News

The Anguilla Development Board (ADB) is again in a substantial position to provide a good amount of financing for many persons on the island. A loan of US$5 million, the equivalent of EC$13.5 million, has just been announced by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB). The money is to finance agriculture, industry and commerce projects, medium and small enterprise projects, mortgage financing projects and student loans. These are critical areas in which many low-income persons find difficulty in accessing the normal lending institutions, according to Anguilla’s Minister of Finance, Victor Banks.

Twenty-one year Latoya Scarbro of Anguilla has won the coveted Unsung Heroes award offered in a competition by FirstCaribbean Bank International in their 17-member countries. She is the recipient of US$5,000.

This time last week, Anguilla, like a number of neighbouring islands, experienced much flash flooding as a trough over the area resulted in heavy showers of rain.

Ministers of Religion from the Anglican, Methodist and Seventh-day Adventist Churches shared a common pulpit on Sunday, October 15, when they joined in a Thanksgiving Service for Chief Minister, Osbourne Fleming, at the Bethel Methodist Church at South Hill.

Now that the idea of a National Community College has been conceived and given birth in Anguilla, some ‘baby steps’ are being taken towards the actual realisation of the tertiary institution. On Monday, this week, was the first of a series of seminars over the next eight weeks designed to launch the college which is expected to have its formal opening in September 2007. The seminars currently have as their main focus the training needs of the hospitality sector, the engine of the island’s economy.

The shouts of “Praise the Lord, Glory to God” by Clive Smith, a well-known religious personality, captured the mood of many on Monday this week, October 9, when Anguilla’s Chief Minister, Osbourne Fleming, 66, stepped off the aircraft at Wallblake Airport with a new lease on life, having had a successful kidney transplant.

A new company has been created in Anguilla to enable the people of the island to own, develop and operate leading hotels and other tourism facilities. The company, Anguilla National Tourism Investment Limited (ANTIL), was launched at a press conference held in the Board Room of the National Bank of Anguilla on Wednesday this week, October 4.

Mrs. Watanalak George, wife of His Excellency The Governor, Andrew George, is settling down at Government House, their official residence at Old Ta, having arrived in Anguilla in the middle of last month to join her husband who came early in July.

Mr. Ronald Scipio has taken his seat at the Inner Bar of the Supreme Court in Anguilla where he will now be wearing the specially-designed silk gown. He has been accorded the honour and privilege after serving in Anguilla for nine years, first as Principal Crown Counsel and later as Attorney General. His installation took place at a ceremonial sitting of the High Court on Friday, September 29, presided over by Justice Janice George-Creque. The occasion followed his appointment as Queen’s Counsel in March this year which was announced by former Governor Alan Huckle.

Anguillian psychologist Dr. Oluwakemi Linda Banks is to be the recipient of a Pinnacle Award from the National Coalition on Caribbean Affairs which comprises organisations and individuals extending from Massachusetts to Florida, New York to California and Michigan to Mississippi.

A one-week Health Seminar, providing useful insights into a number of diseases and other conditions affecting the body, is in progress in Anguilla and is being well-followed by a number of interested persons.

With construction work around the main jetty at Road Bay, Sandy Ground, now well in hand, the Anguilla Port Development Project has moved to Blowing Point where an all inclusive passenger terminal is to be built.

Anguilla is the third of a number of regional islands included in a Macro Economic Damages Assessment Training Workshop aimed at preparing key persons to effectively handle any given situation in the aftermath of a hurricane. A chilling thought is that, according to Acting Governor Stanley Reid, given the tremendous level of infrastructural development taking place on the island, it is unlikely that the responses to hurricanes Luis and Lenny in 1995 and 1999 will be adequate in Anguilla today.

Participants and presenters of a two-day workshop, a Response to the feminine dimensions of HIV/AIDS, held in Anguilla on Monday and Tuesday this week, have took a long, hard look at the ravages of the disease and its impact on society and family-life.

The Health Authority of Anguilla (HAA) has undertaken to put measures in place to control risks in all areas of the health services to ensure the safety of patients and workers. A day and a half training workshop was held towards that end, at the Soroptimist Day Care Centre on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, for senior managers and other staff in the various health care departments.

One of Anguilla’s most outspoken and passionate Clerics, the Reverend Dr. H. Clifton Niles, has set out four of the principles which have guided his ministry over the years and which he intends to carry forward in his homeland.

Secondary and primary school teachers in Anguilla resumed their classroom work on Monday, September 4, stimulated by their own efforts and encouraged by the support of the Ministry of Education and the advice of one of the island’s top religious leaders, Bishop Errol Brooks of the Anglican Church.

The Anguilla Electricity Company (ANGLEC) has moved to address complaints by consumers that they are paying too much for their power supply. The company has come up with a just-published booklet entitled “An Electricity Guide for Anguilla” aimed at helping persons, through various invaluable tips, to conserve energy and thus save money.

A new three-phase Community Policing initiative has been taken in Anguilla to identify property of home-owners or residents stolen either for the use of the robbers themselves or for sale on the black market.

Annette Richardson, an Anguillian national, residing in New York, looked at her son and said with a feeling of relief and joy: “It is a miracle he is a live.”