IT WAS definitely a New Year’s Eve of unrivalled glamour and decadence last weekend at the Party Like A Royal event at Atlantis Paradise Island.
On the Royal Deck, there was a dazzling line-up of musical acts, free-flowing cocktails, dancing, and sensational interactive entertainment. All of this - as well as a special DJ set by American actor, rapper, and comedian Nick Cannon.
Patrons also got a surprise with a show-stopping performance by American singer and songwriter, Kesha. Both Kesha and Nick Cannon joined the large crowd in ringing in 2023 at midnight with majestic fireworks by Fireworks by Grucci.
Meanwhile, on January 1 at the same location, Atlantis hosted Grammy Award-winning duo The Chainsmokers. The electro-pop legends kept the party going with pulsating energy, special effects, and high-octane beats.
Jason Spencer, Atlantis Paradise Island’s vice president of on-island marketing and events, said: “The Party Like A Royal setting outside was amazing. There were different stages set up throughout the party. There were glow-like cirque performers in the crowd and it was just a wonderful set-up. It really was. The customers, guests, talent was just all having a really great time.
“It feels great to execute and that is what Atlantis is all about. We are dedicated to being a resort, entertainment destination for our local guest as well as our international guest. That is our goal each year, to provide world class entertainment, destination, activities and fun for our communities; of course, that includes our resident communities in the Bahamas, and our community from across the world who come in and visit with us.”
He said the team is already looking forward to this year’s NYE celebrations, and aiming to make it bigger and better.
“We are just ecstatic that last year went off very flawlessly. The Chainsmokers was also amazing at the same location, outside on the royal deck. It was pretty much a nonstop party, close to 3,000 people on both nights. The Chainsmokers put on a wonderful show, and it was just a wonderful atmosphere,” said Jason.
When asked about the feedback from the performers, Jason said Nick Cannon actually shared his thoughts to the world as he was interviewed live on CNN a couple of times, just expressing the joy of being in The Bahamas, how great and welcoming the people are, and how amazing the Atlantis resort is - and its feeling of paradise.
“There is no better way to bring in the new year. And those sentiments were carried across pretty
much all the talent, who pretty much expressed the same thing, to be able to be in The Bahamas on New Year’s. The talent looks forward to coming here any chance they can get,” said Jason.
Going forward, Jason said Atlantis is going to continue moving the needle upwards, bringing the biggest and best to most world class destination of Atlantis and The Bahamas.
He said: “Most immediate, patrons can look forward to our wine and food festival in March. We are bringing in celebrity chefs, we are having a number of events and a special performance by Wyclef. There is so much more involved in that festival, so those type of world-class multifunction events such as the festival, you can look forward to, and of course the biggest concert lineups throughout the year. We are celebrating our 25th anniversary of the Royal Towers, so that’s going to be an amazing celebration.”
Through vivid retellings and personal stories, readers get a true picture of the damage and destruction left in the wake of catastrophic Hurricane Dorian in a new book.
“Hurricane Dorian: The Story of the Greatest and Deadliest Hurricane to Impact The Bahamas in the Modern Era” tells the story of one of the strongest North Atlantic hurricanes and the strongest Bahamian hurricane.
The storm battered the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama with wind speeds of 185mph.
Written by veteran meteorologist Wayne Neely, the book includes the meteorological history, records broken, compelling personal recollections, its impact on each island affected, a chapter on climate change and its effects on hurricanes, and the benefits of hurricanes and why we need them.
Dorian hit The Bahamas on September 1, 2019, as a Category 5 hurricane, causing flooding and mass destruction on the northwest islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama. The storm pummelled the islands for 48 long hours before finally moving away.
According to the Inter-American Development Bank, Dorian caused about 3.4 billion in damages, which is equal to one-quarter of The Bahamas’ GDP.
The current death toll stands at 74 people, with 63 from Abaco and 22 from Grand Bahama, although 245 people are still missing.
Mr Neely said the historic and extensive impact of Dorian certainly justifies being told in a book.
He also said the storm was so compelling that it continued to fuel global discussions about climate change.
“It gives an introspective perspective look at all the major points dealing with this storm. It has personal recollections and discusses the climatological event of Dorian. In addition, it focuses of electronic information,” he said.
Mr Neely is a Bahamian Meteorologist/Forecaster working at the Bahamas Department of Meteorology for the past 31 years and has gained insightful knowledge and experience working with hurricanes.
He held two major exhibitions on all the major hurricanes to affect The Bahamas at the East Hill Post Office in Nassau, Bahamas. These exhibitions were highly attended by most of the government and private
schools’ students throughout Nassau and the Family Islands.
Many of them went on field trips to the East Hill Post Office just to view these exhibitions. Over the years Wayne has written several articles in various local and international newspapers (including, National Geographic, The Washington Post, and The New York Times) about weather events and hurricanes which have impacted both this country and the region.
To date, Mr Neely has written 15 books - all hurricane focused.
“Hurricane Dorian: The Story of the Greatest and Deadliest Hurricane to Impact The Bahamas in the Modern Era” is available at Logos Bookstore, Chapter One, all major online bookstores, or from the author.
Following in the footsteps of authors such as Jane Austen and TV shows such as Bridgerton, Paul Bethel spins stories of romance and mystery in the Regency era. He told CARA HUNT of his work, written under the pen name Beth Andrews, about his fascination for the era - and the inspiration sparked by his family.
in popularity,” Paul noted. He said that once they came around, he saw an increase in sales and interest in own books.
He writes under the pen name Beth Andrews and his writing has taken place over many yearsin between “life happening”.
“I just decided that it was something that I wanted to try. I like to say that when you read my books, there is a smile on every page.”
Paul started with several short stories and eventually they gained traction, propelling him to try his hand with full-length novels.
“It did take a while to get an acceptance letter but I got lucky because I was able to be picked upon by Joffee Books. It’s an independent UK based publishing house.”
His newest book, The Whispering Tongues, is the third book featuring his heroes, detective husband and wife team John and Lynda Savage. It became a bestseller immediately after its release.
In this book, Anthea Halliwell is shunned by society after being accused of theft.
When her father loses his fortune, she is forced to marry Gideon Rodrigo, who has always been fond of her. He hires the detectives to help clear his wife’s name.
While tongues wag and suspicions mount, John and Lydia suspect more than theft and slander are at play.
Someone is killing to keep their secrets hidden. If Anthea is to have any chance at happiness, she must catch a killer, clear her name and restore her reputation.
Paul Bethel never thought he would end up writing Regency-era romance and mystery novels or that they would end up on bestsellers’ lists.
It wasn’t until he happened to glance at some of his sister’s and mother’s books that he realised it was a genre that he wanted to pursue. He would also read stories in True Detective and True Romance magazine.
“My mom and my sister used to read a lot of the Mills and Boone type romances and they would always be lying around and one day, I picked up one of the books and just happened to read it. What I like about the regency era is that is has a lot of historical content and humour.”
The Regency era lasted for less than a decade between 1811 to 1820 during the time when King George III was deemed insane and unable to rule. His son, George IV, was appointed to act as Regent.
Regency-era romance was made by popular by authors such as Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen - many of her books have also been made into movies such as Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park.
More recently, the Shondra Rhimes Netflix series Bridgerton has further helped romanticise the era.
“Shows like Bridgerton and Sanditon have definitely caused regency books to have a surge
“This book took me a bit longer than my others, because I just was not sure what direction I wanted it to go. It started as a romance, but that was not working so and so then it became a mystery with John and Lydia,” Paul explained
The book’s title has several meanings.
“This is the third book involving John and Lydia, but the books are not connected or in sequence. The other two titles are Hidden in the Heart and The Unforgiving Eye. So, they both had a title with something to do with the body.”
In this book, there is a lot of gossip and innuendo about the main character. There is a quote that I also use in the book that says: “ Alas they had been friends in youth, but whispering tongues can poison truths. It is by Samuel Taylor
Coleridge and that is how I came up with the title.”
He says that he has an idea for a fourth book that would also include the husband and wife team, but is not sure how that will play out.
“Writing is hard especially when you are playing with all the ideas to figure out how the story will go and creating the characters. But the hardest part is editing and then
sending it out and having to do more edits. Not everyone will like your work. While I get a nice reader review, some of them are not nice.”
He is also known to stray from the regency era. My most recently published work was the short story, “The Devil in Sister Jones,” which is a satirical tale about murder and is set in an unnamed Family Island around the 1950s. It was accepted by
Mystery Magazine in Canada, and published in their September issue this year.
He has also written a short story collection, Quintet, which was published by Regency Reads in the US. “This is the one that contains the short story, ‘A Shadow on the Soul’, featuring John and Lydia from my mystery series.”
instruments (4) 27 Passed judgment in so many words, on the day (9)
Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so the each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Conceptis Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday
23 Graduate is backing Conservative cardinal (5)
4 Spontaneously, 6 Plaster, 7 Literal, 8 Strait, 13 Picador, 14 Erratic, 15 Editor, 16 Uranium, 17 Ancient.
Across
1 Fish put on ice (6)
4 Not the same as put into proper order (8) 9 First violin starts the cassette tape (6)
10 Proteins needed for dogs (8)
12 Account a man gives of his suffering (4)
13 Functions like a group of politicians (5) 14 Nothing to be seen on the German river (4)
17 They don’t permit you to live extravagantly (7,5)
20 They help when one is in a tearing hurry (12) 23 Not the final temperature (4) 24 Agree to give a hearty welcome (5) 25 It’s not evident the plaintiff has a quarrel (4) 28 Principal has to remain as chief support (8) 29 Re-dial correctly, or get off the line (6) 30 Artist is to become a writer (8)
31 A hearty communication (6)
Down
The difficulty level of the Conceptis Kakuro increases from Monday to Sunday. Across
The Frenchman has a fur coat attractive to shoppers (8) 2 A song about a subject a person can’t stand (8) 3 Fully avenged and that’s flat! (4) 5 Threats due to bold reappraisal (12) 6 Has wrongly won a point (4) 7 With it the essay is without purpose (6) 8 Barren land that’s rested perhaps (6) 11 The realm of the imagination? (4,2,6) 15 Beefy youngster is direct (5) 16 Joins in a rising smell (5) 18 Admit one may be inclined to be overbearing (8) 19 Exploit at length advantageously (8) 21 The manuscript is about Eastern subjects (6) 22 Revolutionary form of Taoism (6) 26 Employer in serious error (4) 27 Rush up to see the animals (4)
1
Across: 1 Repel, 4 Radiant, 8 Per, 9 Pachyderm, 10 Shuteye, 11 Award, 13 Edison, 15 Addled, 18 Queue, 19 Tear gas, 21 Armadillo, 23 Tub, 24 Harness, 25 Early.
Down: 1 Riposte, 2 Porcupine, 3 Lapse, 4 Racket, 5 Dry land, 6 Ape, 7 Timid, 12 Alligator, 14 Overdue, 16 Disobey, 17 Stylus, 18 Quash, 20 Adobe, 22 Mar.
Across: 1 Budge, 4 Despoil, 8 Ash, 9 Financier, 10 Pedants, 11 Eagle, 13 Traits, 15 Tended, 18 Pleat, 19 Tallies, 21 Small arms, 23 Emu, 24 Delayed, 25 Oasis.
Down: 1 Bear pit, 2 Dehydrate, 3 Elfin, 4 Danish, 5 Sincere, 6 Obi, 7 Large, 12 Godliness, 14 Totally, 16 Discuss, 17 Stared, 18 Posed, 20 Lasso, 22 Ail.
Walk lamely (6)
Naturally (2,6)
Hungarian composer (6)
In a manner of speaking (2,2,4)
Ensnare (4)
Punitive (5)
Suspended (4)
Generally accepted (12)
All over (4,3,2,3)
Loud sharp cry (4)
An assumed appearance (5)
Incentive (4)
Implored (8)
Brownishcrimson (6)
Liberality of interpretation (8) 31 To secure conclusively (6)
Down 1 Customary (8) 2 Permanent quarters for troops (8) 3 Plunder (4) 5 In an irresponsible way (4,3,5) 6 Blasphemous utterance (4) 7 Penitent (6) 8 Come to light (6) 11 Reluctant to speak frankly (5-7) 15 Solicitude (5) 16 Irascible (5) 18 Resign from position (4,4) 19 Introduce economies (8) 21 Emblem (6) 22 Cupboard (6) 26 Action at law (4) 27 Be unsuccessful (4)
have M R E A G H I N M HOW many words of four letters or more can you make from the letters shown here? In making a word, each letter may be used once only. Each must contain the centre letter and there must be at least one nine-letter word. No plurals. Verb forms ending in S permitted’. TODAY’S TARGET Good 26; very good 39; excellent 51 (or more). Solution tomorrow
FIND where the fleet 0 1 5 1 3 1 1 5 1 2 1 1 x Battleship 4 x Submarine
CARRAGEEN
acne acre acreage agree anger arcane area arena arrange cage cane care careen career carer
Across: Pheasant, Esteem, Safari, Illness, Newly, Mud, Ale, Ibis, Elope, Outcry, Gerbil, Killjoys.
start ● The Target uses words in the main body of Chambers 21st Century Dictionary (1999 edition) Call 0907 181 2585 for today’s Target solution *Calls cost 80p per minute plus your telephone company’s network access charge.
Some 3 x Destroyer 2 x Cruiser
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
carnage CARRAGEEN cere crane eager eagre earn earner enrage garner gean gear gene genre grace green nacre near nearer race racer rage ranee range ranger rare rear reran
28 9 30 13 15 23 12 30 17 15 18 24 4
21 20 37 4 34 5 27 25 35 21 33 25 11
14 12 21 40 10 8 38 24 37 25 7 24 18
Down: Nuzzling, Heave, Sprayed, Hulk, Inhibit, Asexual, Revenue, Party, Misquote.
33 14 15 32 24 29 14 13 1 22 27 36 1
16 9 2 4 19 17 36 18 6 8 34 37 26
29 22 7 23 8 13 3 4 8 35 7 34 27
38 34 20 38 37 24 40 39 34 33 14 3 32
17 10 5 18 37 17 26 7 38 5 1 3 17
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ■ 13 21 22 23 24 ■ 25 Y 26 27 28 29 30 B 31 32 33
3 16 8 38 25 23 24 23 10 40 2 12 3
35 33 29 21 17 7 33 4 8 3 34 36 24
5 24 1 36 34 31 8 26 22 7 25 23 39
14 15 C 16 17 18 34 35 36 37 38 ■
KEIJO
off. Solution TARGET BATTLESHIPS 1 2 4
Extra letter 0907 181 (Deduct three minutes each extra clue letter Full solution 0907 181 *Calls cost 80p per your telephone company’s network access 2345678910 123141304
4 2
4 3
1 2 3 1 2 4 1 3 3
Place the the grid four different numbers different appear in and column. Solution tomorrow
Avid book lovers have a lot to look forward to as several bestsellers and favorites will be hitting the silver and small screen this year. From childhood classics, to stories that have become cult classics, here are a few of our picks you will definitely want to keep an eye out for this year.
Judy Bloom
Tween girls of the 70s and 80s all sought solace from adolescent angst and questions of faith in the pages of this novel which follows the trials and tribulations of sixth grader Margaret.
Abby Ryder Fortson will play the title character in the movie adaptation which will remain true to the books 1970s setting.
This Alice Walker book about a woman living in the segregated south should be called Golden. Who hasn’t quoted or sent memes from the movie adaption which starred Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover or belted out I’m Here from the Broadway show. Now a movie version of the musical is set to come out with a cast list that sends goosebumps down our spine. Fantasia plays protagonist Celie Harris Johnson, while Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo and Taraji P Henson also star.
This Pulitzer Prize-winning World War II book about two kids, one a German orphan boy with incredible engineering skills, the other a blind French girl, is a book club favourite for its themes of survival, determination and endurance. It is set to air as a limited series on Netflix and will be directed by Stranger Things director Shawn Levy.
With a cast that includes Aria Mia Loberti, Hugh Laurie, Louis Hoffman and Mark Ruffalo, we know it will be a smash.
Zachary Levi, Zooey Deschanel, Lil Rel Howery and Ravi Patel are set to star in this live action adaption of a little boy with a magic purple
crayon which allows him to draw his own dream world.
This book serves as a prequel to the popular book series and movie franchise The Hunger Games trilogy - Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes follows a young Coriolanus Snow - before he becomes president of Panem. It traces his path from child orphan to the villain we all knew from the original trilogy. Tom Blyth plays Coriolanus Snow. Other cast members include Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman, Burn Gorman, Peter Dinklage, Viola Davis and Rachel Zegler.
Good day, gardeners. I am seeing bounty out there in the gardening world! Lots of leafy greens, pumpkins, banana, starfruit, turmeric, and so on.
Papayas (Carica papaya) tend to need a little bit more attention than any of those, once the plant has set fruit. We have a beautiful papaya plant that was gift of the birds some time ago that has set a large quantity of excellent sized fruit (pure luck). The problem is that the pests beat us to the fruits and so they are unusable. What a shame!
I am going to cut off the entire top of the plant and let it start all over again, in hopes that it will fruit lower to the ground where they can be more easily reached, and as soon as the plant sets fruit next time around we will be sure to bag the fruits to protect them from the wasps that lay eggs inside the fruits.
The culprit for the destruction of the papaya fruits is the papaya fruit fly (Toxotrypana curvicauda), which lays eggs through the papaya fruit peel into the fruit cavity where the larvae feed and eventually emerge from the ruined fruit. This fly is commonly mistaken for a wasp due to its long abdomen and yellow and black markings.
Fruit infested with papaya fruit fly may show yellow areas and may drop from the tree prematurely. The easiest control for this pest is to place a paper bag or paint strainer cloth over individual fruit when they are small and leave the bag on until harvest. T
his becomes a bit more of a challenge when the fruit is out of reach, or in my case, I was off the island for an extended period while the plant was setting the fruit. Dwarf varieties are highly sought after for the fact that they will set fruit at four to six feet above ground level.
Two of the cultivars that I have grown in the past are “TR Hovey” or “Red Lady”. If you come across one of these varieties, expect to pay much more for it than typical varieties or seed grown plants. Both varieties will only be true to type if propagated by tissue culture or cuttings.
Propagation through cuttings is a less common means of growing selected cultivars than tissue culture. Growing papayas from seed is a crap shoot and if you choose to do so, always plant at least three to ensure that there will be a plant that will produce fruit.
Papayas can be one of three genders, as defined by the laws of nature: female, male, or bisexual. The male flower will not give fruit. The female flower (by definition, a perfect flower) will fruit if pollinators are present (don’t spray toxic chemicals!).
The bisexual flowers will produce smaller fruit than female flowers, but they are self-pollinating. Male flowering plants can also produce a few bisexual flowers that will give inferior quality fruit.
PAPAYAS tend to need more attention than other plants, with pests a problem.
AN ILLUSTRATION showing body snatchers being apprehended by the watch
SIR CHRISTOPHER ONDAATJE explores the gory business of bodysnatching in the grotesque underworld of 1830s England through SARAH WISE’s debut endeavour, The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave-Robbery in 1830s England.
Sarah Wise is a most extraordinary author. She has an MA in Victorian Studies from Birkbeck College, part of the University of London. She teaches 19th century social history to both undergraduates and adult learners, and is visiting professor at the University of California’s London Study Centre, and a guest lecturer at City University. Her passionate interests are London/urban history, psychogeography, 19th century literature,
and reportage. Her most recent book is Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England (Bodley Head) – which was shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize in 2004. The Italian Boy (2004) was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction in 2005, and The Blackest Streets: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum was published in 2008.
However, it is The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave-Robbery in 1830s London that continues to have a fascination for me. During the early 1830s, there were some extraordinarily gruesome sides to life in London – a city whose population had, since the turn of the century, grown by one-third to over one and a half million people, making it one of the largest and most diverse anywhere. William IV had succeeded his brother George IV to the throne in 1830 and everywhere in a dissatisfied England that was sick of political oppression and economic decline there was a call for change. In this unsettling age one of the more repugnant practices, which was becoming increasingly commonplace, was that of bodysnatching or “resurrection”. It was a profitable trade and “one of the most covert underworld activities of the day”, involving the sale of human bodies to London’s hospitals, medical colleges, and other private anatomy schools.
Resurrection was a speculative and seasonal business because the hospitals only held courses between October and April. There were in 1831 roughly 800 medical students in London, over half of whom dissected cadavers as part of their training. As the author of The Italian Boy says: “The only legal supply of flesh came from the gallows.”
However, the corpses of executed murderers were not nearly numerous enough to satisfy the needs of the growing medical profession. Thus hospitals and students came to rely on Snatchers to provide cadavers. They could offer not only bodies dug up from graveyards (a strenuous business) but also ones supplied by itinerant sellers who carted corpses into London from country villages. A list of villains including corrupt sextons, gravediggers, undertakers and local officials who took a cut of the sale price (between eight and twenty guineas, depending on the body’s freshness) in return for tipping resurrectionists off about recent burials and people who were at death’s door and had no family that might claim their corpse.
“Offcuts” such as a well-muscled limb, a woman’s scalp with the hair still attached or “smalls” (babies) were also lucrative. With demand so great, it was only a matter of time before someone would begin to “create” the specimens for dissection.
Sarah Wise’s first book, The Italian Boy, recounts the gruesome story of three men, John Bishop, James May and Thomas Williams (known as the London Burkers), who started a small-time profitable industry, hiring the homeless off the streets and converting them into anatomical specimens. They were accused in 1831 of murdering a 14-year-old Italian street vendor Carlo Ferrari. Eventually, the authorities unearthed evidence of a series of crimes at Number 3 Nova Scotia Gardens, in a semi-slum area of Bethnal Green in East London, where John Bishop lived, that mirrored the notorious Burke and Hare killings in Edinburgh three years earlier:
“In the privy at the bottom of the garden (Police Superintendent) Thomas found a human scalp with long matted brown hair attached; down among the faeces the officers worked to disentangle chunks of human flesh. Thomas and his men ... assumed that this find was evidence of Bishop and Williams’s resurrection work.”
The three resurrectionists attempted to sell the “suspiciously fresh” and still bleeding body of the luckless young Italian teenager to King’s College. However, because the corpse did not look as if it had ever been buried, teaching staff summoned the police, who arrested the men and charged them with “improper possession of a Subject”. The furore caused by the investigation,
which quickly became known as “The Italian Boy case”, hastened the introduction by Parliament of controversial legislation that made “the unclaimed bodies of paupers legally available to surgeons for dissection”. The Anatomy Act was passed soon afterwards, in 1832. It was to bring about the end of bodysnatching in Britain.
Quite apart from Wise’s enthralling account of the sensational trial and its surprising ending, The Italian Boy is a remarkable exposé of life among pre-Victorian London’s lower classes. Wise cleverly intertwines the repulsive facts of the police inquiry and of the subsequent Old Bailey trial (complete with actual confession transcripts and incompetent newspaper reports) with a scrupulous analysis of contemporary politics, the judiciary, the police, gaols, schools, and the Church. But most of all she induces in her reader a horror-stricken curiosity about the defenceless people who inadvertently became the targets of the gangs of men, sometimes aided by women, that prowled the streets of London.
What sort of a city was London in 1831? What sort of a country was England – that children and young adults could seemingly be picked off by anyone who chose to prey on their fellow man: desperate resurrectionists, brothel-keepers, Fagin-style gang leaders, sex-offenders, press gangs? What sort of people could simply disappear unnoticed from the city’s streets? Even in death, why did their identities remain mysterious? How much of the history of the very poor and destitute has come down to us? What evidence can be trusted to give a reliable picture of their lives? What did they think of themselves? Through her exhaustive research into The Italian Boy case Sarah Wise has not only answered these questions, but also produced a rich archival examination of London’s poor and of “their notions of community and criminality in the strange new society that was forming in their city”. Her book is much more than the portrayal of a murder case.
Truth is grislier than fiction and The Italian Boy reopens a grotesque and melodramatic underworld worthy of Victorian fiction.
Wise’s scrupulous scholarship is evident throughout, and it is hard to believe that this is the first book to have been written about this enthralling case.
It is shamefully entertaining and well worth searching the internet for a copy of this macabre yet historically serious work.
Generously illustrated, this book is invaluable to anyone interested in the truth of London’s gory past.
Grantham is an English town in the county of Lincolnshire. Margaret Thatcher was born in Grantham and went on to be the first woman Prime Minister of England.
Though not born in Grantham, it was there that, in 1915, Edith Smith (1876-1923) was sworn in, making her Britain’s first female police officer.
The internet says that already, “in the late 19th century, the New York Police Department added a new weapon to its investigative armoury –women – who are believed to be the world’s first female detectives”.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police were almost ten years behind the Bahamas, in graduating their first group of 17 women police officers on March 3, 1975. Our Royal Bahamas Police Force had already sworn in our first woman police officer on September 10, 1964 - Sgt 286 Audrey Weigh.
286 Weigh had been selected to form and lead a brand-new Women’s Police Section of the RBPF. She brought with her nine years of police service in England – in her native Blackpool, with London’s Metropolitan Police and with the CID.
After her introduction to policing New Providence, she was sent to Jamaica, to study their system of training women police. Then it was time to find suitable applicants, to become the first female constables in our RBPF.
122 Bahamian women answered the call to join the RBPF. Each applicant had to sit (and pass) an entrance exam and interview, but, at that time, there were only 6 openings to be filled.
On November 23, 1964. Theresa Baker, Anita Bethel, Norma Clarke, Hildred McLain, Alsaida McFall earned the distinction of becoming the first Bahamian ladies on the force. They went through the same training programme as the men and received the same pay. Their uniforms were patterned after those worn by Bahamian policemen and
there have been some modifications over the last 38 years.
Over those years, more and more women have joined the force and worked their way up the ladder, many have become high-ranking officers, starting with Allerdyce M Strachan, who was promoted to Superintendent in 1988.
On January 1, 1992, my sister, Elizabeth Strachan, was appointed chairman of the Police Service Commission and, anytime we talked about the police, she was always proud that policing had embraced Bahamian women. It had taken 124 years to make this change, but now, if one looks closely at the police on duty, one will see women police in every situation – including the air wing, band members, K-9, marine division, motorcyclists.
Going back to the beginning, Sgt Audrey Weigh served until 1966 and the first gazetted female police officer, also from England, was Assistant Superintendent Danby, who served from 1968 to 1970.
Old year out, new year in, time for some careful clearing up and clearing out of the mistakes from last year and time to remember the glorious good things that took place.
We have started to get our lives back. No longer wrapped up in masks and wiping our hands raw with harsh and abrasive cleansers every five minutes.
What an awesome experience to share with our grandchildren as they read about it in history books, we can tell them all about it first-hand! I can just imagine their little voices asking insistently if it is true that we had to phone a COVID hotline for permission to drive to the pharmacy, or that there were designated days of the week to shop if your name started with a certain letter of the alphabet. How afraid we all were, and how sad as we heard of close friends perish, one after another. God bless their souls.
Looking back, it was really an amazing study on human relations and how man handled the isolation, and the rules. We all had different reactions and handled it somewhat differently, the hardest hit must have been people stuck in small apartments with partners who were abusive or violent. I spent a lot of time thinking of them. It must have been intolerable.
On the other hand, I think it was the best time ever for our pets. The relished the long days, weeks and months we spent at home. The countless hours curled up with us on the sofa watching TV. I personally challenged myself to watch every Woody Allen movie
he ever made… That was a wonderful project, I highly recommend it. I started COVID with five dogs, all elderly, all amazing individuals. During the virus, three of them went to the Rainbow Bridge. Heart wrenching separations with no recourse.
Chief had a valiant battle against an aggressive cancer. We fought it every step together. He was 15 when we let him slip peacefully away, and I still feel the tears prickling behind my eyelids 21 months later, when I talk about that fight, he was a
brave warrior and took a part of my heart with him.
Buddy left us on January 2 of 2022, very unexpectedly, just short of his 15th birthday, the sweetest guy ever put on earth, a big teddy bear with love enough for everyone. Shortly after we lost our Buddy, Boss followed at 11 years old, we knew that he had an enlarged heart, and was doing so well, one morning after a little stroll around the garden and a midmorning biscuit he lay down in his bed and fell asleep to the
gentle sounds of the household, knowing that he was cloaked with love, and never woke up again…
Not an easy time for us, but we are so immensely grateful that fate would have it that because of that dreaded COVID lockdowns we spent more quality time with our boys than ever before, we had the best of family times with them.
Out of all evil blows some good, when looking back at those dark and sometimes frustrating days that seem interminably long shift your
memory from yourself to the smiling face of your pet beside you who loved every moment of it.
Now as we move back into the normal (or what we perceive as normal) way of life we need to be mindful of those sweet furry faces who do not really know or understand all these changes. They does pay attention when they watch the news with us all they want is us to be near and now and then stroke them gently. their lives are so much simpler if they are amongst the lucky ones.
As 2023 roars ahead we need to make plausible resolutions that include animals, ours, others and wildlife. This is a wonderful year to do a little better even if you are already on the right track. There is always room for improvement. More love, more awareness, more vigilance and more time spent thinking about others who are not able to defend or speak for themselves.
This is a great time to demand that the cruelty laws be enforced to the maximum penalties possible, no more sugar coating the issue.
Talk to your representative, tell him you want neighbours to be obligated to keep dangerous dogs on their property, tell them you want to see penalties enforced, make those demands part of the requirement for you to vote for them again.
Ask your priest or pastor to speak out against cruelty to animals from his pulpit, they are Gods creatures too. Speak to you children’s teachers and ask whet their approach is going to be to encourage kindness to all creatures.
You can make the difference in 2023!
