People

The Anguilla House of Assembly observed a minute of silence as a mark of respect for the passing of Mr. Arrindell Lewis of Lower South Hill, proprietor of the House of Chandeliers, who died on Thursday, August 27, and for Mrs. Agatha Richardson (Mom-Gats) of North Hill who died on Saturday, September 5. Chief Minister Osbourne Fleming described them as two stalwarts of Anguilla.

One of the participants in the Anguilla Revolution, Edmund Sasso, died last month following a period of prolonged illness. He was 94 years old. The Anguillian met with Mr. Sasso’s wife, Mrs. Claris Sasso, and other members of his family who recalled some highlights of the revolutionary’s life.

His family and friends, the Quarter community (in which he lived), and the wider Anguilla community, mourned the passing of young Kevin Benjamin at his Funeral and Service of Thanksgiving at St. Mary’s Anglican Church on Friday August 28.

Methodist Supernumerary Minister, the Rev. Dr. S. W. Hodge, a product of traditional Anguilla, when Christian virtues and religious living ranked at their highest in the society, has appealed to the younger generation to live prayerful and exemplary lives as in earlier years.

The Rev. Dr. Wilbert Forker, who died on 30 May in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, was a Methodist minister who had a passion to help people of all faiths to understand and accept one another and to know Jesus’s command to love one another and to forgive one another just as God forgave them through Jesus Christ.

Roxanne ‘Lil Roxxy’ Webster continued her annual winning streak in St. Maarten, this time winning two crowns in one night, her second such feat, and increasing her record to an impressive four victories in five years.

Imagine magazine, one of Anguilla’s top yearly publications geared mainly to the travel and advertising markets, came out with a bold new look for 2009. The magazine sports a black and white front cover of a beach scene that, true to its name, leaves room for the imagination.

Festival Del Mar, now in its second year at Island Harbour, Anguilla, the island’s main fishing village, has been described as having been a tremendous success. Such was the large crowd in attendance that one onlooker, unable to find a more descriptive term for the mass assembly and activities, said the scene was “a sea of people, and a sea of events.”

Easter Day, Sunday, April 12, was a busy day in Anguilla. It was the second day of the hugely successful Festival Del Mar at Island Harbour and there were a number of well-attended special church services and programmes for the season. It was also the 90th birthday of Mrs. Countess Petty of Pond Ground, East End, which, away from the varied festive activities elsewhere on the island, was quietly observed at her residence.

Sunset Homes has liaised with the Comprehensive Learning Centre and coordinated a successful Easter Camp for Children of primary school age.
The April 6 to 9 event was held at the Centre in North Hill under the theme ‘Yes I Can,’ and brought together some 34 kids from around the island in two groups, ages 4 to 7 and 8 to 11.

Popular fisherman and diver, Mr. Melvin “Chippy” Connor of Blowing Point, died doing what he loved best and what he spent most of his life doing.

The Police Report for this week confirmed that the diver and a boat collided in the Cove just after 9:00 am on Sunday 5th April.

The Arts and Craft Group that was established here in 1989 has contributed to the community in many ways. The group originally met in members’ homes and as numbers increased the group met at the Arts and Crafts Centre, owned by the National Council of Women. This building was razed in order to construct new offices for the Ministry of Education so the group is currently looking for a meeting place.

On March 23,2009, Milan Murray, a ten year old fifth grade student at Buckingham, Brown and Nicholas school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A caught a fifty-one pound Wahoo while fishing on the North side of Anguilla. Milan who lives in Medford,Massachusetts U.S.A. is no stranger to big game fishing.

Although smaller in numbers due to the intermittent showers, the crowds still came and enjoyed themselves at the Digicel Block Party on Saturday evening, March 14, in front of the Digicel store to commemorate the re-opening of its flagship store.
In between the heavy showers, the people who had gathered dared the rains to stop their enjoyment of what had been planned as an evening of community entertainment, fun and frolic.

Our young people strive to make our community a Better Place

Last week was World Rotaract Week, and Rotaractors around the world spent it celebrating with service to the community. On Saturday, March 14, Rotaractors from St. Maarten and Anguilla joined forces with the Rotary Club of Anguilla to do what they do best – demonstrating their very positive youthful action.

One of Anguilla’s foremost women, Mrs. Olive Hodge, a recipient of a Badge of Honour and a Queen’s Certificate for her significant role in the island’s 1967 revolution, and an MBE award from Queen Elizabeth for community service, has achieved a milestone in her life. Still remarkably beautiful, and not showing her age, she celebrated her 70th birthday on Sunday, March 8, with a special service at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church a day ahead of her actual birth date on Monday, March 9.

In what many has described as Anguilla’s biggest birthday party ever, Louise Agatha Richardson, affectionately known as “Mom-Gat” of North Hill, celebrated her eightieth milestone on Wednesday evening, February 11th. The landmark event which featured a formal service of thanksgiving was accented by sumptuous meals and fine entertainment.

Last week The Anguillian published part one of an interview with Conrad F. Rogers, a native Architect serving in Atlanta, Georgia. In that article he spoke partly about his future investment plans in his homeland. In this second and final installment, he offers his views about planning and the proposed Valley Town Centre.

By Penny Legg

The Anguilla Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACOCI) is proud to announce that Morton Patterson, of Morton Patterson and Associates, London, will be the keynote speaker at the 2009 Annual General Meeting taking place at the Overlook Restaurant on Wednesday 28 January between 12.30 pm and 2.30 pm.

Colonel Caroline Adams is one of Anguilla’s proud ambassadors serving with dignity and much respect abroad. The niece of Mrs. Octavia Lake, (wife of leading Anguillian businessman, Albert A. R. Lake, OBE), Col. Adams is the daughter of Ferdinand (Feafena) Adams and Ruby, his Nevisian-born wife, and lives in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. There, she serves in the Virgin Islands National Guard as Director of Strategic Plans.