ROSE HALL, Montego Bay

The South Florida chapter of the Cornwall College Old Boys' Association (CCOBA) has given the school four scholarships, valued at more than $250,000.

The awards, made at the recent 110th anniversary awards dinner and dance, will be disbursed before the start of the 2007/2008 school year.

In handing over the US$4,000 cheque to headmaster Denham McIntyre, Albert Lettman, former president of the chapter, noted that the funds were to be awarded to "needy and talented boys" at the institution. The South Florida chapter, one of six chapters, has been awarding scholarships to boys at the school for the past two years.

The awards dinner and dance, held at the Ritz Carlton's Rose Hall Resort, meanwhile, was the final event in a week-long celebration that included:

. an education symposium;

. a trip to the Canterbury Basic School where supplies were handed out to the students there; and

. a memorial service for the late Dr Garth Taylor, and Everald Barrett, the first native-born headmaster of the school, at the Blessed Sacrament Cathedral.

A bronze bust of Barrett was also unveiled in the school's auditorium and the physics lab was dedicated to Taylor, who died in Canada last year. The unveiling and dedication ceremonies were addressed by former students and Rhodes Scholars Rex Nettleford, and Dr Albert Wong, a nuclear physicist based in Texas.

Friday featured mentoring and careers' day and a talent concert, with old boys AJ Brown and Andy Vernon performing along with the school's award-winning choir.

Florida-based attorney Jeff McLeod has, in the interim, been retained as chairman of the Cornwall College Trust Foundation, while Gerald Chambers, president of the Montego Bay Chapter of the CCOBA, was voted the new deputy chairman.

Roy Tenn Fah replaced Haresh Ramchandani, who did not seek re-election for the post of treasurer. Calvin Gray and Clayton Morgan are the secretaries, while the directors are John Graham, Dr David McBean, Andy Daswani and Raymond Kerr.