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The story of the St Joseph Society goes back to 1870 when the first
club was opened near the parish church following the devotion the
dwellers of Ħal Għaxaq had for their protector saint, St Joseph.
Throughout the years the support and attendance of the locals
increased. The need for a larger club was felt so in the 1984 a new
club situated in the village square was officially founded. The
location of the club has not changed till present day. Two years later
in the 1986 Mr. Napoleone Caruana Dingli inaugurated 'Għaxaq's Banda
Filarmonica San Giuseppe'.
The St Joseph fireworks
factory within the society of the St Joseph Band Club Għaxaq, was
founded in the beginning of the 20th century. Throughout the years this
factory had passed through various ups and downs, but one of its worst
days in history happened on the 15th February 1970, when a huge
explosion shook not only Ghaxaq but also immediate villages in the
vicinity. The St Joseph fireworks factory had blown up and with it took
the lives of five members. Following this tragedy, a new factory was
built in the limits of Għaxaq.
Since the erection of the
new factory, the fireworks team has had several successes, one of which
being when it was chosen amongst other Maltese factories to take part
in a famous ground firework display in Japan. This was the first time
that a Maltese firework factory had the opportunity to export ground
fireworks to another country. This gave the team a lot of courage and
enthusiasm. They had always been renowned for their original mechanisms
and designs for ground firework displays. The record for the longest
known chain in Malta was gained when a 550 foot long chain (the so
called 'Katina') was displayed in June 2001.
All the
members of this team works under the licensee Mr. France Caruana. They
are all voluntaries and their aim is to improve the celebrations for
the feast of St Joseph, one of the most popular of Malta. This comes on
the first weekend of June. This team provides a week of pyrotechnical
shows, namely in the eve of this feast. They also organise a
pyrotechnical-musical show completed with ground fireworks.
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