The combined congregation of the Parish of St. George and St. John celebrated Mothers’ Day 2016 with a literally refreshing difference; the men of the church arranged for a breakfast for almost two hundred (200) parishioners at the St. George’s Parish Church Hall, following service on Sunday, 8 May.
A five (5) man Planning Committee, in the most literal sense, comprising of Livingstone Herbert (Chairman), Antonio Liburd, Augustine Merchant, Eric Evelyn and Alford Tyrell was entrusted with the planning and overseeing the successful execution of the event.
In honour of the mothers in the church, which were classified as not necessarily birth mothers but ladies who have contributed significantly to the development young people, everything that was instrumental in the tremendous success of the occasion was an input of the men of the congregation of both St. George’s and St. John’s; the Planning Committee gives special thanks to the male parishioners for their contributions towards making the programme a success. These contributions included, among other things, the sourcing and provision of financial and physical resources, preparation of the Church Hall, cleaning and arranging the necessary furniture for the occasion and on the day, the very efficient serving of an extremely sumptuous meal to all present.
The core of the event, the breakfast, was integrated into a special programme which was arranged to honour a mother from each church viz. Ms. Gloria Lanns, St. George’s and Ms. Averil Walters, St. John’s. The invocation by the Rev. Verna Morgan led off a very impressive programme of a liturgical dance and poems by young members of the congregation, songs by members of the Sunday School and the inimitable Alister Dore. Very impressive and moving profiles of each Mother of the Year were read followed by the presentation of a bouquet and plaque to each honouree, in honour of their contribution both within the Church and in the community at large. Toasts in their honour were made by male parishioners Elmo Farrell, Chesley Manners and Godfrey David.
Special presentations of a single pink rose were made to ten (10) single mothers, courtesy of DeJean Jack, a member of the parish, a cake each to the honourees, courtesy of Livingstone Herbert and his staff and Mothers’ Day tokens to each lady present at the breakfast, courtesy of F & F Transportation, operators of the passenger ferry, Caribe Queen. These thoughtful and unsolicited contributions were well appreciated.
The wonderful and moving function came to a fitting end with a spontaneous and very joyous rendition of the chorus “Thank you, thank you…….” led by Clara Walters which was followed by Deacon Patronalia Brown’s presentation of the Benediction.