News

St. James School of Medicine, located in The Quarter, Anguilla, is progressing very well with a full student body including two Anguillian students among others from the United States and Canada. In addition to the two nationals, who have been awarded scholarships by the institution, is one Anguillian lecturer in the person of Dr. O. M. Linda Banks, who is teaching Medical Psychology.

Anguilla’s Chief Minister and Minister of Finance, Hubert Hughes, told reporters at a press conference on Monday this week that various questions relating to financial matters which he was asked by the Minister for the British Overseas Territories, Henry Bellingham, MP, were not for him to answer. One of the questions relates to a note signed by Mr. Hughes in which he instructed the Chairman of the Social Security Board to borrow US$200 million from a bank in Texas.

The cultural and historical launching of Anguilla’s Battle for Freedom 1967-1969, originally planned for Tuesday, October 5, at the Teachers’ Resource Centre, has had to be rescheduled due to inclement weather.

The Atlantic British Overseas Territory of Bermuda has been lauded for assisting Anguilla, its sister territory, with a costly fire truck to replace the island’s main fire and rescue vehicle which was severely damaged when it overturned last year. The replacement truck was handed over at the Clayton Lloyd International Airport on Monday, October 4, at a ceremony at which Government officials from both Anguilla and Bermuda were in attendance.

A two-and-a-half US million-dollar Technical Building was inaugurated on Tuesday morning, September 28, at the world-class football stadium at the Ronald Webster Park annex. The state-of the-art showpiece, with various facilities, is aimed at promoting the development of the sport among male and female students, national players and attracting regional and international footballers to Anguilla.

Four sets of routine rules and expectations were unveiled at Campus A of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School on Tuesday this week, originating from the institution’s management behaviour policy. “It is part of I am a project promise conceived, some two years, by third form, now fifth form tutors, led by Head of the Year, Michelle Queeley.

If previous UK Governments once viewed Britain’s far-flung island possessions as mere vestiges of the British Empire, the new thinking is that they are now of great value and pride to England. That’s the way that the newly-appointed Minister for the Overseas Territories, Henry Bellingham, and his Prime Minister, David Cameron, are viewing the matter.

For the first time, in many years, Anguillians have had the rare opportunity to meet face to face with a United Kingdom Minister responsible for the island. That meeting was held in the House of Assembly on Wednesday this week, when many persons turned up to hear from Mr. Henry Bellingham MP, the Minister for the Overseas Territories, who was on a flying visit to the Turks and Caicos Islands and Anguilla.

Now in its eighth year in Anguilla, the Tranquility Jazz Festival has an additional golf component to help jumpstart the island’s tourism industry next season. This time, a new grouping, called Anguilla U-jamaa Productions Ltd., has emerged to produce the 2010 Tranquility Jazz & Golf Festival. It is a joint effort involving past Chairman of the Tourist Board and the Carnival Committee, John Benjamin, and former Festivals Coordinator, Fitzroy Tomlinson, both of who have had a long association as producers, as well as James Connor, an associate organiser.

Members of the Judiciary, the public Bar and the private Bar in Anguilla joined their colleagues in the other jurisdictions of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court on Monday, September 13, for the ceremonial opening of Law Year 2010-2011.

The popular and well sought after book on Anguilla’s revolutionary history is back. Anguilla’s Battle for Freedom 1967-1969, by Colville Petty and Nat Hodge, will be launched at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 5th October 2010 at the Teachers’ Resource Centre in The Valley.

Just days away from the fiftieth anniversary of Hurricane Donna, which devastated Anguilla on September 4, 1960, Hurricane Earl, a less intensive storm by the time it reached this area, struck the island a glancing blow, mainly from the northwest, on Monday, August 30. The hurricane, which eventually reached category 4 status as it raced towards the United States, passed through the northern Leeward Islands as a category 1 storm. One international weather service organisation reportedly stated that its centre passed some 12.5 miles north-east of Scrub Island with sustained winds of some 90 mph.

The twelve students from the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School in Anguilla appearing here, are the island’s top candidates in the May/June 2010 CSEC Examinations. They achieved five or more grade ones in the regional exam.

Cove Castles a resort which has been operating for the past 25 years and is pleased to announce Mrs. Millie Hodge as their new "General Manager" for Cove Castles.

Mr. Myron Goldfinger is the Architect of Cove Castles and Mrs. June Goldfinger is the Interior Designer and they both were the original developers of the resort and present Directors.

After much talk and negotiation, the Anguilla Government and Chairman and CEO of Cap Juluca Properties Ltd, Adam Aron, have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding, paving the way for the further development of the property.
The signing ceremony took place at the hotel on Friday, August 13, in the presence of many staff members, some of whom had been involved in the negotiations.

The Opposition Anguilla United Front, which participated in the debate on the new MOU for Cap Juluca in the Anguilla House of Assembly last week, has reiterated its support for the project, but told reporters on Tuesday about some concerns it has with the agreement.

“Last week the property was up for sale and this week it has been sold,” Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism, the Hon. Haydn Hughes, told reporters at the Chief Minister’s press conference on Tuesday this week.

Despite the financial and economic challenges facing the island, thousands of Anguillians and visitors will rub shoulder to shoulder in gay abandonment during the one-week Summer Festival activities, commencing this Friday, July 30.

Air lift to Anguilla is getting a well-needed boast from Cape Air, one of the largest independent regional airlines in the United States. The Company flies over 610 thousand passengers to destinations around the world including New England, New York, the Caribbean, Florida, the Mid Atlantic, the Mid West and Micronesia.

Between 200 and 300 schoolchildren are being coached in football on the grounds of the stadium outside the Ronald Webster Park.

The two-week training camp is being sponsored by the Anguilla Football Association and Caribbean Lotto.