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| The plaiting of the Maypole as it took place at Milton Lynch Primary. (A. Miller/BGIS) |
Schools across the island will, over the next few days, continue to commemorate this island’s 46th Anniversary of Independence with a series of cultural programmes and activities this week.
Independence Day, which falls on Friday, November 30, will be celebrated at all levels, through dance, song, and poetry, the sale of Bajan delicacies and in some cases educational tours of the island. Events of the past are also expected to feature prominently over the next two days, Wednesday, November 28, and Thursday, November 29.
At the Eden Lodge Nursery School, Barbadian culture will take over the grounds tomorrow, Wednesday, November 28, at 10:30 a.m., with the arrival of the tuk band and two popular calypsonians, Blood and Popsicle. The following day, Thursday, November 29, at 10:00a.m., the tiny tots will perform their own songs, poems and dance while enjoying an Independence concert under the theme: Proud Barbadians.????
Teachers at the Government Hill Nursery School will, tomorrow, take their young charges on an educational Independence tour of Pelican Village to view the art and craft on display by vendors. On Thursday, at 9:00 a.m., the children will dress in cultural costumes and perform a number of recitations, dances, songs and a mount display of artefacts. The day will also see the school’s Parent Teachers’ Association selling bajan delicacies, including fishcakes, bakes, conkies and sugar cakes.
The nearby Charles F. Broome Primary will host Bajan StoryTelling Day tomorrow, from noon, for classes 3 and 4, having already done a similar affair last week for the younger age groups.?? The following day, Thursday, at 9:30 a.m., there will be a cultural atmosphere as children dressed in national colours, participate in an Independence Quiz, display Things of Yesteryear, and enjoy Bajan goodies.??
Westbury Primary School students will also host an Independence Quiz tomorrow, Wednesday, and its Bajan Day on Thursday, where students and teachers will wear the Independence colours and enjoy bajan food and drinks. Both activities get under way at 10:00 a.m.
On Thursday, at Arthur Smith Primary School, the grounds will come alive, from 1:00 p.m., with the strains of Sing Out Barbados, popular calypsonians and the 1688 Orchestra Band of the Barbados Community College, under the direction of Stefan Walcott.??
At the St. Leonard’s Boys’ Secondary School, parents will be allowed to come in for Market Day on Thursday, and sell products including craft, vegetables and fruit at various points on the school’s compound from 9:00 a.m.?? The school will also stage a play by its drama group and patrons will hear its 100-boys choir.
Graydon Sealy Secondary School (formerly The Garrison Secondary School) will also hold its Independence programme on Thursday at 9:00 a.m. It will comprise a parade of cadets, musical and dramatic presentations and an address by Retired Warrant Officer 1, Cherrol Deane, who will speak to students on Being Strict Guardians of Our Heritage.
Frederick Smith Secondary School (formerly St. James Secondary School) will hold its annual Independence Awards ceremony on Thursday, for students who have excelled in academics, sports, extracurricular activities, deportment and punctuality. There will be entertainment by the school’s steel pan and folk songs by individual students and class groups. Former sportscaster and historian, Morris Greenidge, will also address students on Pride and Industry.?? The programme starts at 10:00 a.m.
At Wills Primary School, the entire body will, tomorrow, re-enact the Chainlink of 1979, joining hands around the field at 9:00 a.m. and singing the song Let’s Join Hands. Through its outreach programme, Helping Hands of Wills the school will collect a donation from children to aid the needy along with gifts placed in shoeboxes.
St. Cyprian Boys’ School, having had its programme last week, will bring the curtain down on Independence with its annual fair on Friday, November 30, beginning at 10:00 a.m. under the theme Hero Mania. It will see students bedecked in super hero costumes and performances by reigning Sweet Soca and Party Monarch, calypsonian Mikey, among other activities.
Parents and guardians as well as the general public are invited to participate in activities staged at schools across the island.