| Schools
Two other
notable houses, one that belonged to knight in St. Anthony's
Street, and the other to the Caruana Gatto family in Valletta
Road, served as primary schools for Attard's children, before
the government primary school in Triq Hal Warda was built.
Attard's primary school, now named after the famous local
'scalpellino' Tumas Dingli, has grown considerably since the
early sixties. It now includes the a kindergarten with a total
school population of over 500 pupils. Among its annual fares
we find the Sports Day, held in the adjoining football pitch
belonging to it, and the Prize Day, which usually comprises
a play or talent show put up by some of its own teacher-directed
pupils. This was the first building purposely designed and
constructed for Attard's children as a school, earlier 'schools'
in St. Anthony Street, Valletta Road and Main Street having
been large private residences converted into makeshift teaching
establishments for want of a school proper with adequate grounds
for sports, assembly and recreation.
Currently
apart from this public school there is a kindergarten school
and a primary school which are run privately.
Police Station
Attard's
police station, sharing the same building now occupied by
the Local Council, is quite a landmark: the red mail box affixed
to its wall, dating back to Queen Victoria, is one of the
very few if not the only such mail box still extant in Malta..
Hospitals
Due
to the existence of St Catherine's Hospital run by the Dominican
sisters from 1959 onwards, and one of the few general hospitals
with gynaecological facilities and maternity wards, many mothers
would give birth in Attard. Following the medical dispute
of 1977, St. Catherine's ceased to operate as a hospital;
it became instead a residential home for the elderly. St Catherine's
Hospital used to occupy one hundred beds-thirty for maternity
wards, seventy for surgical or gynaecological interventions.
There are now about seventy elderly residents living permanently
in this Residential Home, some of them from Attard; the rest
of the complex is used by the Dominican sisters for congregational
purposes.
Among
other private clinics, one finds Mount Carmel Hospital which
was opened in 1861 and was initially used as an asylum. Currently
it is used for the treatment of mental illness using the progressive
therapies and standards of nursing care used in developing
countries. The hospital has an active social centre set up
by the Friends of Attard Hospital, who also run a Summer House
and organise parties for the inmates and their families.
Hotel
In
1962, Attard had one of Malta's finest hotels, the Corinthia
Palace Hotel, now the flagship of an increasingly impressive
national and indeed international hotel consortium with holdings
in Turkey, Hungary and elsewhere. Inaugurated by Prince Philip,
Duke of Edinburgh, in the presence of the Maltese Prime Minister,
Dr Borg Olivier, the Corinthia was built around the old Villa
Refalo, which now serves as its restaurant. The Corinthia
provided new facilities locally, from swimming to tennis;
it hosted international conferences and attracted foreign
visitors to the Attard area. In a general upgrading in the
early 1990's the interior and exterior grounds of the complex
were redecorated, its surroundings embellished with gardens
and water fountains.
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