Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/413175
Events 46 maltatoday, Sunday, 9 november 2014 The Corinthia Palace's stand and raff le at the Mdina Grand Prix raised €2,427 for the Beyond the Moon. The funds will go towards giving terminally ill children something really special to look forward to: an all-expenses-paid holiday with their family. The winners of the raff le were re- cently invited to the Hotel for champagne and to collect their goodies. A huge thank you goes to the generous sponsors of the raff le prizes: Corinthia Hotel Prague, Sound Machine B' kara, Grey & Adler, 202 Jeweller y and Stephen Cordina Aroma&Therapy. Cisk Lager, brewed by Simonds Farsons Cisk plc, has just been awarded a Silver medal in the Lager: International Style Pilsn- er category in the Brussels Beer Challenge 2014 competition. The Brussels Beer Challenge, now in its third year, was held last week (from 30 October to 2 November) in Leuven, Belgium. Launched in 2012 to promote the beer industry in a market that is not only a benchmark for beer but also home to connois- seurs, the competition gathers strength from year to year with participation increasing to 725 entries this year (up from 592 last year). The objectives of the competition include, promot- ing quality beers and encourag- ing healthy competition within the industry, and offering con- sumers a quality seal awarded by industry members. This year's edition saw 25 competing countries, includ- ing top participating country Belgium, with 200 beers from 79 breweries, followed by USA with 177 beers and Italy with 110 beers. Sixty-one inter- national professional tasters awarded a total of 160 medals to the winning beers out of a total of 725 entries. "We are extremely proud that our top quality beer and f lagship brand, Cisk Lager has once again been recognised as a world class beer. This is testament to our Brewing and Operations teams' unwavering dedication to quality and con- sistency and a commitment to delivering outstanding beers," said Mr Eugenio Caruana, Head of Production and Head Brewer at Simonds Farsons Cisk plc. Other prestigious awards won by Cisk Lager include Gold in the UK Brewex Award in 1980, a Gold award and Overall Win- ner in the Australian Interna- tional Beer Awards in 1995, Silver in the Brewing Industry International Awards in 2005, World's Best Standard Lager in the World Beer Awards 2007 and Silver in the International Beer Challenge 2013. Corinthia Palace raises over €2,400 for terminally ill children HSBC Bank Malta opened the doors of its refurbished flagship branch in the heart of Valletta. The fresh and modern look and feel of the renovated branch com- plements the taste and expectations of the discerning HSBC customer. Dedicated meeting rooms will pro- vide customers with added privacy, while state-of-the-art innovations such as Talking ATMs with voice technology will ensure a better ex- perience for visually impaired cus- tomers. The Talking ATMs transform into a live interactive machine once a customer plugs in any standard 3.5mm earphone to a special con- nector. This technology further strengthens HSBC's smart bank- ing services which include Mobile Banking that enables customers to manage their accounts from home or their work place. Throughout the development of the ATM project for the visually impaired people, the Bank worked with the National Commission for Persons with Dis- ability (KNPD) and the Foundation for Information Technology Acces- sibility (FITA). The Bank plans to roll out this functionality to cover its entire Maltese ATM network in 2015. With the re-opening of Valletta branch, the total number of refur- bished HSBC branches across the Maltese islands stands at 14. Besides the branch in Valletta, HSBC has renovated its branches in Balzan, Buġibba, Ħamrun, Swieqi, Paola, Żejtun, Mosta, Żurrieq, San Ġwann, B'Kara, Sliema and Żabbar in Malta and Victoria in Gozo. The branch was officially inaugu- rated by the Minister for Finance, Professor Edward Scicluna, and pre- sided by HSBC Malta's CEO Mark Watkinson. HSBC Malta's Retail Banking and Wealth Management Head Paul Steel and Mayor of Val- letta Professor Alexiei Dingli were also present along with other invit- ed guests and officials from the Na- tional Commission for Persons with Disability (KNPD) and the Founda- tion for Information Technology Accessibility (FITA). Mark Watkinson said: "Valletta is central to the Maltese economy and HSBC is strategically placed right in the heart of the capital to provide customers with top class financial services and express banking. The branch refurbishment is the latest in a series of investments that the Bank is dedicating toward improv- ing its operations in Malta." Furthermore, earlier this year, the Bank has also successfully intro- duced mobile banking. The Bank's main website www. hsbc.com.mt can now be viewed on any mobile device HSBC Malta opens refurbished Valletta branch Cisk Lager wins Silver Medal in Brussels Beer Challenge 2014 Minister Scicluna, CEO Watkinson, and Mayor Dingli at the opening ceremony For more information about the competition please visit: www.brusselsbeerchallenge.com/