Visit to St. Kitts
At the end of January three people from St. Mary's traveled to St. Kitts to present the cheque for the money contained in the Tower of 2p's to Father Derek Sawyer. His church of St. Paul's and the Rectory are situated at the North end of the island with a view out to sea. The Dutch island of St. Eustatius can just be seen on the horizon. The interior of the church is quite simple but services are conducted with due ceremony with the help of a keen band of young servers. Our group were able to join in with the parish work - visiting "shut-ins", clearing the churchyard, helping with a sewing class, and of course joining in their services. There were regular trips to the beach for relaxing and swimming as well. The village was closely linked to the sugar cane plantations and some of the old houses are still in use. They were very compact and designed to be moved if the worker changed employer. They are being replaced with modern style bungalows and houses, many of which start small and gradually expand both sideways and upwards as funds become available. Fr Derek is developing a nursery to produce fruit, vegetables, pork and lamb to give employment to villagers out of work because of the closure of the sugar industry and also for producing seeds. This latter is commercially viable because the rich soil and the stable climate allow three of four crops to be harvested a year. They are also restoring the old school house to accommodate tourists, visitors, and work parties. For further details or an illustrated brochure about the parish, contact raitasawyer@sisterisles.com

David Jewell