Colour and greenery and enthusiasm burst out all over last week. . . .
February 15, 1999 - Site Map - Click to enlarge pictures

Anguilla had its first Annual Flower and Garden Show on February 6-7, 1999 at Ruthwill Auditorium and Grounds in The Valley. Lydia Gumbs of the ABC (Anguilla Beautification Club) was Chairperson of the event and headed up a hardworking team that arranged this demonstration of what can be done in Anguilla.

The flower arrangements entered for the competitions (picture top right) and the display of orchids from local gardens (picture top left) were breathtaking.

The show was inspiring to those who would like some natural colour and beauty in their yards, but were perhaps discouraged by Anguilla's rocky soil. The beautiful purple orchids in the large picture above, look delicate, but thrive with no special care in local gardens.

The primary school children competed in a "beach bits collage" contest, there were displays on drought resistant gardening, herbs, goat resistant plants, and indigenous gardening, plus vendors with flowers and plants to sell, a bus tour to new Cuisinart Resort, and the Green Cuisine hydrophonic lettuce, face painting and games for the children, food and drink, and more...

The show competition drew entries in numerous categories, from "arrangements of fresh flowers in a case or bowl" to "miniature arrangements of fresh flowers".

First place winners were Mona Harrigan, Rowena Carty, Mrs Panzetto, Ronetta Fahie-Richardson, Euxodie Wallace (see picture center left of his Desert Rose plant with amazing twinning aerial roots), Laura Richardson, Odette Richardson, Astrid Lewis (see picture bottom left), and Marva Thompson.

Second place awards went to Jasmine Hodge-Thomas, Bernice Fahie-Richardson (see picture lower right), Veronica Gumbs, Marjorie McClean, Luzh Gumbs and Catherine Rieman.

Elections Web Site! Anguilla's elections to the House of Assembly will be on March 4th and loud election rallies are already in full swing. One local paper, The Anguillian, reports that there are 6,573 registered voters in Anguilla. Two locals have created an impressive web site showing the candidates, parties and electoral districts: www.elections.ai - and they are going to update it live on election night so that everyone off-island can see the results as the votes are counted.

American Airlines Disrupted. The pilot's "sick out" at AA has interfered with many people's travel to and from Anguilla in the last week, since AA is the primary method of reaching the island. Flights appear to have resumed now.

Gecko is a 22' Glacier Bay Catamaran from which Roddy and Susan Hays offer inshore and offshore fishing for tarpon, bonefish, wahoo and tuna. They offer fishing by the hour, half-day or full day, with Shimano/Calstar tackle, GPS, VHF, fish-finder and safety equipment; drinks and bait, all included. Telephone: 1-264-497-8868.

Art Competition at the High School. The ACORN awarded prizes to the winners of its art competition to launch the new on-line company registry: Daryl Thompson, $200 US; Jensen Gumbs $100; Davan Ruan $50.

Wallblake House Auction. In spite of power outage for 30 minutes, the crowd of around 250 people raised more than $20,000 US in the auction, the first of its kind in Anguilla. Dozens of items were donated for the auction, including a generator (very appropriate), gourmet dinners, a television, catamarran trip, flight to view the Montserrat volcano, dinner custom prepared by Shamash, and much more. An enjoyable evening.

Sail on "Bing". Anguilla yachts offers sailing packages from Sandy Ground to Prickley Pear or Little Bay, with snorkelling equipment, open bar, and snacks. They also offer Deep Sea Fishing for tuna, wahoo, sailfish, and shark on a 31ft Trojan or 26ft Cruiser. Telephone Neville Connor at 1-264-497-6395 or 1-264-497-5643 (booth).

Explore Anguilla on Horseback. El Rancho Del Blues stables offers one hour rides at $25 and two hours at $45. Blowing Point. Telephone: 1-264-497-6164 or 6334.

Dandy is Back. For those who remember Dandy's watersports booth at Cove Bay, you can now find him renting sailboats and wind surfers on Shoal Bay, next to Uncle Ernies. He is an excellent instructor.

Daisy Wong has composed a poem entitled "Li'l Bit A Guinea Corn Porridge" about those early days.

Teacher Patsy Adams has written a book of poetry about the past, "Windows to Yesteryear".

David Carty writes passionately about the history of boat racing in Anguilla.

David Berglund has put together a survey of Anguilla's shipwrecks.

And the whole community is involved in restoring historic Wallblake House.

Joy Goodge Musselwhite, [email protected], writes about the good "ole days"...

Hello,

I grew up on Anguilla (1962-1976) and I enjoy your news. It is hard to believe that this is the same island that I remember. When I was there my family had a diesel generator to give us electricity and it was used sparingly. We bought ice at the ice plant. Most of the roads were dirt. And it was a real treat to shop at Albert Lakes. Oh, and the johnny cake was an everyday thing. You could have them fried or baked.

Then came the British Invasion, which brought us better roads not to mention a few other things. I use to love to go to the Haskins place with my parents, while they visited over coffee, I could roam the beach or play with the cats, they had 15-20 cats. And I loved playing in the formica. We didn't have to lock our doors back then either... you just pulled them to when you left. And the beaches were beautiful... you could go to Shoal Bay walk the beach and find tons of sunburst shells. I often walked from our home in Island Harbour to Shoal Bay, thru the "bush path" and not see a soul. No one minded you crossing their land and you could stop at any house and ask a drink of water and it be given to you. When a family would be building on their home, neighbors all around would help, not for pay but just because they cared.

And the toys we played with... broken bits of china put in an old parfume bottle with a bit of water. Broken plates made our dishes in my little bush house. An old tin can was the pot and pull a few of those red berries off a tree, add some water and you had soup. We would play for hours... doll house. Then there was jacks, only played with rocks... no ball. And jump rope until your legs hurt. Jack be nimble, jack be quick!

We didn't have fancy toys or electronics... in fact we didn't have a T.V. I remember going to the Webster's house on Friday nights to watch Hawaii Five-O. My kids ask me if we were poor, no we weren't poor, we just enjoyed the simple things in life.

I called my best friend last week, she lives in Island Harbour. I called to see how her mother was doing. Her mom was like a mom to me too. I probably spent just as much time eating in her house as in mine. I asked how mama was... she's not been well. So we got to talking about the old days... it brought tears to both our eyes. Time has flown by, I haven't been there since 1986 and now I need to come home to see a dear friend before she passes on. I'm afraid to come home because I am afraid of the change...everyone that has been back tells me how it has changed. I even have a brother that lives there and has asked me to come visit but I've clung to the good ole days. I know change is good but it's always hard to go back home when you know it's nothing like you remembered.

Thanks for being a link that has helped me keep up with the changes there. I will get to see the new Anguilla but I will still remember the old Anguilla. I cherish it because it is home.

Joy Goodge Musselwhite

Professor Di Palo graduated Magna Cum Laude in Business Management at The Frederick II University of Naples and was awarded 1st distinguished scholar out of 4,400 belonging to the class of 1983. He also has a business as Consultant in Accounting, Finance, Business and Tax Law, Human Resources Management. And speaks Greek, Spanish, French, English and Italian (of course). For more details, read his resume.

In the summer of 1998, Gaetano volunteered in Anguilla, creating a summer "computer camp" for children and adults. He hopes to be back for a repeat in summer 1999 and would love to find a way to stay in Anguilla permanently.

Here are links to the issues translated so far:

• February 15, 1999
• February 1, 1999
• January 15, 1999
• January 1, 1999
• December 15, 1998
• December 1, 1998
• November 15, 1998
• November 1, 1998

And here is a typical article from the news in Italiano.

Anguilla � cambiata

Molte persone ricordano con nostalgia ed affetto l'Anguilla dei tempi andati.

Daisy Wong ha scritto una poesia su quei giorni dal titolo "Li'l Bit A Guinea Corn Porridge".

Teacher Patsy Adams ha invece scritto un libro di poesie sul passato, "Windows to Yesteryear".

David Carty scrive con passione sulla storia delle regate di Anguilla.

David Berglund ha iniziato una ricerca sui relitti delle navi naufragate ad Anguilla.

Tutta l'isola si sta dedicando al restauro dalla storica Wallblake House.

Joy Goodge Musselwhite [email protected], ci scrive dei "bei tempi" andati...

Ciao,

sono cresciuta ad Anguilla (1962-1976) e adoro il vostro giornale. E' davvero difficile credere che sia la stessa isola dei miei ricordi. Quando ero l�, la mia famiglia aveva un generatore di elettricit� a nafta e lo si usava con molta parsimonia. Compravamo il ghiaccio alla fabbrica del ghiaccio. La maggior parte delle strade era sterrata ed era un vera festa andare a fare la spesa da Albert Lakes. Oh! E i johnny cake! Era roba da tutti i giorni, li trovavi sia fritti che al forno.

Poi c'� stata l'invasione degli inglesi, che ha portato strade migliori per non parlare di altre cose. Amavo andare dagli Haskins con i miei genitori cos�, mentre loro prendevano il caff�, potevo andarmene in giro sulla spiaggia o giocare con i loro 15-20 gatti. Non c'era bisogno di chiudere le porte a chiave...  E le spiagge erano stupende... potevi passeggiare lungo Shoal Bay e trovare tantissime conchiglie sbiancate dal sole e dalla salsedine. Sovente andavo a piedi dalla nostra casa di Island Harbour fino a Shoal Bay, tagliando per una scorciatoia in mezzo ai cespugli senza mai incontrare nessuno. Nessuno si lamentava se attraversavi la sua propriet� e potevi fermarti da chiunque per avere un sorso d'acqua. Quando una famiglia era impegnata nel costruire la propria casa tutti i vicini davano una mano gratis e per vera e sola amicizia.

Ed i giocattoli con cui giocavamo... pezzetti di ceramica messi in vecchie bottiglie di profumo con un po' d'acqua. Con alcuni piatti rotti allestivo la tavola nella mia capanna. Una vecchia latta fungeva da pentola, coglievamo delle bacche rosse dagli alberi e con un po' d'acqua preparavamo la zuppa. E cos� giocavamo per ore ed ore. E poi c'erano le bocce, erano pietre ovviamente e non palline. Il salto con le funi fino a sbucciarsi tutte le ginocchia. Acchiapparella, moscacieca, nascondino etc.

Certo non avevamo dei veri giocattoli e nemmeno videogame.... non c'era nemmeno la T.V. Ricordo che andavamo a casa dei Webster il venerd� a vedere Hawaii Five-O. I miei figli oggi mi chiedono se allora eravamo poveri, no non eravamo poveri, cercavamo di godere delle piccole cose semplici della vita.

Ho telefonato alla mia migliore amica la settimana scorsa, lei vive ad Island Harbour. L'ho chiamata per sapere come stava sua madre. Sua madre � una seconda madre per me. Probabilmente ho passato tanto tempo a casa loro quanto ne trascorrevo a casa mia. Cos� le chiesto come stava la mamma ... Beh! Non sta troppo bene. Poi abbiamo cominciato a parlare dei vecchi tempi... e ci sono venute le lacrime agli occhi. Il tempo � volato, manco da Anguilla dal 1986, ora per� sento il bisogno di tornare e vedere una persona cara prima che sia troppo tardi. Confesso che ho paura di tornare, perch� ho paura che le cose siano cambiate... tutti quelli che sono tornati mi hanno detto di quanto e come sia tutto cambiato. Ho addirittura un fratello che vive ancora l� che mi ha chiesto tante volte di andarlo a trovare, ma io resto aggrappata ai bei vecchi tempi. Si lo so che i cambiamenti fanno bene, ma � sempre duro tornare a casa quando sai che nulla � rimasto come tu lo ricordavi.

Grazie per consentirmi di seguire anche a distanza i cambiamenti della mia isola. Verr� a vedere la nuova Anguilla, sebbene ricorder� per sempre la vecchia cara Anguilla.

La terr� sempre nel mio cuore perch� � la mia casa.

Joy Goodge Musselwhite

Anguilla Internet Yellow Pages
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The programme is very extensive and includes a choice of four in-depth workshops by qualified experts in oil & acrylic, watercolour, pastel and stained glass. In addition, evening critiques of participants' work, followed by demonstrations from the workshop leaders will make the event a valuable and interesting learning experience.

Workshop leaders' biographies are on the web site:

Charlotte Wharton for oil and acrylic
Cheri Walton for watercolour
Claudia Post for pastels
Paul Petrushonis for stained glass.

If you are the type of artist who just wants to commune with Shoal Bay (or Johnnos), the workshops are optional and the festival has an option for you. Everything is explained on their web site, artfestival.ai

Deadline: March 31, 1999

Choral Speaking Festival is Febuary 17th.

Spring Break. The newspaper from Valley Primary School says that schools will close April 1st and reopen April 19th.

Cultural Festival Continues:

• Tue Feb 16. Noon-1pm. Concert (Dumpa and Anvibes).
• Wed Feb 17. Noon-1pm. Drum Concert (Malcolm Melville).
  7:30pm. Primary School Choral Speaking and Cultural Evening. Stoney Groud Primary School.
• Thu Feb 18 and Fri Feb 19. Lecture/Discusson and Workshops by Malcolm Melville, National Museum, The Valley. 10-Noon, Drums of Today, Yesterday and Tomorrow. 2-4pm and 4:30-6:30pm Drums Workshops.
• Sat Feb 20. 10am-5pm. National Art and Craft Production Day. National Museum.
  1:30-4pm. Traditional Children's Toys and Games. Museum.

More Activities:

Feb 13. Sunshine Theatre Company production at Ruthwill Auditorium.

Feb 20-Mar 5. Peg Gregory show at Devonish Gallery.

Feb 25. Sunshine Theatre Company presents "Do Lord Remember Me", story-theatre in song, dance and dialogue. Ruthwill Auditorium.

Feb 27. St. Gerard's Annual West Indian Garden Party. Drinks, music, buffet dinner, and dancing under the stars. Bar Opens 6:30, Dinner 7:30 til 9pm. Music by Sprocka. Tickets US$20 advance, $25 at the door; available at Vista, Anguilla Drug Store, Keene Ent, or Alecia's Place. All on the Church Grounds across from the Tourism Dept in The Valley. Read more about the party.

Financial Cryptography 99 conference runs from February 22 to 25th at Chandeliers (Inter-Island Hotel). This is the third time that the experts in applying cryptography to the problems of money have chosen to gather in Anguilla.

Sports Day for Primary Schools is March 25th at Ronald Webster Park.

The Bacon Brothers to headline at Moonsplash 99, March 25 to 28th. The Dune. Rendezvous Bay. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the gate for each night, or $30 in advance for both Friday and Saturday. Sunday admission is free for everyone. For more information, email [email protected] or telephone 616-785-8383.

Here is an interesting message that came in recently:

Date: Tue, 2 Feb 1999

From: [email protected]

To:   [email protected]

Re:   Recent visit

Bob

My boyfriend and I visited Anguilla for the first time at the beginning of January and had the most amazing two weeks. Anguilla is the most beautiful Caribbean island I have ever been to, with near-perfect uncrowded beaches and excellent restaurants.

We stayed at Sonesta, and found it to be a great hotel. The staff were friendly and there were very few people on the beach at any time. In addition, although some people have said that the sea is too rough to swim in we did not find that and had great fun playing in the waves.

One of my favourite places was an entirely deserted place called Windward Point Bay at the northeastern tip of the island. Whilst not suitable for swimming it is a stunning place to relax and have a long lonely walk.

In the weeks before our trip I read your web site regularly and found it to be incredibly helpful, especially in choosing restaurants. Our two favourites were Pimms at Cap Juluca, where the proximity to the waves and the setting is unlikely to be repeated anywhere, and Luciano's, where the pasta is the best I have had in the Caribbean and the atmosphere friendly and informal.

Hope to come to Anguilla again next year (if not before)!

Jo

Read more email from visitors.

German Translation of Anguilla Local News for February 1st, 1999 is available here. This translation was done by Hans Krähenbühl of Switzerland, who also owns a villa in Island Harbour.

Stott and Company has a web page at www.stottco.com.

Email Addresses:

Eric Reid at Island Transport: [email protected]

Chris Mason at netconcepts: [email protected]

Crescha Walters at Kenworthy Associates (architects): [email protected]

Denise Stott-Brown at Stott and Co: [email protected]

Haskins (agents for Tropical Shipping): [email protected]

Splash Villa has a web page now at www.splash.ai