The Tribune

ON National Heroes Day this year, all roads led to Adelaide Village where the Anglican Church Men (ACM) of St James Parish hosted their ninth annual Father R F Anthony Roberts’ ‘King of the Grill’ Fest.

An overflowing crowd packed the church grounds and spilled over into the street. Those in attendance feasted on tasty native dishes and washed it down with drinks of every kind.
The ACM of St James in its commitment to national development and community outreach has held this major fundraiser every year since 2005.

The purposes of the event include fundraising, fellowship and fun

Through this initiative the ACM hopes to positively impact the Adelaide Community and surrounding areas. Money raised at the Grill Fest will be utilised in its ongoing programme to assist the community of Adelaide, the church environment and a number of other charitable organisations. The event also enables various branches of the ACM and many other people to come together for good, clean fun.

The highlight of the day was the cooking competition between the various ACM branches in New Providence. This year, a record number of eight branches participated in the competition.

In order to ensure fairness and that a high standard was maintained, Chef Addimae Farrington of the College of the Bahamas’ Hotel Training Division, along with Chef Michael Adderley, Chef Edwin Johnson and Dr Bridgette Rolle judged the competition. After a very fierce contest, Holy Trinity emerged as the new champions.
These are the official results of the cooking competition:
1. Holy Trinity with 450 points
2. St Agnes with 437 points
3. Holy Cross with 432 points
4. St Ambrose with 410 points
5. St James with 401 points
6. St Matthew’s with 394 points
7. St Gregory with 386 points
8. St George’s with 375 point

The day ended with a Junkanoo rush-out.

Next year will make the 10th anniversary for the Grill Fest and plans are already under to make it very special. It is hoped that many more branches will participate, including those from the Family Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands to make it a truly diocesan occasion.

The event has been named in honour of Father R F Anthony Roberts, former assistant priest at St James. It was Father Roberts’ vision to invite the different branches of the ACM to come together for a cooking competition to see who was the best. Before this could be realised Father Roberts passed away. The ACM of St James, under the leadership of Julius Cox, took up the challenge and felt that it was only fitting that the competition be named in his honour.