborg in Denmark. Leif collected unopened bottles of beer of every style, brand, and country since 1968. When the collection eventually outgrew his house, it was moved to the Carlsberg Brewery in Copenhagen in 1993, which was fitting as some of his earliest beers collected were Carlsberg's own. Today, the collection stands proudly in the Home of Carlsberg with the green bot- tles in pride of place. Lynsey Woods, Global Brand Director at Carlsberg said, "Counting 22,000 beers might sound like a mammoth task, but for us at Carlsberg, it's a labour of love. Our collection isn't just about volume; it's about preserving brewing history and innovation. By meticulously counting and cataloguing each bottle, we ensure that we can continue to give the world access to more of the best things, whether that's a rare vintage from our archives or the next great brew we're perfecting." To find out more about Carlsberg's epic col- lection, visit https://homeofcarlsberg.com/