The virtues of patriotism, respect and thankfulness, which may have been slipping in the Anguillian community, especially among the youth, were given a huge and welcome boost on Tuesday, June 15, 2021.
That was when hundreds of schoolchildren, in the various uniforms of their schools, and waving national flags, paid tribute to Anguilla’s former Chief Minister, the late Hubert Benjamin Hughes.
The event was an official island-wide motorcade, part of the formal activities, to mark the passing of the Anguillian leader, with five decades of political involvement and service in the history of the island.
Mr. Hughes passed away on May 7, 2021, at the age of 87. He held the appointment of Chief Minister in Anguilla for a record three times. He retired from active politics in 2015 when he did not contest the general elections in April that year, but remained a revered icon in the past politics and leadership of the island.
Though too young, to know in detail the intricate and colourful political history of Anguilla, the schoolchildren are nevertheless conversant with those in the vanguard of national leadership. They have benefitted much from the classroom instruction of their teachers who led them on the streets to salute the former Chief Minister, as the hearse from the Two Sons Funeral Home, slowly drove by. Ministers of Government, and members of the public, were also in the motorcade which lasted for several hours.
The children and their teachers must be highly commended for their large, enthusiastic and patriotic turnout; for enduring the mid-morning to after 12 noon searing heat of the sun; and their patience waiting for the motorcade.
Here and there, along the route, small groups of adults and individuals, some emerging from their workplaces, or homes, were also on the roadsides to bid farewell to the former Chief Minister. The motorcade either drove through, or stopped briefly, in some areas of the western villages where Mr. Hughes held political meetings and rallied his supporters at election time over the years.
It was a well-planned and executed motorcade. The organiser and leader was Sergeant Delvin Fleming, CPM, of the Traffic Department of the Royal Anguilla Police Force, with the assistance of his team of officers. A group of community motor cyclists added much support and respect to the motorcade.
Scenes of the event are published on the following pages of The Anguillian newspaper for the national record.
