St Catherine honours its outstanding citizens
Published:Wednesday | October 19, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Karen Sudu, Gleaner Writer
SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine:
JAMAICAN SPRINTER and World 100-metre champion, Yohan Blake was among 20 persons honoured at the St Catherine Heroes Day Civic and Awards ceremony on Monday.
The former St Jago High School athlete, who was awarded in absentia was recognised in the category of youth and sports. Zekiel Simpson was the other awardee in that category.
Ena Porter of Linstead Health Centre was the sole awardee in the field of health at the annual function, shifted from Emancipation Square to the St Catherine Parish Council, as a result of saturated grounds caused by heavy rains over the weekend.
Dr Patricia Holness, chief executive officer, Registrar's General Department, Shawn Thompson, Clarence Foster, Joan Black, Dudley Johnson, Thelma Wright, Dr Patrick Bennett, Sybil Hamilton, Edgerton Coubourne, Norma Russell, Vincent Martin and Daphne Ritchie were cited for their contribution to community development.
Likewise, the Mighty Flyers Marching Band, Lions Club of South Central St Catherine and Jamaica National Building Society, Spanish Town branch, also copped awards in that category.
Those lauded for work done in the field of education were Pamella James, Deloris Lewis and John Russell.
Reverend Terrence Brown and Bishop Rowan Edwards were honoured for devotion to religion.
Brown, former head of the Spanish Town Ministers' Fraternal, worships at the Holiness Christian Church and has been ministering for more than 30 years.
Elated and thankful
"I am very elated and thankful. I am glad that I am remembered for work that I've done, not that I was expecting it, but I am really pleased about it and it augurs well for my family," Brown told The Gleaner.
In the field of culture, Beverley Ingram and Orville Manning were the recipients. Cleve 'Lieutenant Stitchie' Laing and Trevor Beckford, organist, pocketed awards for contribution to culture and entertainment.
Laing told The Gleaner he was honoured to be recognised.
"I don't know if I can find the adjective to describe it. Today is a sense of accomplishment and a sense of peace that it (music) is reaching where it is supposed to be reaching and it is changing lives and people are recognising it," he said.
Tenor soloist and teacher at St Jago High School, Manning, initiated an annual Christmas concert in Spanish Town in 1988.
"I am really pleased to see that the authorities have seen it fit to honour me at this time," Manning, who studied music at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts and the Royal School of Music in London remarked.