St. Mary’s Preschool, the largest early education childhood centre in Anguilla, has benefitted from a considerable supply of colourful composition books donated by suppliers in Trinidad through Mr. Curtis Richardson, Anguilla’s Minister of Infrastructure.
The books were part of a consignment of other exercise books and schoolbags which Mr. Richardson also secured while in Trinidad. He was recently there on a thank you mission, on behalf of the Anguilla Government, to express appreciation for a quantity of relief supplies sent to the island by a group of business persons following Hurricane Irma.
Mr. Richardson presented 300 of the composition books to Bishop Errol Brooks on August 31 to deliver to St. Mary’s Preschool. “I have to publicise this because the books were gifts to me so it is not about me really,” he commented. “The books are the right size for preschool children; they have lines already in them and there are about fifty sheets or pages. I am very happy to present these 300 books to Bishop Brooks and will present the rest to the other preschools. I received them from an organisation in Trinidad through a gentleman whom I knew and met – named Mr. Nigel Salina.
“I met him when the Honourable Chief Minister sent me to Trinidad to thank the people there for sending the hurricane supplies to Anguilla. In speaking with them, I told them that one of my concerns in the long run was that people had to spend so much money repairing their homes and that there was a need to assist the schoolchildren. They told me they would see what they could do. They reached out to me about two weeks ago and followed through with an arrangement we had. It was arranged that I would pay a certain amount of money for school bags and they would match it as well as send some books. I am very happy that I was able, with God’s help, to make my contribution but I am also very grateful for their contribution as well. They sent me almost 2000 of these books for the preschools.
“Meanwhile, they sent me other books for the primary schools which came largely from my colleagues in Government – Mrs. Evalie Bradley, Mr. Cardigan Connor and Mr Othlyn Vanterpool. The bags, I also distributed earlier to the primary schools came through me.”
Bishop Brooks expressed thanks and appreciation to Mr Richardson for the composition books for St. Mary’s Preschool recalling that, in earlier times, young children had to write on slates. “I want to thank the Honourable Minister for this wonderful gift of books for our preschool,” the Bishop remarked. “As I look at the back of the books, I see the multiplication tables – taking me back to my days in primary school there is also the metric equivalence to those tables and other features – very much up to date with present-day measurements. I think it is a wonderful gesture by the Minister to take that initiative, and we will definitely ensure that the pre-schoolers get these books.”
