Summary of Twinning and post twinning events:
1984
Policy and Resources Committee of Gloucester City Council first
discussed the possibility of developing links with a town in
Jamaica.
1985
Former mayor and member of Gloucester City Council’s
Community Relations committee, Counsellor Harry Worrall
visited St Ann
and discussed the possibility of twinning with the St Ann
Parish Council and leading citizens of the parish.
1987
April
Counsellor Renford Gentles, Mayor of St Ann accompanied by Mr
Clifton Osbourne, Clerk of the Parish Council, visited Gloucester
to further twinning discussions.
May
On the 1st of May the Mayor of Gloucester, Counsellor Tony Ayland
and the Mayor of St Ann, Counsellor Renford Gentles, signed
the twinning charter at Gloucester City Council.
1987/1988
The first reciprocal visits of young people from both communities
took place. The young people worked on community projects to
increase understanding and co-operation between the two countries.
1988
Fund-raising for St Ann which was badly damaged by hurricane
Gilbert, was undertaken in Gloucester through the mayor’s ‘Hurricane
Gilbert Appeal’.
1989
Formation of a sub-committee of Gloucester City Council to oversee
twinning activities between St Ann and Gloucester.
1990
School links were established between Widden Primary and
Severn Vale Secondary schools in Gloucester and St Ann’s Bay
Primary and Ferncourt High Schools in St Ann respectively. Later
in that year a fund-raising concert was organised by the Church
of God Prophecy to provide much needed support for an ‘Indigent
Persons Project’ in St Ann.
1990/1991
Slide shows relating to the twinning were held in City and County
primary and secondary schools in Gloucestershire.
1990
May
The Mayor of Gloucester, Counsellor Eric Ede and former City
Chief Executive officer, Richard Shackleton, paid the first
official visit to St Ann and reported to the City Council on
ways in which twinning could be strengthened.
August
The Mayor of St Ann, Counsellor Wentworth Smith and Miss Cynthia Graham from
the St Ann Parish Council paid an official visit to Gloucester at the invitation
of the City Council, to attend the National Inland Waterways Festival.
1991
In June 1991, it was agreed to dissolve the St Ann Town Twinning sub-committee
and that it be replaced by an autonomous ‘St Ann Society of Gloucester’. £600.00
was raised in this year, to purchase cricket equipment for the parish of
St Ann.
1992
The first annual general meeting of the St Ann Society was held in June.
1993
Former Mayor of Gloucester Tony Ayland died. Discussions took place later that
year to decide on a memorial to commemorate his death. The possibility of establishing
a trust fund related to the twinning of St Ann and Gloucester was raised.
1997
10th anniversary of the signing of the twinning agreement. This was celebrated
with a cricket match between the St Ann Society Eleven and the Continental cricket
club of Birmingham Eleven. The celebrations also included an Anniversary church
service and the issue of anniversary mugs for sale.
1999
Formal launch of the Tony Ayland Trust Fund.
2002
Co-hosts visit of Governor General of Jamaica, His Excellency Sir Howard Cooke,
ON, GCMC, GCVO, CD and the High Commissioner for Jamaica to the UK, His Excellency
David Muirhead, QC, OJ, CD to Gloucester on Tuesday 16th April.
2002
The Tony Ayland Trust gave £250 towards the purchase
of books in the St Ann Parish library. They also assisted
in the selection of books donated
by the
Gloucester library to the library in St Ann for younger readers.
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