Local News

January 5, 2010 was an amazing first for the Teacher Gloria Omololu Institute! Fifteen years and four months after it was founded by Dr Oluwakemi M Linda Banks in 1994 the Institute has at last found its permanent home, a beautiful learning village!

In the above photograph, is a presentation of a model of the proposed Ferry Terminal at Blowing Point, recently put on display there for general information.

Not many aircraft watchers assembled at the road-side perimeter fence at Wallblake Airport to look at the arriving and departing executive jets, now back in Anguilla in large numbers. But the ground handlers were beaming with delight in the run-up to and during the Christmas holiday period as a flotilla of the planes, absent for several months, swooped in at the runway one after the other.

Even as Pastor Norril Gumbs, of the First Baptist Church at Welches, was delivering his sermon at the Christmas morning service at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, on the birth of Christ in a manger, maternity nurses there were busily recording the birth of a boy and girl a few hours apart.

The police reported on Wednesday this week that the crime level in Anguilla had been reduced significantly. They said that the island was basically enjoying a period of calm, notwithstanding a few incidents on the weekly police blotter.

It was reported on Wednesday this week that an Anguillian citizen was lured into sending money to a Nigerian man who claimed that someone had died there leaving a large sum of money and that he (the Nigerian) was looking for a bank account in Anguilla to transfer the funds. In blind faith, the person in Anguilla not only gave him her bank account number, but sent him, in installments, over US$10,000 which he had requested before making the transfer into her account. That was the end of the story. No money was received into her savings and the money she sent him was fraudulently taken.

One of the features of the recent Festival of Choirs, presented by the Anguilla Methodist Circuit as part of its observance of the Christmas season, was a singing performance by a Male Quartet.

The Princess Alexandra Hospital, (administered by the Health Authority of Anguilla), the Government-run Miriam Gumbs Senior Citizens Home and the privately-run Tender Loving Care Home, joined in holding a Christmas Day Programme with the support of a number of community-minded persons.

The year 2009 dawned with a promise….more than a promise, an assurance of tough economic times as the global financial crisis widened and recession tightened its grip on Anguilla and the rest of the world; so much so that early in 2009 some people were wishing “Happy 2010” because they knew that 2009 was going to be an extremely difficult year. And so it was.

Anguillian, the Rt. Rev. Errol Brooks, Bishop of the Diocese of the Northeastern Caribbean and Aruba, has been honoured by Her Majesty The Queen.

Patrick Webster continues the Anguilla fishing season with a spectacular Blue Marlin, caught in relatively shallow water, along with another small Wahoo. This fish does not compare in size to the much larger, 840 Blue Marlin caught last year but nevertheless makes for a very good fishing day. This particular fish proved little match for the dynamically experienced Patrick, who at first thought he had hooked a large Wahoo.

The Honourable Chief Minister of Anguilla, Mr. Osbourne Fleming, signed seven Tax Information Exchange Agreements while he was in Europe on the 11th and 14th of December 2009. Mr. Fleming signed the first of these TIEA’s with the Government of New Zealand at their High Commission in London on December 11, 2009.

For the fifth year, schools and community organisations in Anguilla have benefitted from Christmas gifts and monetary donations from US nationals and tenth time repeat visitors to the island, David Small, his wife, Robin, and their five sons. Their contribution to the various recipients last week amounted to some US$20,000 in gift items and monetary donations.

On December 21, Kids Connect hosted a day of baking cakes and cookies, a world class culinary experience with organizers Latoya & Twyla along with Chef Shawne Bryan of Lifestyle Café. The main aim was to have the participants of the Kids Connect summer camp reconnect for a day of fun! With kitchen safety as priority, some 20 children and special invitee, Neville Webster (most outstanding student from the youth E.S.C.A.P.E – Culinary program), had the opportunity to heighten their culinary skills.

At a recent staff awards ceremony held at the Golf Club House, Cap Juluca’s General Manager, Gary Thulander, told the hotel’s workers that the property was looking forward “to a really great 2010 and there was a need for each employee to make a difference.”

Whenever the Christmas Season comes around, the story surrounding the ancient city of Jerusalem and the birth of the Christ Child takes centre stage. It was therefore not uncommon for the celebrated St. Augustine’s Choral, directed by professional musician Lennox Vanterpool, and the Youth Chorale, led by Margaret Augustus to dub their joint programme on Sunday, December 20, Reflections on Bethlehem.

The roof of Bethel Methodist Church at South Hill reverberated but remained intact as choir after choir, six in all, plus other groups and the congregation in general, burst forth in lively Christmas hymns in what was termed a Festival of Choirs on Sunday, December 21.

Children and adults from The Valley area are finding much delight in spending a most relaxing and enjoyable time at an attractively lit up Christmas Theme Park at North Side.

Schoolchildren from across the island, up to the age of 12 years, were given a brighter Christmas when the National Bank of Anguilla held its 21st Annual Christmas Tree Lighting and Gift Give-Away on Monday, December 21, in the Bank’s Parking Lot.
The programme was chaired by Marisa Gumbs, Manager of NBA’s Branch in the western area of the island, who welcomed the children and their parents to the well-attended event.

Even as they gave the regular report of offences on the island during the period December 16-23, three officers of the Royal Anguilla Police Force, advised the people of the island to remain calm and happy during the Christmas season and assured them that everything was being done to ensure their safety.