Memorial Day Reunion Weekend '05 ....New York City, NY / Nyack, NY C. Paul Earle

In attendance was the guest of honor, Senator Delano Franklin (Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade) representing the Jamaican Government, as well as Trelawny elected officials Dr. Patrick Harris (MP), Fred Bartley (Mayor of Falmouth), and Garth Wilkinson (councillor).

(l-r) Senator Frankin, Sally (Canada), and Fred Bartley enjoying dinner.

Norris Hosang (center, Falmouth) and friends enjoying dinner.

Music was provided by Rocky DeSouza with guest appearance from Falmouth's own by Mickey (Scorpion Disco).

Rocky (left) and Mickey "Scorpion" spinning the music.

Folks dancing the night away.

(l-r) Hero Scott (Finland/Belgium) and Senator Franklin on the dance floor.

Yam Festival originator, Hugh Dixon (center), at the STEA booth.

Faye Pickersgill stands in front of her displays in the hotel lobby.

Seminars (Saturday).
The featured projects for the seminars were Harmony Cove, Greenfield Stadium, Falmouth Wharf Development (Slave Museum / Jamaica Music Revue), Martha Brae Amusement & Nature Park, the Southern Trelawny Environmental Agency (STEA), and Falmouth Restoration.

The panelists for the seminars were Senator Delano Franklin, David Wan (Victoria Mutual Wealth Management), Faye Pickersgill (Development Bank of Jamaica consultant and former Director of Tourism), Leon Mitchell (CEO, Jamaica National Group of Overseas Companies), Dr. Patrick Harris, Fred Bartley, Hugh Dixon (Executive Director, Southern Trelawny Environmental Agency - STEA), Sharon Williams (SJ Products & Entertainment Co.), and Jacqui McKenzie (Falmouth Restoration).

Seminar hosts were Irwin Claire (Caribbean Immigrant Services) and Charles Ramdatt (Hands Across Trelawny).

(l-r) Dr. Harris, Irwin Claire, Sen. Franklin, David Wan, Faye Pickersgill.

Due to the wealth of information that was presented by the earlier speakers, not all items on the agenda were presented, but the attendees were well saturated with information by the end of the day. Fortunately for me I got to hear Faye Pickersgill's presentation on the Falmouth Wharf development project. Not because she read my article "Trelawny, A Tourism Destination" and quoted me during her presentation, but because the Falmouth Wharf presentation was new information to me accompanied by some powerful visuals of the planning. Many of us remember about three or so wharfs at the old Hampden Wharf property, but I gathered from her presentation that there were about six wharfs from the tax office area all the way up to the abattoir (slaughterhouse) near "little bridge". That entire area slated for development will simply be known as "The Wharf" (she quoted), and will offer a museum, theater, dining, and shopping attractions. The adjacent fisherman's beach to the west of the tax office will also see some development to allow some congruence/transition/blending/merging of that adjacent property to the new development.

The audience laughing as Senator Franklin speaks.

To wrap things up, the day's activities culminated with a Fashion Show by The Eye Collection (designer Michael Williams of Jamaica).

There were a lot more sponsors this year, but it was good to see the familiar faces from Victoria Mutual back here again this year....they seem like part of the family now. I'm sure FOTA and the event sponsors, Victoria Mutual, Jamaica National, Grace Kennedy & Company Ltd, GotelOne, and Senvia must be pleased with the turnout so far on Friday nignt and Saturday.

Picnic (Sunday):
Speaking of turnout, in addition to those previously mentioned, many more people traveled from far and wide to be a part of this year's reunion weekend, and while not everybody made it to New York in time for the dance on Friday and the seminars/exhibits on Saturday, the turnout at the Park broke attendance records again this year.

Notable presences were the people who made the trip up from Falmouth/Jamaica to attend at least one, if not all the functions of the reunion. Among them were Sam and Flo Logan, Norris Hosang, Huntley Gracie, Delroy Christie, Jacqueline Green, and Deirdre Tyndale (Wilson) who unfortunately was delayed at the airport until the wee hours of the morning and did not arrive until after the dancing was over, but early for breakfast. Of course, the die-hard supporters from Toronto, Canada (Basil, Despy, and Eden), and "Beauty" from England were present again this year. Another die-hard, Brenton Bennett traveled all the way across Canada from Vancouver (on the left coast) to be here again this year. Notable absence: Wendell Stewart (Bull Bull), a longtime fixture at the picnic was absent for the first time in many years...we missed you this year Bull.

Speaking of traveling, here are some eye-openers for you:
Dale McFarlane, drove well over one thousand miles (from Wisconsin), more than 17 hours of driving. Richard Chambers (the picnic originator) drove from Dallas, Texas....that's even further than Dale, 22 hours driving. Christopher Earle had a relatively short drive by comparison, from Atlanta, Georgia....that's only about one thousand miles away, about 15 hours driving. There are too many people who came by plane to mention individually, but the state of Florida was well represented with the likes of Charlie Ramdatt, Nan Tosh, and Errol Hines (WKMHS past students association).

BUT:
Belver Williams-Niblett gets a whole paragraph for herself, because NOBODY came from further away than Belver and her husband, who traveled all the way from way way way down under (on the bottom-side of the globe) from Melbourne, Australia, just to reunite with her fellow Trelawnyites (...way to go mate!). Well done Belver, that is the true spirit of what the reunion is all about...too bad they don't play real cricket down there in Australia. I know you can't wait to see the West Indies beat the tar out of them again like we used to.

Belver Williams-Niblett (front center) flanked by Suzette on the left and David (VMBS) on the right. Her husband is in the back row (right) with Patrick Beckford and Senator Franklin to his right.

Paparazzi - Celebrity sightings.
We had our brand of celebrities amongst our midst. Former Jamaica and Trelawny sprint sensation and long jumper Dorothy Scott was here attending her first reunion. Also in attendance was Bruce Scott, the World Champion boxer from Falmouth (no relation to Dorothy Scott) who made the trip from England to grace us with his presence. Falmouth's own Gerald (Cloggyseba, Hero) Scott, former European professional footballer for "Kiffen" made the trip over from Finland and Belgium to be in attendance. The world's fastest human being, Ben Johnson, arrived on Saturday from Switzerland, to launch his clothing line in the USA at the Business Expo.

The Earles with Belver Williams-Niblett and Ben Johnson (2nd from right)

Dorothy Scott (left) with Judy Campbell (center) and friend.

Senator Franklin draws the winning names for the VMBS prize giveaways

Nearby girl is a winner.

Mr. Henlon (center) is the grand prize winner.

Congratulations again to FOTA for putting on another valuable and successful slate of events for the weekend. Nothing speaks louder to the success of this weekend's activities than when people from "Yard", Australia, Finland, Canada, and England spend their hard earned "Yankee Dollars" to travel to the USA to reunite with their hometown folks. For the record, it wasn't just Trelawnyites that were in attendance. I met Jamaicans from other Parishes and even one person from Guyana that decided to join us over the weekend. We even had an award-winning journalist, Ann-Marie Adams (from Kingston, now with the Hartford Guardian in Connecticut), who journeyed to New York to see what all the fuss was about with these Trelawnyites who gathered once a year on Memorial Day weekend. I guess we showed her !!!

Once again, the rest of us should all take pride in what we Trelawnyites have accomplished again this year in the park. Many of us take for granted year after year what we do on the Memorial Day weekend, but to many outsiders, we are exemplary "model citizens" of what good behavior, decency, (not to mention patriotism) is all about. Year after year we show the local authorities in New York that it is no fluke that this many Jamaicans can assemble in one place and enjoy themselves without the slightest hint of any kind of "incident".

One Love !

link: THE STORY IN PICTURES

--by: C. Paul Earle
May 2005