From left: Manager of Bank of Nova Scotia Sam Sharpe Square, Madgelyn Flake and her boss Roger Cogle, vice president of District West BNS, accept the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry Corporate Award from Chamber director Homer Davis, during that organisations' annual banquet.
Janet Silvera, Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
A FEW women donned the optional gloves, while several spent pretty pennies on their ball gowns for the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) Annual Awards Banquet at the Ritz Carlton Rose Hall last Saturday night.
The only element missing from the glitzy ballroom was 'Pressa', as the Cable and Wireless (C&W) entourage of young and vibrant honchos, led by their president, Rodney Davis, made their presence felt on entering the reception area.
Cocktail hour, sponsored by the telephone giants, meant strategically placed plasma televisions showcasing everything C&W, in an extremely classy fashion.
There was no hard selling during the ritzy cocktail hour, just tastefully done hors d'oeuvres, Cranberry and Vodka cocktails and beautifully adorned women who went all out to dress up for the remarkable calendar event.
At one end of the room stood the man who will go down in history as one of the most handsome Spaniards to grace the Jamaican shores, Ambassador Jesus Silva and his charming wife Sara. Beside them were Mrs. Lucille Nelson, wife of Custos of St. James Clarence Nelson, wearing a short black cropped hairdo.
And not too far away stood Digicel's dapper David Hall along with the wireless queen of Montego Bay, Joy Clarke, who worked the floor in an emerald green and gold embroidered dress.
The energy flowed from cocktail area into the awards' function area, where MBCCI president Mark Kerr Jarrett took control of the stage.
AWARDS
Scotiabank won the corporate plaque for their outstanding contribution to the Cornwall Regional Hospital, the Jamaica Cancer Society and Montego Bay Community College Scholarship Programme and Education.
Premier Travel was honoured in the area of Small Business, Half Moon for Tourism, and the Western Mirror's photo/journalist, Phillip Green, for his work in media.
Noted Montego Bay businessman, Pino Maffesanti, received an award for community development, and Winston Dear, whose award was accepted by his son Stephen was given the President's Award.
Among the women deserving the honours for best dressed were: Veena Chandiram, Chamique Bowen and Jackie McBean Blake. Rosemarie and Gerard Ivey, Penelope Bowen and Mary Chambers were just as magnificent.
Attending the event were: Bank of Nova Scotia's Roger Cogle, Madgelyn Flake, Janet Richards, Fiona Bloomfield Brown, Wesley Carr, Clive Marshall, Kerry-Ann Richards, Christopher Samuels, Ainsworth Leach, Claudette King and Everton 'adopted' Anderson.
The National Commercial Bank's team of Patrick Hylton and Brian Boothe was also present as well as Peter and Eleanor Komposch, Richard Whitfield, Basil and Beverly Johnson, Judy and Andrew Smith, Norman and Jennifer Brown, Pauline Reid, Saxophonist Dean Fraser and Jose Delgado, Brian Brown, Rodney Davis, Arlene McKenzie, Shernett Robinson, Fagan Calvert, Hyacinth and Rick Warren, Joan Johnson, Lloyd B Smith, Angella Whitter, Maxine Harris, Dr. Barbara Salmon Grandison, Sheron Bryan, Vee Redpath, Marcia Bulgin, Denny Chandiram, Kumar and Julie Samtani, Indru Dadlani, Allan Daswani, Steve James, Roger Thompson, Sean Bryan, Camille Facey, Evan Garrick and Makeda Solomon.
