The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

A SHORTLIST of 25 past and present residents to be considered for recognition for significant contributions to the community has been announced by the Bain and Grants Town Advancement Association as it prepares to celebrates its third annual Heroes Week.

Yesterday, the president of the Association, Rev C B Moss, announced that the community will honour a number of Bain and Grants Town residents who they considered vital to the “over the hill community”. The list includes Willimae Pratt and Simpson Penn, who have had remand centres for minors named after them. Political pioneers like former senator Bruce Braynen and Sir Arlington Butler and cultural icon, Jackson Burnside, are also listed.

“While the intended focus was national heroes, the Bain and Grants Town Advancement Association felt that this was an appropriate occasion to identify and honour persons who have made significant contributions to our local community, and perhaps the nation,” said Rev Moss yesterday. October is recognised as National Heroes month in the Bahamas.

Rev Moss claimed that although some important members of Bain and Grants Town might be overlooked on the national stage, his organisation intends to acknowledge and celebrate them.

“These persons,” he said, “may never be recognised at the national level, but their community could honour them, which indeed is the highest honour.” He laid out the association’s agenda for the week, starting on Sunday, which includes a church service, school visits, an awards banquet, community social, a Government House reception and a junkanoo rush.

Rev Moss indicated that his hope for the weeks’ events is to achieve pride and value within the community of Bain and Grants Town. “We want the residents to feel a sense of pride. We want the kids, when we visit the schools, to look at the honourees and say they are from the same streets I am from, they attended the same schools. We can do that,” he said.

The BGTAA nominees are:

BAIN TOWN: Rev Sammy Saunders, Wellington “Brightley” Ferguson, Missouri Sherman-Peter, Ludell Theophilus, Basil Johnson, Gerald Dean, Perry Taylor, William Seymour, Dr P A Hepburn, Willimae Pratt, Dr George Sherman, Sir Arlington Butler, Apostle Charles Wallace.

GRANTS TOWN: Franklyn Wilson, Bruce Braynen, Simpson Penn, Bert Cambridge, Eardley Moss, Charles Major, Audley Kemp, E ‘Elisha’ Obed Ferguson, Dr Jackson Burnside, Bishop Cephas Ferguson, Dame Doris Johnson, and James Russell.