Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/710370
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 3 AUGUST 2016 17 Events HSBC Malta provides hearty purpose to community builders HSBC Malta employees, both current and former, now have more ways to enjoy meaningful social work after the bank added a slew of new organisations and locations to its already extensive list of volunteering opportunities. HSBC Malta has put in place a voluntary leave day programme enabling employees to take a paid day off work and effect positive change in the community. Em- ployees are also offered a list of places to volunteer at, and even encouraged to propose a site of their choice for further consid- eration. In 2015, a total of 315 days were taken for volunteering, equivalent to 7,650 hours. Even former employees of the bank joined in to bring together their social activities under the HSBC Malta Foundation. The initiative, 'Experience in Action', currently has 22 active members with more registrations on the way. The members say that even in retirement, the values of ser- vice to the community that HSBC developed in them during their time with the bank inspires them to keep on giving back. The latest entrants into the im- proved list of volunteering oppor- tunities are a variety of Heritage Malta sites, includingthe Nation- al Museum of Archaeology and other museums run by it, Hagar Qim Visitor Centre, St Paul's Catacombs, Ggantija Temples (Gozo), as well as sites under the management of Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna, including Fort Rinella in Kalkara, The Malta at War Mu- seum in Vittoriosa, the Saluting Battery in Valletta, and the Las- caris War Rooms, also in Valletta. Existing opportunities at and with botanic gardens, notarial archives, Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, Nature Trust, WaterAid Network Speaker, and the HSBC Water Programme – Catch the Drop remain in place. HSBC Malta CEO Andrew Beane said that volunteering is a cornerstone of HSBC's commit- ment to the community. "Our revamped voluntary leave day features a wide variety of volunteering opportunities rang- ing from office administration, giving a presentation or manual work in any area in which we fo- cus our commitment: that is dis- advantaged children, heritage and environment," he said. Those who volunteer maintain that they find personal fulfilment but also take pride in making a difference. When the bank's in- surance operations team spent their volunteer leave day at St An- gela House, Pieta, the nuns were positively moved. While volunteering to setup tents and stalls for an Open Week held at the Argotti botanical gar- dens, a retiree of HSBC Malta, Martin Scicluna said that the act of offering time to a community, cause or organisation is often a very personal decision. "We are here because we are led by the HSBC value of being use- ful citizens but also to share our expertise and time with the com- munity," he said. Because of the value the ex-HS- BC employees possess, plans are now afoot to study the utilising of retirees' experience in mentoring younger employees in the bank. HSBC Malta employees making use of their Volunteer Leave Day in cleaning up the Armier Bay beach during an event organised by the US Embassy, Nature Trust Malta and others GO eSports festival attracts 200 competitors SOME 200 competitors took part in the GO eSports Festival this past weekend from last Friday to Sunday. The festival, organised by gam- ers.com.mt at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, featured three games: Overwatch, League of Leg- ends on PC and FIFA 16 on PS4. As the main sponsors of gamers. com.mt, GO provided the fibre in- ternet network for this event, in- cluding upload speeds of 100MB. The competition saw participants playing in group stages on Friday and Saturday with semi finals and finals taking place on Sunday. Competition winners received ei- ther monetary or hardware prizes. Gamers.com.mt was established in 2012 to meet an unmet demand from Maltese gamers for com- petitive tournaments. The GO eSports Festival was the organisa- tion's tenth event and featured im- proved high end equipment and a specially constructed stage for the final phases of the tournament, further improving the viewing ex- perience of the public. Kurt Camilleri, GO's Chief Commercial Officer, said that eS- ports is a fast growing global ac- tivity which brings together mil- lions of people from around the world. The GO Malta eSports Festival which took place at the week- end in fact highlighted both the increasing levels of interest in eSports in Malta, and the high standard of competitors. "With GO's technical support, particularly that of fibre internet, as well as additional logistical, marketing and financial backing, both the standard of events and the ability of Maltese gamers to compete on the global stage took another big step forward. Just as GO has taken the decision to sup- port eSports, we will continue to do the same with all those who wish to make the most of the new opportunities which technology is opening up for us all," Camilleri said. Kurt Camilleri of GO with contestants at the eSports Festival Medserv renews one of its major contracts MEDSERV Plc has announced that it has successfully concluded re- newal of one of its major contracts with an international oil company operating offshore North Africa for another two years. Medserv will provide fully inte- grated logistics and shore base ser- vices from its base in Malta. The project relates to the continuation of the Bahr Essalm offshore gas field development in the central Mediterranean. This major natu- ral gas field project includes the installation of subsea structures, engineering as well as extensive diving and implementation cam- paigns. A range of vessels will be involved, including pipe laying and diving support vessels. The company has also an- nounced that Medserv (Cyprus) Limited has been granted an ex- tension of its licence to carry out port operations from Larnaca, Cy- prus, for one year expiring on the 31st August 2017. Medserv (Cyprus) Limited con- tinues to service ENI Cyprus from its base in Larnaca and is awaiting adjudication on a very competitive bid for the provision of shore base services to another international oil company. The results reported last week by the Cypriot Ministry of Energy of the expressions of interest from ENI, Total, Statoil, Exxon Mobil, Qatar Petroleum, and Cairn in a licensing round for offshore hy- drocarbon blocks are being closely monitored by the company. Simon Mamo Real Estate opens seventh branch in Gozo SIMON Mamo Real Estate has proudly announced the launch of its newly refur- bished branch in Victoria, Gozo. The branch will be run by Doreen Tabone, the newly ap- pointed branch manager, and the outlet aims to cater for all real estate requirements of the market local to the area – be it letting or sales. The team is adamantly working towards the expan- sion of properties held in the company's database, con- stantly discovering and add- ing new projects or properties to the 30 year long books held by Simon Mamo Real Estate. Widening its roots in the sec- ond islet of the Maltese shores is one of the steps taken to reach out to newer, unex- plored markets by the firm.