Michael Lee Chin (left), chairman of National Commercial Bank accepts an award from Justice Roy Anderson (right), president of the Titchfield High School Old Students' Association. - Contributed
MICHAEL LEE CHIN, the chairman of National Commercial Bank (NCB), recently accepted the Titchfield Old Students Association's 'Outstanding Achievement Award' at a brief presentation ceremony at the Chairman's Office at the Bank's headquarters, 'The Atrium', Trafalgar Road. Participants in the presentation were the association's president, Justice Roy Anderson, Mrs. Scarlette Gillings, Managing Director of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund and Dennis Morrison, well-known economist and commentator, themselves alumni of Titchfield.
Every two years, the association presents 'Outstanding Achievement Awards' to alumni of Titchfield High School, who have distinguished themselves in some noteworthy way. The awards are presented at the biennial banquet, and was held this year on July 6, at the Jamaica Crest Resort, a few miles outside Port Antonio. Unfortunately, Mr. Lee Chin was in Europe at the time and so was unable to attend the event.
The other recipients this year were Dame Karlene Leiba-Davis, honoured in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2001 by being made a Dame Commander of the British Empire, for her contribution to Nursing and Midwifery in the United Kingdom; Cyril Chung, Managing Director of the Coronation Bakery, the premier bakery in Eastern Jamaica, for his contribution to business and philanthropy in Portland, and Herbert Edwards, JP, for his contribution to the development of the Insurance Industry in Jamaica and Charitable Service.
As part of the activities this year, the honourees made a courtesy call on the Governor-General, His Excellency Sir Howard Cooke who shared fond reminiscences of his many years as a teacher in the parish of Portland, and as principal of the Port Antonio Upper School, where Dame Karlene's mother was also a teacher.
The presentations of a citation and a plaque saluting his achievements in entrepreneurship were made respectively, by Mrs. Gillings and the association's president. Mrs. Gillings was herself one of the five awardees this year, and had responded on their behalf at the banquet, indicating how humbling it was to be honoured by persons with whom you had grown up. "We, of both the Titchfield and Port Antonio communities, are extremely proud of your outstanding success, not only as a businessman, but as a human being", Justice Anderson said in his presentation. Mr. Lee Chin expressed his pleasure at being honoured by the association and said he was proud of his school and never failed to mention it in his speeches.
