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Prime Minister Encouraging Youth To Join A Service Organisation

In an environment of rising homicides by gun violence per capita in countries across the region, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley is calling for more opportunities for young people to join organisations such as cadets, the Boy Scouts, and other service clubs.

Ms. Mottley emphasised that the expansion in service organisations was necessary to expose young people to the importance of service and how to handle weapons.

She made the suggestion today during the closing ceremony for Exercise Tradewinds 2024 (EXTW24) at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Two Mile Hill, St. Michael.

“The Barbados Defence Force has been supportive in continuing to expand its Cadet Programme and its Sea Cadet Programme…. As physical circumstances allow us, I actually would like for us to be able to ensure that every boy and every girl, as they become teenagers in this country, are exposed to this service organisation.

“A time will come where it will not only be the men and women in uniform who will be called into service, but it will actually be the people of this nation who must stand up to the call, more likely than not, especially in circumstances of small island states, whose capacity to survive can be terminated within a few hours…,” Ms. Mottley proffered.

The Prime Minister maintained that EXTW24 had “elevated the extent to which ordinary people now understood that guns could be used in circumstances to commit crime or to protect region’s borders from criminal activities”.

However, the task at hand now, she stressed, was for regional governments to ensure that its citizens see the benefit of using firearms for protection and not destruction.

“A gun is a tool that kills. It doesn’t walk and even with AI, it doesn’t yet talk. Therefore, it comes back to the basic integrity of the individuals in our society to determine how to treat weapons with respect.

“I want to commend the exercise because I saw on the weekend, you opened up to people of this nation and I saw families come and bring their children. We will not be able to obliterate guns from the earth because regrettably it is here. But like with everything else we do with our children, it is to teach them to respect how they use weapons,” Ms. Mottley underlined.

The Prime Minister added that the exercise, held over the last two weeks, was “the evidence of what calling on each other looks like, and what it feels like”, as regional forces prepared themselves for any eventuality.

Also speaking during the opening ceremony were host country Co-Director of EXTW24, Commander Mark Peterson; Deputy Commander United States Southern Command, Vice Admiral Alvin Holsey; Acting Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force, Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Lovell; and United States Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Roger Nyhus.

Exercise Tradewinds 2024 was held in Barbados from May 4 to 16. (PR/GIS)

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SPECIAL POLLING DAY NOTICE

Local

FundAccess To Host Legal Clinic Workshop from May 13th

Entrepreneurs will soon get another opportunity to learn about critical legal matters that are key to the operation of their businesses.

FundAccess will be hosting The Legal Clinic Workshop, which will commence on Tuesday, May 13, and continue each Tuesday, until May 27, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The workshop will be facilitated by Attorney-at-law Ondene Kirton and participants will discuss Understanding Business Legal Structures; Contracts & Agreements; Employment Law & Compliance; and Examination of the Various Laws Relating to Small Business.

During those sessions, the participants will be exposed to sole proprietorship, partnerships, corporations – pro and cons; how to choose the right legal structure for a business; the importance of contracts in business operations; avoiding common contract pitfalls; and employee rights & employer responsibilities, among others. Some of the pieces of legislation to be examined include the Employment Rights Act and National Insurance and Social Security Act.

Interested persons may attend the workshop in person at FundAccess’ Pinfold Street, Bridgetown location, or online via the Zoom Platform. To register, click on the following link: https://bit.ly/3Fu09Jv.

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Centenarian Built On Firm Foundation Set By Grandmother

“Trust God first” is the mantra of one of Barbados’ newest centenarians, Athelstan Browne, who celebrated his 100th birthday on April 29, 2025, at his home in Montrose, Christ Church, surrounded by family and friends.

One of his specially invited guests was President of Barbados, Her Excellency, The Most Honourable Dame Sandra Mason.

Mr. Browne shared that he grew up “not knowing a mummy” as his mother passed away at age 23, when he was two years old, and his brother was only one year old.

Crediting his grandmother for his upbringing, Mr. Brown remarked: “I had a real good, good grandmother that raised two of us, and everything we learn before we went to school, she taught us.”

Pointing to a humble yet deeply religious upbringing, Mr. Browne said: “I and my brother slept on the floor. Our grandmother spread things down there, and she just put the pillow under our head.”

He recalled that they had to sing the hymn “Under the Blood” before going to bed, and first thing in the morning before they had breakfast, which usually consisted of “a cup of tea and two biscuits”. Adding that the hymn was “our song”, Mr. Browne sang the hymn from memory.

Stressing that his grandmother was a great provider, he noted: “My grandmother had land, and she would work the land…. We would eat raw potato, raw okras, (green) peas, cucumbers…. The only thing we did not eat was raw yams and eddoes.”

Mr. Browne continues to enjoy his ground provisions “with a little rice”, as he likes his rice with green peas, and if available, chicken boiled with the rice. “I am a fish man,” he remarked, eating it either fried or with a “stew sauce”.

Continuing to nurture his Christian beliefs, he joined the Mount Ararat United Holy Church (currently in Dayrell’s Road, Christ Church) in 1967, at age 33, and has continued there ever since.

Once the Superintendent of the Sunday School at the church, Mr. Browne is still instrumental in providing leadership to the youth there. “I have a crowd of young people at church that love me…especially when I have to talk to them…. It is what they should hear and what they should have,” he said.

The centenarian was raised in Montrose, Christ Church, and attended the Christ Church Boys’ School (now Milton Lynch Primary School). After leaving school, Mr. Browne initially took to agriculture but then worked cutting soft stone in two quarries in Christ Church.

In 1947, at the age of 22, he decided to join the US Farm Labour Programme and took the first Pan American Airlines flight out of Barbados. Over 10 years later, Mr. Browne returned to Barbados and married Monica Browne (deceased). Together, they built the house where he currently resides.

Returning to his roots in agriculture, the centenarian worked at the Ridge Plantation, Christ Church, until retirement. He also planted and reaped ground produce at home, as well as planted and cut canes.

Mr. Browne, who is generally in good health and has a sharp memory, still works around the home and enjoys reading, which he does without glasses. He also keeps in touch with his family in New York and North Carolina, and will do some travelling, but he is always ready to return home.

After toasting the centenarian, Her Excellency remarked: “You are in the midst of a lot of love, and I am sure you are going to enjoy the rest of your birthday. I am really happy to have met you. I am grateful for the work that you still continue to do with our young people because a lot of them lack direction, and we, nowadays, don’t take enough time to sit down and speak with them…. We don’t remind them that they are important, that they are somebody.”

Mr. Browne responded: “You got to make them understand what … the Lord expects of them… We have to acknowledge the Lord.”

Mr. Browne has two children, 10 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. (PR/GIS)

Caption: President of Barbados, Her Excellency, The Most Honourable Dame Sandra Mason, and Barbados’ newest centenarian Athelstan Browne take a walk outside during his birthday celebrations in Montrose, Christ Church