St Lucians in The UK Celebrate National Day

A small group of St Lucians gathered at the High Commission in London Monday, December 13 for the annual flag-raising ceremony to commemorate the island’s national day.

Acting Consul General, Ms. Angela Dennis, and staff of the High Commission were joined by members of the diaspora who sat throughout the short ceremony.

Ms. Dennis in her opening address emphasized the need for unity within the Diaspora and urged Saint Lucians to put aside all perceived differences and to come together for the betterment of St Lucia. “Whatever we are doing we need to do it for St Lucia on the whole.” She said.”This is for our beautiful country.”

Veteran activist and educator Peter Fell gave a brief history about the origin of the day and what it means for St. Lucia and it’s people. “St Lucia’s national day should not be confused with St Lucia’s independence day. The two are separate events,” said Fell who originally comes from the town of Micoud on St Lucia’s East coast and has been living in the UK for many years. “Columbus was not the first European to come to St Lucia. There were other Europeans. Today we celebrate our national day as always.”

David Alexander, a member of the Anse La Raye association talked about how his organization intends to help the people of his village which is situated on the island’s west coast. “We want to help everyone in our village and the rest of St Lucia. We have been helping for a while now and will continue to do so. The new government has just opened a new health centre which will benefit our people” said Alexander who revealed that two universities from the UK are interested in promoting Anse La Raye. “Students from the universities will be visiting St Lucia to partake in a project to help promote Anse La Raye. They have shown a lot of interest in Anse La Raye and will be paying the village a visit soon.”He said. 

Justin Moore, the event organizer thanked everyone for attending and for helping to celebrate the country’s special day. 

“We are very happy to keep this event going and we intend to keep it going for as long as it takes.” Said Moore a senior magistrate from Newham, a borough in London’s east end.”We shall continue to help and assist our people. A big thanks to Ms. Dennis from the High Commission and to Mr. Colin Maximin for his continued support.” Adds Moore.”Our experience can go on as long as it can be.”

 Afterward, the attendees remained indoors to enjoy some lovely food and drinks