News

The Goldstein Family, who have been responsible for the construction and management of thousands of residential units (and over three million square-feet of commercial and industrial property in the United States alone), are undertaking to invest in Anguilla. A press release, dated December 2, stated that the family will be launching their premier international development, Zemi Bay, destined to become Anguilla’s finest resort, with an open house on Friday, December 9, from 4.30 -7.00 p.m.

Governor Alistair Harrison, who has responsibility for the operations of Her Majesty’s Prison in Anguilla, announced on Tuesday that he was considering the possibility of introducing an electronic taggingof prisoners during a period of release.

The Valley Street Festival at the People’s Market was a beehive of activity as the Ministry of Tourism, the Anguilla Tourist Board and the Hotel & Tourism Association combined their efforts to launch Tourism Week 2011. The opening fair and festive event, last weekend, was dubbed “A Taste of the Islands”. It was an attractive mixture of steel pan music, arts and crafts booths and food stalls, all creating a fine display of the cultural and tourism aspects of life in Anguilla and other parts of the region.

Life is slowly returning to normal particularly in The Valley and the eastern sections of the Anguilla, where a freak rainstorm, with flash-flooding, dumped torrents of water which also cascaded into the surrounding low-lying areas from higher elevations.

The Ministry and Department of Education in Anguilla initiated a roundtable discussion on Monday this week with a number of private and public sector stakeholders. The aim is to develop a Technical and Vocation Education and Training (TVET) policy to create more skilled jobs on the island for persons not academically inclined, but who can contribute substantially to the various employment trades in a growing economy.

Eighty-four students, holding aloft star emblems, paraded into the Rodney MacArthur Rey Auditorium, for the 5th Annual Primary School National Awards Ceremony, to the applause of a large and appreciative audience.

The Anguilla Tourist Board and the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association are partnering in a public awareness campaign to emphasise the importance of the tourism industry to the island’s economy and the livelihood of its people.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Chanelle Petty-Barrett, told students at the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School that college fairs could be an exciting experience for them as they looked forward to furthering their studies.

One of three investors, already having a stake in Cap Juluca, is expected to emerge as the new owner of Anguilla’s flagship tourism resort, under a new Memorandum of Understanding. The property is now in receivership. It sits on Government-owned land at Maunday’s Bay and, until recently, was operated by Adam Aron whose ownershipran into challenges with Charles Hickcox, one of the original owners who has now re-entered the scene.

The Anguilla Government and the citizenryarepinningtheir hopes on a planned major tourism development on Scrub Island, with local participation, for which a Memorandum of Understandingwassigned a week ago.

The Anguilla Water Corporation officially commissioned its new state-of-the-art plant at Crocus Hill on Tuesday, October 31. The event climaxed the work of the outgoing Water Board which, for the past two years, had been under the chairmanship of retired Permanent Secretary, Kenn Banks.

Church leaders in Anguilla and other persons involved in leadership were at a two-day workshop this week, at the Teachers’ Resource Centre, which dealt with safeguarding children on the island and in other Overseas Territories.

Over one hundred Anguillians journeyed to St. Maarten to attend and participate in the Sunday October 30, 2011 Dedication Service of the Good News Baptist Church where Pastor Roderick Webster is Pastor. The attendees included colleague pastors and members from the Central Baptist Church, First Baptist Church and Destiny Church, members of Pastor Webster’s family, and the Honourable Othlyn Vanterpool and Mrs. Vanterpool.

On July 15, 2011, the ECCU Governments through the communiqué of the Monetary Council provided an update on the implementation of the BAICO resolution strategy.

The Literacy Development Project in Anguilla took on a new dimension on Tuesday this week with the launching of the “Just Write Big Book” which is now making its rounds at all the schools in the various communities on the island. The launching ceremony was held at the Public Library at which were top officials in the Ministry and Department of Education and teachers and students from the public and private schools.

There was standing room only at the Rodney MacArthur Rey Auditorium, where a record attendance of several hundred persons witnessed the graduation of 139 (out of 2011 Year Five) students from the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School on Wednesday, October 19. Some 60 of the graduates are continuing their education in Sixth Form, while the majority will seek employment in the dwindling job market.

Just as Anguilla is an international tourist paradise, so is our whole island a “Technology Campus”; an incubator and pilot site for the development of Intellectual Property; and a center with significant favourable international arbitrage advantages for business, legislation, cost and size.

The Golf Course, with its Club House and related facilities, is a win-win situation for all, says General Manager of CuisinArt Golf Resort and Spa, StephaneZaharia. He was speaking to The Anguillian on Tuesday, this week, while announcing that the owner of the property, Leandro Rizzuto, had undertaken to spend five million US dollars on upgrades to the Greg Norman Champion golf course project which he purchased at the auction sale on August 25 for 16 million US dollars.

With Anguilla caught in the throes of the difficult financial situation, private enterprise, in the form of the Windsong Foundation, has again pitched in to provide fundingfor the Governmentto finance two important education projects. These are the re-development of the Valley Primary School and the recently-introduced Literacy Programme of the Ministry of Education.

Duma Corporate Services of Amsterdam has maintained a strong relationship with Anguilla since 1985.