TCI News
Tribute to Hon Gordon Stewart; former Bahamas PM Ingraham says ‘Butch’ is Jamaica’s best export
#TheBahamas – January 5, 2020 – I was shocked and saddened this morning to learn of the passing of the late great pioneering Caribbean tourism champion, Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart. Only then did I recall that I had not received my usual Christmas telephone call from the always warm, cheerful and upbeat hotelier.
Butch had made it his custom to telephone Christmas cheer to me every year since our first meeting in St. Lucia in 1992 shortly after my election to office as prime minister for the first time. There, he gave me the grand tour of his new hotel acquisition “La Toc” and outlined how he proposed to transform the resort into one of his signature five-star all-inclusive hotels.
It was early days in the creation of his highly acclaimed all-inclusive hotel chain. I encouraged him to come to The Bahamas where he already owned land in my constituency and where he purportedly proposed to develop a Sandals Resort.
He promised to come. I was to learn that Butch’s word was his bond.
He came to The Bahamas. He never built that resort in Abaco but he acquired the then Government-owned and money-losing Balmoral Beach Hotel in Cable Beach. He transformed the dog-eared property into the Royal Bahamian Balmoral Hotel Resort and Spa investing almost twice what he had undertaken to do. He expanded the room count, restaurants and beach amenities including an exclusive off-shore beach experience on neighbouring Balmoral Island and he doubled the number of employees at the resort.
Later he expanded the Sandals branch to include his five-star resort on Fowl Cay in the Exumas and later still he acquired the troubled property operated by the Four Seasons chain of hotels at Emerald Bay, Exuma saving an important employment engine in the central Bahamas.
In all my years of contact with him, whether in office or out, he never over-promised and he always fulfilled his commitments.
He was an astute tourism businessman. I valued his views and advice on tourism in our region.
Butch was, in my estimation the preeminent Caribbean hotelier. His success in competing successfully with some of the largest international hotel brands is testimony to that achievement.
Still, some of my fondest memories of him include time spent over lazy meals at George Myers’ home and of days spent with him in Jamaica and on the waters of The Bahamas doing one of the things that I love best – fishing.
I think that Butch qualifies as one of Jamaica’s best exports to the Caribbean. Always a Jamaican at heart, he loved all of the Caribbean. His death is a devastating loss to the Caribbean region.
He was a good friend to The Bahamas and a reliable corporate citizen. I sometimes felt that we in The Bahamas held a special place in his heart.
I am honoured to have counted him among my friends. He will be greatly missed.
I offer sincere condolences to all of Butch’s family, to all the employees and associates of Sandals Hotels in The Bahamas and throughout the Caribbean and to the nation of Jamaica which has lost a national hero.
May he Rest in Peace.
By Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, April, 2023 – The Turks and Caicos will be losing yet another banking branch following confirmation of reports that CIBC FirstCaribbean bank in Grace Bay will be shut down on Friday March 31st.
CIBC representatives confirmed the shutdown to MM Thursday March 30th. Employees at the Leeward Highway branch moved over to the Grace Bay branch in January to allow for necessary upgrades and expansions to infrastructure. That shift lasted for four months and employees were scheduled to move back to Leeward Highway in early April. No mention of a closure to the Grace Bay branch was made in the January 12 press release that detailed the upgrades.
Citing those upgrades, which are now complete, Managing Director of the Bahamas Operating Company, responsible also for TCI, Dr. Jacqui Bend said, “CIBC FirstCaribbean is continuing to work on a number of initiatives aimed at
improving the processes and technologies that our teams use to support our clients and employees alike. We have committed further investments in simplification, automation, and security across our bank and, as always, our clients will be the beneficiaries of this renewed effort,
It’s a repeat of the firm’s new mantra focused on self-service and digitization that has seen the local presence of the country’s oldest bank diminish more and more.
CIBC defends the decision explaining that retail client services had already been ceased at that Grace Bay branch and the closure of it earlier this year, while expansion Leeward Highway’s location was designed to ‘reconfigure and improve’ their network for the future.
“While there may be a few teething issues being encountered while our teams and clients adjust to their new surroundings, our teams are working with an ‘all hands on deck approach’ to expedite service to our clients,” she said in the statement shared with Magnetic Media.
The shifts to more digitized services eliminates the in person experience and residents have voiced discontent with the strategy. Earlier this year CIBC First Caribbean indicated they would pare down services and the in branch experience at their Grand Turk location.
It left Grand Turk with no banks within which they could enter to get that ‘human touch’. While there was outrage, Government remained silent.
Since January 3rd, customers of the bank have had to shift to the digital approach which now requires smaller cash deposits and smaller cash withdrawals to be made via ABMs, which are more state of the art and it also means applying for many of the banking features online.
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, March 31, 2023 – Belief in themselves and an inspiring new coach has caused a dramatic shift in the Turks and Caicos National Men’s Football team according to captain Billy Forbes; the TCI National Men’s
Football team secured two impressive back-to-back wins.
“The guys are buying in now, having a coach that they can look up to, who has played professionally before– it’s really amazing,” he explained. “For me, I’m really proud of the guys because three or four years ago that would have been us losing the game probably like 6-0, something like that. For us to go down 1-0 and come back and win it- I think that was fantastic, you can’t really ask for much more.”
He was speaking to the press after a March 28th match against Bonaire. The team is on a winning streak following back-to-back victories over the US Virgin Islands and Bonaire in the Concacaf Nations League. The most recent match with Bonaire almost looked like a miss just one minute in- but as Forbes said they pulled it together. Coach Hayden Mullins, former Crystal Palace, Portsmouth, and National English Footballer detailed the nail-biting match.
“I thought we started slow; we gave a goal away in the first minute,” he said. “The pleasing thing for me is we went
from one nil down to 2-1 up at halftime. We had something to build on. Full assessment? The game had everything, we had a red card; we missed a penalty; we went goal down; but the resolve and the character from the guys was perfect. It’s exactly what we’re looking for.”
Sebastian Turbyfield (# 1 goalkeeper), concurred with his captain and coach. Turbeyfield performed quite a few gymnastic feats to keep TCI in the running throughout the match. He described his teammates as having a completely different resolve and promised they would only be getting better from here.
Mullings said the team is one that the country can be proud of and ‘could definitely get out of league C.”
The men returned to the country on March 29th.
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, March 31, 2023 – Earth Day is coming up on April 22, 2023, and the Department of Environment and Coastal resources is hosting a poetry competition for TCI youth to mark the event. 
Students of all ages are encouraged to write a sonnet to celebrate the TCI’s natural beauty; the winning poem will be published in the Times of the Island Magazine.
The deadline for poems to be submitted is April 30, 2023, and students should submit their poem via email to aavenant@gov.tv or in person to any DECR office. Entries must include the student’s name, age and school.
The department promises that there are prizes to be won for the top poets.
April 22 marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement 53 years ago and helps demonstrate support for environmental protection. The theme for this year is “Invest In Our Planet.”
This year‘s theme follows years of missed climate action goals by governments globally, including poor climate
financing. The Turks and Caicos and other small island developing states are particularly at risk environmentally because of the growing threat of climate change.
Currently the country is working through the Environmental Health Department DECR, Fisheries Department, and more to create sustainable fishing, farming, and marine practices that will benefit the country economically, but also protect its natural flora and fauna.
Projects include sargassum research, coral nurseries to rebuild the country’s coral reef, farming in schools, marine spatial planning to create an effective plan for the use of marine resources, participation in the UK Blue Belt program to protect local marine life, and much more.
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