Motorists travelling to and from West End are applying their break’s as though there is a speed bump at the approach to the Sol Ltd West End gas station whose proprietor is Mr. Desmond Richardson (Shine). On the contrary, it is a straight main road with no “sleeping traffic policeman” as a speed bump is called.
The slowing down of the vehicles at nighttime gives their drivers an opportunity to admire the very beautiful Christmas lighting decorations erected there for the first time. The multi-coloured lights are in the form of a square to the east of the gas station – with a specially triangular lit-up area in the middle representing a Christmas tree, and at the back is a lit-up sail boat, one of the B class racing boats.
The lights, set up by the West End Development Committee, were turned on at a brief ceremony on Sunday night, December 15. The event included an opening prayer by Bishop Samuel Daniel of the Church of God of Prophecy which is located lower down in the village. He described the Christmas lights as being symbolic of the light that Jesus brought to the world, and the lit-up boat as representative of the boat-racing culture for which West End has become known.
The event was well attended by residents of the West End/Long Bay community as well as persons from various other parts of Anguilla. Among the gathering was Mr. Cardigan Connor, the Elected Representative for District 7.
He told The Anguillian newspaper afterwards that the lighting of the area was preceded by entertainment for children from 2 pm – 5-30 pm. During that time they were treated with a bouncing castle, snacks and gifts, followed at night fall by the lighting of the boat and the surroundings.
“I want to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to Sarah Billinghurst-Solomon, a frequent New York visitor to Anguilla and a donor to sports and persons in need for the past five years,” Mr. Connor acknowledged. “From her donations, I was able to get some presents for a number of children in the district. As you can see, wherever lights are up at Christmas it brings the people out.”
In explaining the use of a boat instead of a Christmas tree, Mr. Connor said: “The boat means a lot to the community. Every family in West End has a link to the sailing boat and I think that is something that we are quite proud about. The boat is a symbol that bonds the community – and ‘Shine’ has very much been in the forefront of having a boat lit up for Christmas.”
“The lit-up sail boat, B52, owned by Stephen Hughes of Long Bay, was customarily lit up at his home for Christmas. This year, it has been brought to the main road in West End for a wider public display, according to Mr. Connor. He added: “It is our way in our community of showing the joys of Christmas. It is unfortunate that over the recent years we have not seen enough households with Christmas lighting.
I am hoping that going forward more community members would consider themselves very much part of this. I would really like to thank the West End Development Committee, and others from the sailing boats, for their initiative. We are very proud of that initiative.”
The West End Development Committee has acknowledged that two of its members, Lakisha Hughes and Carmen Oliveras, were the main persons involved in the event which will continue for the twelve days of the Christmas celebrations.
