Denis Bovell accepting his award from Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley in recognition of his outstanding contribution to indigenous music and as a mentor to aspiring musicians.
Pierre Dave Hurley accepting his award from Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley in recognition of his dedication and commitment as Chairman of the St. Peter District Emergency Organisation for the past 20 years.
Cavil Best accepting his award from Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley in recognition of his service to culture, particularly in the areas of dance and drumming.
The Pride of Barbados Awards will not be a one-off event in St. Peter. Rather, Member of Parliament for that constituency, Colin Jordan is hoping to make it an annual occurrence.
He told this to the audience at St. Peter's Parish Church on Sunday night during the Awards Ceremony. This event, which was one of the activities on the national We Gatherin' calendar, was staged by the government in association with the St. Peter Parish Organising Committee.
Thirteen residents were honoured for their invaluable contributions to the parish, and by extension the country, in different fields. They were: Haynesley Benn, Denis Bovell, Kenneth Yeoman, Colin Brathwaite, Aird Atherley, John Gary Edwards, Barry Downes, Pierre Dave Hurley, Cavil Best, Charles Sandiford, Simeon Alisop, Sherryl Griffith and Henry Rock.
Those we award this evening are not all of the persons who deserve to be awarded and so this is going to be an annual exercise where we award persons year by year and persons, not just those who live on the island, but Barbadians who live aboard but who have contributed either while they were here or continue to contribute as residents in a foreign country.
Speaking about the We Gatherin' events held in St. Peter, Jordan said it has been a good month so far. He highlighted those events occurring this week and he encouraged Barbadians to support these as well as the upcoming events which will occur in St. Thomas in March and other parishes during the year.
We Gatherin' Barbados 2020 is not just about Barbadians who live outside of Barbados and them coming home, that is a significant part of We Gatherin' Barbados 2020, but We Gatherin' Barbados 2020 also includes Barbadians from across the country who are still here enjoying the country parish by parish and making that decision to recommit to the process of nation building. So we encourage all of you to move from parish to parish. (MG)