Local News

Under 19 cricket teams from Anguilla, neighbouring St Maarten and the British Virgin Islands, last week participated in the Leeward Islands Under 19 competition to select players for a training camp this weekend in St Kitts.

Extending its commitment to the development of young ladies on the island, the Panache Couture Model Team is presently hosting their first ever Beautiful from the Inside Out Self Assurance Seminar for teenage girls between the ages of 13 and 19. The seminar spans the two-week period of July 6 to 20.

Some 20 patients in Anguilla are benefiting from visiting eye specialists who are carrying out a study on Dry Eye Syndrome. Dr Donald Korb of Boston is one of the leading authorities on Dry Eye and he and his team are on island to identify persons with the problem and to treat them. The study is being carried out together with Dr Louis Bardfield who will be doing the follow up treatment.

Ten Anguillian athletes (including two females) left for Trinidad on Wednesday to participate in the Central America and Caribbean Games. The games will be held at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain. The athletes will be participating in most of the disciplines of the meet. Miss Shara Proctor, gold medal winner in the Mexico games, will be defending her title in Trinidad. Matthew and TJ will be competing in the field events mainly the discus and javelin throwing events respectively.

Oliver Jordon, Managing Director of FirstCaribbean (Barbados) Limited, recently visited Anguilla. He was accompanied by Ms Gracie Elias, Manager of the Barbados Strategic Business Unit, which also encompasses the islands of the Eastern Caribbean.

A number of Anguillian youngsters were in the British Virgin Islands last weekend participating in a Kids of the Sea sailing event organised by the Tortola Rotary Club. The event is also called the Chief Minister’s Cup.

The first training workshop organised by the Department of Library Services with assistance from the Caribbean Development Bank got underway on Monday, July 10th at the Teachers’ Resource Centre. Twenty-seven participants - teachers from the primary and pre-schools, community workers and library personnel will focus on the craft of storytelling for the preservation of culture and history as well as a powerful medium for teaching concepts in and outside of the classroom.

The Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School (ALHCS) Environmental and Conservation Club left for Dominica on Wednesday 12 July for an end-of-school year trip. The students will be visiting the island for a week and will be participating in a number of outdoor activities ranging from hikes through the rainforests, visits to the island’s Carib territory, whale watching tours, to stops at museums and historic sites.

A two-day Diabetes Workshop this week revealed much concern there is, among health providers and members of the island’s populace, about the prevalence of diabetes in Anguilla.

It is ten years since the start of the Miss Ecstacy Pageant in Anguilla and Acting Chief Executive of Cable & Wireless, Larry Stott, said it was a milestone in the company’s sponsorship of the event.

Three dozen pink roses, carefully tucked into the casket of the late Alecia Ballin, were the final loving tribute from the Soroptimist Club of Anguilla of which she was a leading member over the years.

Whether it was in the great ballrooms of the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Long Island, New York, or at the marketplace, Anguillian nationals were seen everywhere at the Anguilla, Nevis and St. Kitts Associations Reunion (ANSAR) during the period June 30 to July 2. They are all a group of role models and doing very well.
Marketplace was where all the nationals crowded to sell and buy craft items, food and drink reminiscent of home life.

This year, six highly-motivated young ladies are vying for the coveted Miss CCB Teen Pageant title. Five of them were presented to the local media on Tuesday, July 4, at the English Rose Restaurant.

Two nationals of Anguilla, Dr. Oluwakemi M. Linda Banks and Nathaniel (Nat) Hodge, MBE, were among eight persons honoured at the Long Island Marriott Hotel and Conference Center at Uniondale, New York. The awardees were recognised for having “rendered immeasurable contribution, service and credit to the cause of country and humanity by their personal efforts, commitment, dedication and achievements.”

Caseem Ford is the lucky winner of an official West Indies Cricket Bat. The cricket bat has been signed by the entire West Indies Cricket Team and sponsored by Digicel.

Personnel from the Departments of Infrastructure and Disaster Preparedness, and the private public utility companies in Anguilla, outlined their plans to the local media on Wednesday, July 5, for the annual hurricane drill exercise scheduled for July 12.

Tom O’Connor, who had been in Anguilla for the past five months, left the island on Monday July 3 to return to Australia. He was here as part of the Games Sports Development Volunteers Programme to bring fitness to communities, funded by the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games and supported by the Anguilla Amateur Athletic Association (AAAA).

Anguilla’s children who need critical surgery or other specialized care are set to benefit from the International Hospital for Children (IHC). Last weekend Susan Rickman, President of the IHC was in Anguilla to introduce the programme to the island. She visited the Chief Minister Osbourne Fleming and other Ministers of Government and spoke to the Rotary Club at their weekly meeting.

Members of a large American family have been welcomed to Anguilla by Ministers of Government Victor Banks and Kenneth Harrigan.

Illegal drugs, with an estimated street value of some three million Eastern Caribbean dollars, have been destroyed by police in Anguilla. Personnel from the Drugs and Firearms Task Force and the Criminal Investigation Department set the contraband afire on the compound of Police Headquarters in The Valley on Tuesday afternoon, July 4.