Quick march!

Members of 'Fondazzioni Wirt Artna' - The Malta Heritage Trust - put on a re-enactment of Victorian British Army drilling at Fort Rinella. Completed in 1884, the fort was built to house an impressive 100 pound gun, one of four that the British had in response to the perceived threat of Italy having purchased such weapons for two naval ships. Two were sited at separate batteries on Malta and the other two at two separate batteries on Gibraltar. Although massively powerful, the guns were muzzle loading and fell obsolete almost as soon as they were installed when breach loading guns were perfected. Last fired in anger in 1905, the gun fell silent when the hydraulic controls and steam engines were removed from the fort. Rinella remained in the hands of the British army until the mid 1930s when it passed to the British Admiralty. This effectively saved the gun from being scrapped as when the Army withdrew the 100 pounders they had no control over Rinella! In 1965 the fort passed to the newly independent Malta and was used periodically as a location for the film industry. All this time the 100 pound gun sat rusting away until in 1995 The Heritage Malta Trust were entrusted with the fort. Since then their amazing dedication has helped restore both the fort and the gun. Six days a week re-enactment shows are staged for visitors to educate and entertain whilst raising money for ongoing restoration. Fondazzioni Wirt Artna have already returned the gun to firing condition and do indeed fire it (with a much smaller charge than would have originally been used) once a year. They aim to ultimately rebuild all the hydraulic controls and steam engines at Rinella. Oh, and I got to fire one of their rifles for five Euros!