Not a childhood one but see Jean Bruce (and father) and then be sure to click on THIS LINK as the link at the foot of the BBC page is now defunct (2018).

The BBC People's War site still exists but no longer has a search box. The main "contents" list of Malta stories (mostly servicemen) HERE does not find them all (and not those posted above). But Googling "BBC People's War Malta" gives other hits not shown in the main Malta category.

...and another find - in reverse order - VICKY RYLANCE

Doreen McKeown writes: In the 1920s my mother spent a great deal of her life in Malta. She was born into an army family: her father Sgt Palmer was in the King’s Royal Rifles, and he was posted, along with his family, to Malta when Mum was a young child. He finished his army life as a sergeant major (waxed moustache and all) and retired from the army whilst in Malta, but the family continued to live there as he then joined the Malta police and was in their prison service in the position of governor of the prison at Corradino. Consequently, Mum was educated entirely in Malta, first at Floriana, then at Verdala, and was able to speak fluent Maltese – no mean feat, I can tell you: it’s a notoriously difficult language to learn. I remember Mum telling us that she had a fabulous childhood on the island as a “daughter of the regiment”. When she reached her teenage years, she enjoyed a great social life, and became a better-than-average swimmer and tennis-player. In fact, it was through a love of tennis that she met my father, Arnold Routledge, a lance corporal in the Royal Engineers, who was also stationed in Malta, and they married in 1932, when she made the transition from army child to army wife. However, this idyllic life was about to change dramatically with the advent of World War II, by which time Dad had been promoted to captain and they were the proud parents of five young children, when they had to endure the terrible conditions that then prevailed, with shortages of food and constant bombing becoming the norm. Mum then developed another skill: producing nourishing meals from virtually nothing, and was known to dish up a good, satisfying feed from a tin of bully beef and some cabbage! However, I’m pleased to say that we all came through it unscathed, and in 1946, Dad was posted back to England and we all (now six children) followed shortly afterwards, making the memorable journey by sea on the Carnarvon Castle – a ship that had been requisitioned for military purposes – to a very different environment and, indeed, life. Mum remained very fond of the island of Malta her whole life and returned several times as a tourist, when she relived old memories. Sadly, she died in January of this year, aged 101. She would have been thrilled to know that pictures of her and her family had been published in Clare’s book – if only I could have told her.’ - Doreen McKeown (née Routledge)

Clare Gibson's book ARMY CHILDHOOD: BRITISH ARMY CHILDREN’S LIVES AND TIMES A book by The Army Children Archive’s founder, Clare Gibson, was published by Shire Publications Ltd in 2012. See HERE