This achievement, though crucial for the Band’s history, created the problem of a shortage of musical instruments. But by 18th February 1937, these were bought and by 1938 the Band also sported a new uniform. By the beginning of the Second World War, the Band was performing in all Gozitan feasts, On the 30th July 1937 it took part in the Comino feast as well: a celebration most sought after by the villagers of Ghajnsielem. On this occasion, the band was presented with a Union Jack by Col. Vella on behalf of Messrs. Cutajar and Smith.

With the falling of the first bombs and the macabre wail of the sirens, the Band stopped playing. The War brought with it the end of the first part of the Band’s history. What did the ftjture hold for this relatively young Society, which after only a short time, had become established on the Gozitan musical scene?

After the war ended the band reorganised itself. In 1946, however, Mro. Mikiel Farrugia, due to other commitments, resigned and his place was taken by Mro. Ganni Vella. The latter started to train new musicians and the Band soon began to take part in the Institute’s annual fair and in several parochial feasts in Gozo.

In 1947 a new bandstand was inaugurated, the work of several enthusiasts from Ghajnsielem among them the late Guzeppi Cutajar and Angelo Gauci. Among the memorable events of the post-war period one notes the annual invitations which Capt. A. Zammit Cutajar extended to the Society on the occasions of the Feast of Comino and the inauguration of the ferry “Bancinu” to which the Band was invited by Mr. Joe Gasan, the owner of the ship.

One may also mention the presentation of trophies by Mr. G. Mizzi, President of the “Duke of Connaught” Band Club of Birkirkara which in that era used to take such an important part on the Ghajnsielem feast under the baton of Mro. Anthony Aquilina. But this was a challenging period for the Society, fraught with problems and obstacles. Several of its best musicians began to emigrate and by the start of the fifties the Band was in crisis. The number of musicians fell to around a score: new musicians were few and far between and soon fell to a trickle and the Band dissolved. This is a “dark period” in the Society’s and the village’s musical history and there is little concrete detail to follow what exactly happened.

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