The Cedar Tree Press has launched its 2025 Christmas Quiz, which focuses on Virgin Islands Christmas traditions from the 1950s. For a chance to win dinner for two, answer the …
COMMENTARY — Methodists, Green VI praised for eco projects
I am very pleased that the Methodist Church BVI Circuit is taking its responsibility for stewardship of the environment seriously and has launched its Environmental Stewardship Programme for February 2025. …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Methodists, Green VI praised for eco projects”
LETTER — A ‘dream’ of a national library
I had a dream: that one day, the youth and the entire citizenry of this land will have the opportunity to enter the doors of their national public library and …
LETTER — The Cedar Tree Press Christmas Quiz
Cedar Tree Press is hosting a Christmas quiz to celebrate traditional Virgin Islands Christmas customs of former years. The exercise will help to remind, cement and pass on knowledge of …
Continue reading “LETTER — The Cedar Tree Press Christmas Quiz”
POEM — The Leaven Rises
A tribute to Dame Janice Mesadis Pereira The leaven rises, breaking currency. The facture scatters, raising new dough. Like the wind, effects are seen if not the …
LETTER — ‘Gratitude where gratitude is due’
I totally agree with Michael Riegels’ commentary in last week’s Beacon. He suggests that although the Sir Rupert Briercliffe Hall has been torn down, “some suitable recognition be given to …
Continue reading “LETTER — ‘Gratitude where gratitude is due’”
COMMENTARY — Call made to improve Road Town
We seem to be very adept at asking for plans and creating plans, but once the plans are in our hands, we often fail to execute them. The host of …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Call made to improve Road Town”
POEM — Whitsuntide Prayer
Break through! Break through Break through the walls Of my upper room, Lord I want to see you Break through! I want to see you. Break through! Break through …
POEM: This Much I Know
I do not know what prompt Urged the action: Intentional intent, Selfish ambition, Or innocent enthusiasm? I do not know. Was overstep Of rules and allegiance Ignorance? Or over-confidence? …
POEM — She Did Not Know
In her poverty she was rich but did not know. She did not know that in embrace of that ghut was place and grace. She did not know that …
COMMENTARY — Writer hopes for a ‘Virgin Spring’
The book of Isaiah 40:3-5 proclaims, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Writer hopes for a ‘Virgin Spring’”
COMMENTARY — Call made for national library, again
It was such a joy to be in a library other than my own a few days ago! I needed to do some research on a particular topic that my …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Call made for national library, again”
COMMENTARY — Two education stalwarts remembered
Florence Wilhelmina Thomas (1901-1996) of East End was the first native Virgin Islands qualified teacher, and legislator Howard R. Penn (1903-1994), of East End and Road Town, did much to …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Two education stalwarts remembered”
COMMENTARY — Call made for ‘shift’ in national life
On Emancipation Sunday, the Abolition Act 1833 was read from a reprint published by the Virgin Islands Public Library in 1984. The following year, the library also published a reprint …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Call made for ‘shift’ in national life”
COMMENTARY — D-8 road seen as potential disaster
I am taking this matter to the media since I’ve had no meaningful response from the authorities whom I thought were responsible. Which ministry, department or agency is responsible for …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — D-8 road seen as potential disaster”
COMMENTARY — Call made for public library
I was very pleased to see that the editor of The BVI Beacon still thinks that a public library is of significant value to the community: so much so that …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Call made for public library”
COMMENTARY — EE library plans applauded
I was pleased to read in a recent issue of The BVI Beacon that Cabinet has approved a new location at Major Bay for the East End/Long Look Community Library. …
COMMENTARY — Call made to honour VI heroes
I applaud the theme of the BVI National Commission for UNESCO World Poetry Competition 2021: “Perspectives of Our Past: Unsung Heroes.” So often our lips declare that “we stand on …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Call made to honour VI heroes”
Commentary — Call made for new library, archives
I was pleased with the cultural emphasis during the August Emancipation Festival events this year. It is getting closer to what I have been advocating for many years: prayerful thanksgiving, …
Continue reading “Commentary — Call made for new library, archives”
POEM — The Treasury of Heaven
There’s a strangeness in the air. Crisis, crisis! But not fear. Knock! Knock! Who is there? I’m a shaking, shaking, shaking up the heaven and the earth: There’s a …
COMMENTARY — Call made to keep sports records
I look forward to listening to the ZBVI Sports Show on Saturday afternoons around 6 p.m. It is informative and usually very humorous. Sometimes it’s so funny that they crack …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Call made to keep sports records”
COMMENTARY — Ideas offered to fix ‘deplorable’ roads
I like to engage anyone who will listen in conversation on current topical issues and matters affecting the well-being of the territory. One such current issue is the deplorable condition …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Ideas offered to fix ‘deplorable’ roads”
COMMENTARY – VI Christmas tree explained
A talk-show host on Saturday night posed a seasonal question the radio audience: “What is the name of the tree we traditionally used in the Virgin Islands as the Christmas …
COMMENTARY — Previous arts festivals recalled
In his recent Budget Address, Premier Andrew Fahie promised to build on the arts festival previously organised by late District Five Representative Delores Christopher. Yes, indeed, we are forever grateful …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Previous arts festivals recalled”
COMMENTARY — Call made for national library to house salvaged books
I am still rescuing books after Hurricane Irma. Incredible! At last I’m getting around to my store of books at the Old Family House, which had been unoccupied for more …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Call made for national library to house salvaged books”