Following the Anguilla Day Official Parade, on the James Ronald Webster Park, a large number of senior citizens, from throughout the island, were entertained at a luncheon hosted by the Anguilla Government.
The venue, as customary, was Blue Ridge Conference Centre, at South Hill, owned by Mr Walton Fleming. The caterers were E’s Oven Restaurant and English Rose Restaurant. It was a time for much feasting and fellowship.
The senior citizens were joined by Chief Minister, Hubert Hughes, and a visiting delegation comprising Prime Minister of St Maarten, Mrs Sarah Wescott-Williams, and members of her cabinet.
Chief Minister Hughes, who welcomed the visitors, spoke about the good relationship and cooperation between Anguilla and the Governments and people of the neighbouring French and Dutch territories over the years. “I am sure you will agree with me that if there was no St Martin/St Maarten, there would be no Anguilla,” he said. “They mean more to Anguilla than any European power because they gave us, and continue to supply us, with medical care that we can’t get locally. So without them, across the waters, we would be in a bad state of affairs.”
Mr Hughes repeated statements he made earlier, at the Official Parade, about the Anguilla Revolution and the need to rekindle the spirit of unity among the people of the island. “This luncheon occasion is something the Government does every year to get persons from all over the island to come together,” he told the senior citizens. “We need to send a message to our young people that they should not continue to shoot each other. I hope that, as the years go by, Anguilla will be in a better financial position to do much more for you in terms of social welfare assistance.”
Prime Minister, Sarah Wescott-Williams, also spoke about the close relationship between Anguilla and St Martin/St Maarten. She was pleased that she was of Anguillian descent, in that her mother, Mrs Sylvannie Williams-Rogers, who lives in St Maarten, was born in East End, Anguilla.
She was grateful that the Anguilla Government had made it possible for her and members of her Cabinet to attend the Anguilla Day celebrations. “The Chief Minister said that without St Martin/St Maarten there would be no Anguilla, but it is also a fact that without Anguilla, St Martin/St Maarten would not be what it is,” she countered. “I am so grateful for having been able to spend this morning with you and also share in this lunch as well.”
The Prime Minister continued: “My mom hails from East End. She left Anguilla as a young lady for St Maarten, spent a few years there and then left for Aruba. It is there we lived in 1967, and I remember my mom being glued to the radio to what I believe was the BBC, at the time, following what was happening in this part of the Caribbean. Being a very young girl, I did not understand what was taking place, but I knew something had taken place in the place of my mother’s birth. As I grew up to learn the history of Anguilla, it has always fascinated me what this island did in 1967.
“It is something I think that all of you, especially the elderly, can be extremely proud of; and the young people of this country must understand that it is on the shoulders of those persons – and many of you here today – that we stand, and can count ourselves lucky that you were there and did what you did in 1967.”
