Father Jones and his wife Married Over

EXACTLY 70 YEARS ago, Fr. Ulric Jones and I entered Boys Grammar School in second form.

Ah nice bunch ah guys assembled. Two members ah dat Class of 1955Sylvanus Regisford and Jones- were ordained Anglican Priests and are still alive and doing dey bit foh de Lord.

So as was expected, ah got, an invite from Mrs Marilyn Jones, wife of Fr. Ulric Jones, to attend de couple’s 60th Wedding Anniversary Service of Thanksgiving, and interestingly it was de gentleman 84th Birthday as well, ah real double whammy. Longevity to de Max, because hopefully, in ah couple years de Rev will be celebrating 50 years as a Priest. Quite frankly, somebody “up-dey” in Heaven loves dis magnificent couple.

Fr Ulric and I cherish our friendship, born de same year and yes, Jones never forgets to tell de world dat he’s my senior by twenty days. His mathematics was ah lickle behind, which he corrected when he got married to Marilyn, who was an excellent GHS Maths Teacher from his home town, Calliaqua. He was second in command at de Gov’t Printery. One night, ah think in was in 1977, at a Christian Council meeting, he told me ah secret dat he was going to Codringeton College to study in de Priesthood. Ah remember telling him how brave he was to give-up his big wuk to go preach foh peanut change . Ah will never forget what he told me : “ Marilyn ad I have agreed its me best option in life.

He was right, so much so dat we have an agreement.

If I die before, he will bury me Foh Free, and if he dies before me, I will play music at his funeral Foh ah Free.

De Anniversary Service was ably conducted by Bishop Leopold Friday.

Incidentally de Bishop and his wife are having dey anniversary as well. Congrats to ah most one-dah-full couple. Dey was ah friendly gathering at de Jones’ residence, and it was ah smasher, shamefully ah over indulged in an excellent snack-ah-ramma. Ole people say: ”Better belly buss dan good food spoil!”

Sincere congratulations to my brother and sister in Christ.

Is It Our Forty-sixth or Farty-sixth Anniversary?

Next Monday is In-depen-dance Day. Is long time Lie-Za saying dat forty comes from de word fort, ah fortified place, ah fortified Nay-shun.

SVG badly needs to be ah Fort-ifwe- care-shun. Dis decade opened wid COVID, followed by Volcanic eruption, Hurry-Cane Bear-ill; Pain and suffering of over 600 dismissed, un-vaxeened Public Servants. Plus leader dare-in to Tie-one’s people wid “ah hook-in-we-Gill” foh debts or deaths. Does dat inculcate forty-tude in yuh people? No way says Lie-Za! How bout Farty-tude as in Fart- unwanted intestinal Gas.

And if we need more proof, one has only to read de IWN Headlines: ‘Ralph leave Mommy (Mona Bramble) out of your Duttyness,’ Bramble tells PM. “Dat,” she says, takes us back to de nineteen Farties, dem de early days ah Politics.

Seems as though he was in his ole element at ah ULP launch and what was intended to be Pull-it-tek-ill Pee-cong turned out to be Pull-it-tek-all Fart-cong, coming from ah 79 year ole Pool-etical leader meking ah desperate plea foh ah sixth term in office. Just foh de records eh, “ No praise and honour is too much foh any poor/ pure, humble Office Attendant single mother of five, who was able to provide all her five children wid ah lickle shelter in de capital, ah sound eddy-care-shun, including Masters at University!” who knows?

One ah dem might one day become Prime Minister. As ah matter-ah-fact, In-dip-and-dance Day is when women like Mona Bramble, ah former Govenom-mint Messenger, ah prayer-warrior should be given de “Nay-shun Builders Award”. Never Happen. Show respect. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

• Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.