After a long period of planning and fund-raising, the dream of a new Central Baptist Church Christian School, by Pastor Cecil Richardson, is being fulfilled with construction work having started on Monday this week.
The construction site, on six acres of land, is tucked away in the far north of what will be in time a major education and sports complex, involving Government and the private sector, located off The Quarter main road into the Cauls Pond Section.

Church and Government Officials at Groundbreaking Ceremony

The entire area, purchased from leading businessman, Albert A. R. Lake, opens up with the Teacher Gloria Omolulu Institute, now nearing completion. Past there is the 17.5 acres lot which was bought by the Anguilla Government to accommodate an athletic track and other sporting facilities. Adjoining there is an area of land where the Arijah Foundation plans to build a Special Needs School and the Central Baptist Church brings up the rear with its elaborate school site.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Central Christian School was held on Sunday afternoon, October 11. Chairman of the seven-member Board, Pastor Cecil Richardson, said the school was established in September 2000 to provide high quality training in a wholesome environment. It started with a roll of 20 in the pre-school section and by adding a grade each year it eventully became a full-fledged primary school. “Our present enrollment is 166,” he went on. “We are all cramped into the small facilities at the Church [at Rey Hill]. We have a long waiting list of people who wish to get their children in, but it is virtually impossible as space is a problem.”
Pastor Cecil said the decision was taken to build the school in the new area as there was no building space at Rey Hill. The deal was already finalised to purchase the land next to the Omolulu Institute when agreement was reached, with the Minister of Social Development, Evans Rogers, to exchange the Church land to allow the Government to buy 17.5 acres for a proposed athletic track. As a result, the Church undertook to move to the present site farther to the north.

Central Christian School students in song

The Pastor stated that the Church took a loan from the Caribbean Commercial Bank to purchase the six acres in order for the school to have its own sporting facilities, but had decided against that facility as the Government’s sports complex would be available. He was grateful to the members of the Church for assisting in raising funds and also thanked other persons, mainly Janine Edwards, for working with the golf tournament which was a good source of fund-raising for the school. He also acknowledged contributions from a number of business places, friends and well-wishers.

“We do not have all the money we need, but we believe it is an act of faith to build…If you don’t start, you won’t finish,” Pastor Richardson reasoned, referring to the traditional way of building in Anguilla. “To tell you the honest truth, I cannot say where the money is going to come from, but I know it will come and God will provide it.” He could not reveal how much the project would cost. “Right now we are working on the classrooms and not the administrative sections,” he added. “Once we get those established, we know we can get the rest done. We cannot give you a date of completion because, as I said, we are building by faith. We have much to be thankful for. We started with nothing but a vision, a dream; and here we are today, it is coming to past.”

The Church is fortunate to have in its membership a number of qualified architects and builders whose involvement in the project greatly lessens the cost of construction. The Architect is Vanburn Brooks, who grew up in the Church and is a Principal of Morlens Architectural Services. He said the school was designed in two phases with a total area of 27,000 square feet. One phase will be a primary school and the other a high school. There will be three floors with full cafeteria, handicapped accessibility, music room, library, an auditorium of over 300 seats and an administration section.

Front row: Pastor Norril Gumbs, Hon. Evans Rogers and Pastor Cecil Richardson

“It all will be in blocks and very comprehensive – the classroom, administration and auxiliary sections, the laboratories, library, bookstore and music room,” he explained. “It will be constructed through a combination of reinforced concrete, masonry brick walls, steel frames and a whole lot of prayer.” The school will be self-contained, closed in as much as possible and fully air-conditioned to facilitate student learning, protection and comfort.

Mr. Brooks said full planning permission was already obtained and the general Contractor, Cephas Webster, was “rearing to go.” Mr. Webster, a long-time leader in the Church, is a certified builder, who has worked on a number of high-quality construction projects and other buildings in Anguilla. Mr. Brooks was delighted to report that a number of young professionals and others had joined in assisting him with his architectural work and spent several days with him on the bushy building site. “There is a lot of talent in the Central Baptist Church,” he concluded. “We are project managers, music majors, lawyers…We are going to build our school and are looking forward to your advice. It is a huge cost, but we are going to do the work by faith and with your help.”

Minister of Social Development, Evans Rogers, commended Pastor Richardson, his congregation, various groups and private sponsors, for assisting in getting the project at its ground-breaking stage, and towards its completion later on, for the sake of the Anguillian children.

He was pleased that the entire area would eventually serve as an education and sports complex. He said that the International Amateur Athletic Federation had indicated to him that some funding might be available to finance an athletic track on the island. He saw this as a noble idea, considering that a number of young Anguillians had made very good progress world-wide and that there was a need for Government to undertake to build an athletic track on the island to further develop athletics.

Applauding attendees at ceremony

The Minister was happy that Pastor Richardson had agreed to the exchange of land for an athletic track, sporting complex, aquatic centre and other facilities. “We thought that we were killing two or three birds with one stone because you would be able to use that sporting complex rather than building one for yourself,” he told the Pastor and his congregation. He expressed much support for the planned next-door Arijah Special Needs School for which land had also been obtained from Mr. Albert Lake.

“Pastor Cecil is also a member of that Board as well,” Mr. Rogers continued. “It all fits in well. We will have the Teacher Gloria Omolulu School, a School for Special Needs, Central Christian School and we will have the sporting complex.”

The Minister said Anguilla was faced with financial challenges, but with faith the Central Christian School in particular, and other institutions throughout Anguilla, would be built brick by brick with the cooperation of everyone. He pledged the Government’s support for private projects of this nature that would help the overall development of Anguilla. “We all have to get together, whether public or private, to support the development of Anguilla and there is no greater investment than that in our young people,” Mr. Rogers added.

The ground-breaking ceremony was ably chaired by Mrs. Janine Edwards, a noted fund-raiser and mother of children attending the school. “I think this approach to a more wholistic education – with music, Sports, academics and so on – is the way forward in this new global economy,” she commented. “We are happy that we have the modern approach by Mr. Brooks to facilitate all these concepts into building a strong educational facility for our children.”

Others who participated in the ceremony were Marlon Lake, Youth Director, who gave the welcome; Pastor Norril Gumbs of First Baptist Church who delivered the opening prayer; Ross Guishard, who read the Scripture and a group of students as well as Gordon and Marvin Hazell who sang. The Vote of Thanks was by Andrew Blake, Principal of the school, and the closing prayer by Deacon David Christmas.

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