Flagship homes

TOT member Herb Black won several titles for the tent in 2008.

Last year as part of their program for Carnival, not only did the Take Over Tent provide their fans and patrons will quality music and calypso showcases, but they also gave us “A tribute to Jah T.” This event paid tribute to one of the former leaders of TOT and one of the best songwriters the island has ever seen. TOT also had more than just a fruitful year in 2008 with tent members Herb Black winning the People’s Monarch, Groovy Soca and Calypso Monarch titles and Ricky T winning the Soca Monarch, Caribbean Soca Monarch and Road March titles.
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This year “TOT” who has since gained another name for their acronym; “Tent of Titles,” will again set the pace with another concept as part of the 2009 Calypso season. For their second show the tent will host “Who is the real Calypso Monarch” on Wednesday, 10th June, 2009 at the NCC “Calypso City” from 8:30pm.
This event will feature monarchs from all variations of the Calypso artform; Calypso, Groovy and Power Soca.
The event will be in two segments, the first will feature TOT artistes including former monarchs Lady Spice (Calypso 2000), Black Pearl (Power Soca 2002), Walleigh (Calypso 2005), Get Through (Road March 1982), Ashanti (Calypso 1990, 1991, 1998) along with Sara Lee, Double C, King George, TG Fury, Floopsy, Ratchie, De Achiever and Christopher Hunte.  All will be performing 2009 compositions.
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Highlight of the show will be the second segment “Who is the Real Calypso Monarch?” in which patrons will have the opportunity to answer that question by texting for their choice.  The winner will receive a prize trip and the lucky patron will win a phone for texting the correct choice.  This segment will feature multiple Calypso Monarchs Herb Black, Ashanti, Invader, Educator and the Mighty Pep who will be performing their choice number.
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This will be followed by performances by TOT Groovy and Power soca artistes all performing new numbers for this season.  Performers including reigning Power, Road March and Caribbean Soca Monarch—Ricky T, Road March monarch 1998—Twop Chance, three time Party Monarch—Alpha, first female UK Soca Monarch—Soca Princess and Marie Ann—first runner up Groovy Soca 2007.
According to the management of TOT with the ‘Who is Who’ of calypso, groovy and power soca in St Lucia, patrons can look forward to a total package as a well deserved pre-holiday treat.

A tour of Government House was an educational experience for teachers and students and for members of the Southern National Trust.

On Saturday 30th May 2009, the Southern Membership Group of the St Lucia National Trust visited the Governor General’s museum and residence. Representatives of the National Trust Council along with a number of secondary school teachers and students from the South accompanied the Southern Membership Group on this one of a kind visit.
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Upon arrival at Her Excellency’s residence, a tour guide gave a brief history on the grounds before leading everyone to Le Pavillion Royal Museum. The museum contained a wide range of historical state, military, and cultural artifacts as well as prestigious collections of ornaments and cutlery used by previous governors. Despite the tour guide’s informative lectures, participants were eager to ask many questions throughout the tour.
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Moving on from the museum the group was ushered outside to take a walk around the well maintained and picturesque garden including a number of national plants and trees—all planted by members of the Royal family. From the gardens, the group moved on to the dining hall, where they were welcomed by walls adorned with photographs and artwork representing St Lucian life and culture, including scenes of Anse La Raye fish festival and a picture of a Choiseul carnival queen in action.
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To end the tour, the group assembled in the main living area in time for Dame Pearlette Louisy’s arrival. As she entered the room with her courteous warm smile, she was very interested in finding out what the younger students had learnt throughout the tour, before engaging the older participants in a discussion on the significance of their visit. The group continued to ask Dame Pearlette questions about her residence but not before inviting her on future National Trust membership activities—to which she expressed interest, as long as there was not too much walking involved. An appreciation card along with a framed collage of Southern Membership Group events and activities was presented to the Governor General, which she accepted with her warmest gratitude. The group was then invited to join Her Excellency in having some light refreshments on the balcony.
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Overall, the tour was a great success and the group left the grounds with a large amount of information on the historic and cultural assets of the Government House.

The Honda CRV will be used by the technical college.

Excellence in motion is the tagline for a car dealership in St Lucia that has proved that it has more than its own interests at heart. That excellence transcended from the company down to students of the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, particularly, students enrolled in Motor Vehicle Mechanics last week at a special ceremony.
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Beachcomber donated a new pre-production model of the 2008 Honda CRV to SALCC at a hand-over ceremony at their Vide Boutielle office.  Managing director of Beachcomber, David Devaux, said the vehicle was set to be scrapped until the company persuaded one of Honda’s service managers, on a trip to St Lucia to do otherwise. To donate the vehicle to the island’s community college so students could benefit just as the staff of the company who’d trained on the CRV had. Honda agreed on the understanding that the vehicle would be used only for technical training at the Morne Technical College.
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“This CRV model is equipped with different systems actually for the American market, so anyone who does training on this vehicle will find themselves getting a higher standard of a vehicle,” said service manager Shane Wells. “This one has a navigation system that our own models don’t carry. It was the third unit Honda ever created in that model and this vehicle ought not to be put on the road, it’s for training and showcase only.”
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Though there weren’t students presently enrolled with SALCC at the launch the managing director pointed out that quite a few of the company’s staff members had attended the community college. With a show of hands, at least nine of the staff members on hand for the donation indicated they’d attended the college.
“That just shows what the college has been able to achieve in recent years,” said Devaux. “We hope the CRV will be put to good use. It’s exactly the same as the 2009 model we now have on sale.”
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The CRV was driven into the ceremony after which service manager Shane Wells handed over keys to dean of technical division Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, Anthony Boulougne.
“The college is very thankful to Beachcomber, particularly Mr Devaux, this is the way to go,” said Boulougne. “We have been working in close collaboration with Beachcomber over the years and we have benefited tremendously from the work experience program we have had with the company.”
SALCC’s technical division dean says it was difficult for the community college to be able to purchase up-to date-pieces of equipment and vehicles to provide teachers and students with the latest technology. We’re been very fortunate that Beachcomber has been providing us with pieces of equipment, vehicle parts and this time, a complete vehicle.
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Service manager Shane Wells, who’d also attended SALCC, responded: “Most of the vehicles up there derelict, off the road, probably given to the school by people who don’t want their vehicle anymore. Now they actually have one that’s in working condition and that I think will be extremely beneficial.”

The Millennium Highway was the location for most of the training. Many officers said what they learned will be put to good use.

Remember the incident involving an American student who was trapped and eventually rescued from the Petit Piton by our local emergency personnel with help from the French, last year?
Today, 24 of our police officers from the Special Services Unit (SSU) are now better equipped to deal with such emergencies after a three-day training workshop in Search and Rescue.
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Before taking to the rocky cliffs at the Millennium Highway and the Pitons in Soufriere, the officers were taught the basic theory of Search and Rescue.  According to Major Edward Harvey, who is the Deputy Chief Military Liaison at the US Embassy in Barbados, the training was provided by the US Air Force Terror Rescue Men and Survival Experts.
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“These guys are experts in Mountain Rescue, Search and Rescue, anything to do with finding people, these
guys are the best the US Military has to offer,” Harvey said. Police Commissioner Ausbert Regis was approached regarding assistance that they could provide to the Royal St Lucia Police Force (RSLPF) and this was one of the things that he requested.
“It’s something that St Lucia identified as a need, something that they would like to improve on,”  he said.
Harvey said the experts could only be in St Lucia for a limited amount of time, since they are doing “real missions around the world.” But he hoped that the training will have a good impact on the force and that additional training could be done in the future.
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According to Travis Sherperd, one of the US trainers, the officers were trained in chaining basic knots, repelling techniques, high-end and low-end rescue systems, river crossing, self rescue, among other things
During the opening of the training session on Monday, Superintendent Errol Alexander who is responsible for training within the RSLPF stated that it is hoped that at the end of workshop, the force will have a cadre of police officers who are well trained to do Land, Search and Rescue. He added that the same equipment used during the training will be shipped to the St Lucia team for future use. At the closing ceremony on Friday, Police Commissioner Regis congratulated the participants for a job well done.The officers received certificates to commemorate their participation in the workshop.

WPC 11 Mitchel was the only female police officer who participated in the workshop.  She said it was a privilege for her to have been chosen. “I will go back and share my knowledge with the other members of the force,” she said. She added that it’s tough being a woman police officer but she is not intimidated by her male colleagues. In fact, she thinks it’s the other way around. She said the training was very good, she learned a lot and it helped her to deal with her fear of heights.

WPC Mitchell has been a police officer for the past five years, two of which she has been a member of the SSU. Sergeant Lucius Lake expressed thanks on behalf of his team members.
The US experts were also handed Chairman’s Reserve liquor and a plaque as a token of appreciation. They also showed their appreciation by giving a plaque to the Commissioner.

It was another medal for Levern Spencer during her European tour.

St Lucia’s star high jumper and four time reigning Sportswoman of the Year, Olympian Levern Spencer, continues to shine in the professional ranks. She won her third medal in as many competitions on her first European tour as a professional athlete, with a gold medal in Germany on Sunday. Spencer cleared a season best 1.91metres (m) to capture first place. She defeated Neiki Kroger (Germany and Eliska Klucinova of the (Czech Republic) into 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
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Spencer had previously won bronze on June 3 with a clearance of 1.88m and another bronze on June 5, with a leap of 1.90m on her European tour. The final and what is expected to be her toughest challenge on her tour, is on Wednesday in Thessaloniki Greece. After that competition, Spencer travels back to the United States to continue her training to represent St Lucia at upcoming regional and international engagements.

Art on coconut trees? Michael does it all!

Walking into the opening of the Michael Wong Loi Sing exhibition this week my immediate thought was that I can’t remember seeing so much art from one artist at one time in St Lucia before.
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You could hardly decide where to turn, as at every degree of vision there was something more to see. Art everywhere, hanging from the doorway, draped across the floor, worn with pride by many of his co-workers from St Joseph’s Convent where he currently teaches Visual Art. Moments after arriving I saw a teacher walk in and in five minutes or less, her dress became his latest artwork. I was advised to go and look at the coconut trees in the Alliance Francaise car park—they were clad in art too.
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Wong Loi Sing, originally from Suriname, comes from a family of artists and firmly believes that art has a vital place in society, in developing personal and cultural expression and in developing the depth of our characters individually and nationally. He has exhibited in many countries; Denmark, California USA, the Netherlands, France, Trinidad and now St Lucia.
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His academic qualifications are unquestionable but what captures people’s interest is his obvious enthusiasm for his work, the vibrancy of his painting, the layers of images and meanings that no matter how many times you look, are never exhausted, leaving you wondering if he popped back and added something else while you weren’t watching.
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Where many of us artists hesitate, he seems to sprint effortlessly forward, and I think it’s safe to say that every artist that attended the evening showing felt drawn to follow. I joked that I felt awfully lazy surrounded by his prolificacy, but more so I felt encouraged and inspired to produce more work.
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For the art appreciator, this exhibition will not disappoint.  For the student, I think the shamanistic and allegorical feel of the paintings will appeal and inspire them to express the multitude of experiences and emotions of young life. For those who may think they’re not really into art, go anyway and enjoy being surprised by what you find.

Kelvin Kanhai (14) followed closely by Dexter Felix (451) following the start of a race in the ‘B’ Class.

Cul de Sac was once again buzzing with excitement over the weekend as the St Lucia Moto X Club staged their third points race of the year.
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Competing were several local riders and competitors from Club Moon Martinique who provided stiff competition and added thrills on a course which was redesigned. The new layout which consisted of more jumps proved challenging. Two riders were thrown off their bikes but were not seriously hurt. They were attended to on the track by volunteer nurse Bonnette and the club’s First Responder Instructor, Terroll Compton, also President of the St Lucia Moto X Club.
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The course was particularly tough on young Carlan Mitchell on bike 801(sponsored by SALCO & CJ Touring). He had a rough time manoeuvring his way through traffic and had a few spills. Nevertheless, Mitchell ended up third on the ‘B’ Class Suzuki Score Board. It was a learning experience for Mitchell who will only get better as time goes on.
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Olson Francois on bike number 10, placed first in the ‘B’ Class with 24.33 points. He will undoubtedly move up the ladder in the overall points standings for the 2009 season. Second place went to Kelvin Kanhai (22.33). Mitchell finished third (21.67) followed by Dexter Felix (19.67) and Keran Rosemond (18).
Finishing in first place on the Class ‘A’ Suzuki Scoreboard was Daran Rosemond with 25 points. Second place went to Randy Grocravia with 23 points followed by Linlin Grocravla with 20.33 points, Bryan Leonce (19.67) and Rio O’Brian (12).
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The next Moto X race is set for June 14 at the track at Cul de Sac and will again feature riders from St Lucia and Martinique. Officials with the St Lucia Moto X Club thanked sponsors and spectators who were present Sunday to view what the president calls “St Lucia’s only true racing sport.”

‘Honeymoon Travel Examiner’ Suzie Rodriguez recently gave her opinion on our island.  St Lucia is constantly ranked as a top honeymoon destination, so I’d think it was only a matter of time before she made her way down here.  Although I have never been to Calabash Cove, if I’m to take her opinion, it’s another great reason why people continue to visit St Lucia, especially for honeymoons.  We can only hope that some of these happy couples enjoy it enough to come back and check out the vast St Lucia Property that has become available, and maybe we can even build them their dream Villa!

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Read Suzie’s blog here:

http://www.examiner.com/x-9739-SF-Honeymoon-Travel-Examiner~y2009m6d16-The-Caribbeans-beautiful-and-romantic-St-Lucia

General Manager of Bay Gardens Beach Resort Berthia Parle with her staff.

Nestled on the end of the infamous Reduit Beach, the Bay Gardens Beach Resort is just two years old. Although still a toddler in the business, this 72 room, all-suite four star resort has already carved out quite a reputation for itself. Like its sister hotels, the Bay Gardens Beach Resort (BGBR) has become home to a number of business travelers attending conferences and other business meetings in St Lucia. But there is a lot more to this unique “window to paradise” resort.
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It is no surprise therefore that clients of one of the biggest tour operators from the UK find the Resort irresistible. Over the last two years the Resort and Virgin Holidays have developed quite a partnership and the results of the Virgin Holidays Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ) for the month of March just released, show exactly what the Virgin Satisfied Customers think of the Resort.
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The Questionnaires are issued one per booking and are compiled using a grading system of: Excellent—100 percent;  Good—75 percent;  OK—50 percent;  Could do Better—25 percent;  Poor—0 percent. Results are sent out with a comparison to the host country (St Lucia in this case) and the host hotel.  The just released ratings below reflect the results for March 2009: Accommodation V Rating was 96 percent; Room Standard—88 percent; Facilities—81 percent; Hotel Staff—97 percent.
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General Manager of the BGRB, Mrs Berthia Parle was elated by the good news. She was quick to point out the significance of this type of rating for such a new hotel and emphasized that the success of the Resort to date was due to the “great team we have here at the Bay Gardens Beach Resort. Our staff are dedicated and ensure that all our guests receive personalized and professional service.”
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Whilst extending congratulations, Mrs Parle thanked all staff members for their ongoing effort and support especially during this period of down-sizing and belt-tightening. The BGBR adopted the slogan “your window to paradise” and it appears that this small Resort intends to ensure just that experience to all its valued guests.

The Dunnottar School students rocked the house (hotel?) as they performed for guests at a handing over ceremony of a cheque for $56,398 from the Bel Jou hotel.

Live entertainment is a regular occurrence at hotels around the island. The sort of extravagant entertainment commonplace to professional musicians or experienced dancers; in front of a typically foreign audience. When the same sort of entertainment is presented to an audience of the like, in the middle of the week from students thought by many not to be capable of such obvious talent, one has no choice but to stop mid-step, and listen.
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Last week Bel Jou Hotel, formerly known as Cara Suites, was filled with youthful, eager faces of students decked in identical tailored white bottoms and blue-stripped polo shirts. It was not the students’ first visit to the hotel and as the guests who were invited for a special ceremony, including school principal Carolyn Archibald, sat down to lunch, students of the Dunnottar School band purposefully made their way center stage.
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In no time rhythmic sounds filled the air as the band took off in a familiar fashion. Guests were captivated from the onset and could not tear their eyes away from the unlikely group, but hotel staff went about their usual business. They’d become accustomed with the students who performed at Bel Jou every other Thursday.
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The only difference in the usual performance was an over fifty thousand EC dollar donation to be made to the Dunnottar School from Saga Holiday’s, a tour operator in the United Kingdom, now owner of Bel Jou Hotel.
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Teachers from the school that catered for students with disabilities ranging from autism and Down syndrome to cerebral palsy and mental retardation told the STAR the hotel had taken the school as their charity since 2008.
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“The students usually get a good response from the guests when they play. It’s usually at lunchtime and everyone is there. As usual, they made me proud,” said John Kenneth Polius alias Aza, the school’s music teacher.
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Another teacher, Rodney Maxius, from the school’s vocational department who’d been with the school for seven years out of its over 20-year existence did not hide the fact that he was grateful to the support of the hotel as most of the time, employers were unwilling to take students in for training.
“It’s a hassle,” he said. “You have to actually beg because a lot of employers are not sensitized about people with developmental disabilities. They believe the students would just do something crazy. I think they mistake it for mental illness most of the time. Before they even give them a chance, they have the negativity aspect attached to it and they just say no before they even see the child or hear us out.”
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From Maxius’ account, there was no time for getting frustrated or giving up.
“We kind of expect them to put up a defense so we go prepared and try to show them the benefits and try to explain to them what the students are capable of.”
Maxius went on: “For me, teaching these students is very rewarding. They’re the most loving persons you could find. It’s a matter of trying to understand what their world is like. It’s not like ours. Once you get to understand what their world is like and how they think, you kind of help them adapt to our world and that’s about it.”
Students of the band were part of the school’s music program that had existed for about five years but the band a little over two years old.
“It’s doing them well,” said Maxius. “The whole focus of the school is using art to teach; music, drama, drawing, colouring, that kind of thing. The band is just one product of what has been happening in the school.”
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In addition to playing at the Bel Jou hotel, Saga Holidays had taken students from the Dunnottar School Band onboard the Saga Rose cruise ship to play during its 2009 world tour. Management at the hotel had also taken in one of the students for training, under supervision in the kitchen. Plans were already underway to train another student in the security division.
“The guests love it when they play,” said Terry Wiseman, head of hotels for Saga. “They support them not only with financial donations, they also send school equipment.”
Wiseman said Saga always supported charities in the community as the kind of persons they sent on holiday liked to put something back into the local community.
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“We market mostly to over 50’s, own and operate cruise ships and this is the first hotel we’ve purchased. Our guests have seen the school, and support the school. When the children played for the Saga Rose the guests were so enthralled at seeing them play that they decided to adopt them as their charity for the round the world cruise. The people on board did various fund-raising events for the charity on the cruise and that is why today we’ve given them a cheque for EC$56, 398.”
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Teachers expressed gratitude to Saga Holidays and at the end of the event, revealed that most members of the band were at the age when they were supposed to leave the center.
“Our dream is to have them remain as a band,” said Rodney Maxius. “Have them leave school as a band and we get some other assistance from them so they could remain as a band. They have so much talent; it would be a shame to see all that talent go to waste.”