Not even the rain could dampen the spirits of over a thousand people who headed to Crystal Palace to help raise funds for the annual Jamaica Basic Schools Foundation fun day at Crystal Palace Park, South London. The event originally scheduled for early August was rescheduled due to the civil unrest that engulfed the capital.

The explosion of talent included Salsa Shows, speeches and live performances. Throughout, the event stuck to its basic principles which included pledges from business to continue to support Jamaica’s schools in their developments. Pictured above, Lovers Rock royalty. Gia Re, GC Lodge and Janet Kay.

Jamaica Basic Schools Foundation (UK) (JBSF) has been established to aid children attending Basic Schools in Jamaica by advancing the education of those aged between 3 and 6 years. The Foundation aims to assist basic schools by providing facilities for the education, development and recreation of their students and the training and development of teachers.

Basic School Education is central to the early childhood education programme in Jamaica. There are over 1,500 basic schools in Jamaica that rely in large part upon voluntary effort and charitable contributions.

JBSF works closely with counterpart organisations in Jamaica that play a collaborative role in effecting its undertaking. The Jamaica Basic Schools Foundation was founded by Ms. Josephine Williams.

Jamaica’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom His Excellency Anthony Johnson said: “We need to support and nurture talent wherever we find it and offer praise not only to those who achieve A grades but also to those children who’ve persevered and have passed their exams.”

“We should also celebrate the success of the Jamaican Athletic team who are likely to finish fourth in the World Athletics competition. We’re a small nation of 2 million or so competing against teams with over 200 million people to choose from.  Jamaicans make up part of the American, British and European teams which make the achievements all the more special.”

“I would also like to extend my congratulations to Caribbean teams particularly the Grenadian 18-year-old Kirani James who became the youngest person to be crowned a World Champion.”

Franklyn Walters from Grace Kennedy said: “Grace Kennedy is proud to continue our ongoing support of the Jamaica Basic Schools Foundation in the vital work they do throughout Jamaica.”

Grace Foods also pledged to donate percentage of every Grace branded product towards the Basic School Foundation.

Franklyn Walters from Grace Kennedy said: “Grace Kennedy is proud to continue our ongoing support of the Jamaica Basic Schools Foundation in the vital work they do throughout Jamaica.”

Grace Foods also pledged to donate percentage of every Grace branded product towards the Basic School Foundation.

Headline acts included the Queen of Lovers Rock, JC Lodge who was supported by her equally gifted daughter, Gia RÉ, and Jackey Kay. Janet Kay made history in 1979, by becoming the first British born black female to have a reggae song at the top of the British charts. The song ‘Silly Games’, (produced by Dennis Bovell) was a hit not only in the UK but also in Europe. Janet’s history making has been recorded in the Music Guiness Book of Records.

There were some fantastic displays of talent on show including some Salsa dancers. The children reportedly came close to upstaging the adults with a fantastic display of Cuban Salsa.

The adults were also very accomplished in in the Casino style of Cuban Rueda. Salsa is currently becoming one of the most popular growing forms of dance  across Jamaica.

Rising talent Ricky Rowe, Jamaican Playright proved popular with this crowd. Cross referencing the differences between UK and JA sub culture was one of the days highlights.

Local talent was on display in many forms. One of the popular stands was this art collection from Jemison. for more information please contact: k.jemison@btinternet.com

The Basic School Foundation aims to assist in the development of early childhood education in Jamaica by improving the quality of pre-school education and learning environments.

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Written by Ricky Rowe and directed by Anton Phillips ‘Four Bulla An a Patty’ made its theatre debut in front of a capacity crowd in Sydenham, London. 

The comedy-play follows the life of Breno (Ricky Rowe) a local thug and wanabee singer who will stop at nothing in his quest to get close to the beautiful Tamara.

Despite migrating to the US, Tamara is a country girl at heart who’s struggling to come-to-terms with her nostalgic sense of belonging which conflicts with her life in the US. On returning to Jamaica Tamara struggles to break free from her over-protective father Mr Jones (Charles Tomlin).

Jones despises Bad-Bwoy Breno with every fibre in his body but at the same time is infatuated with Breno’s mother Miss Joyce, (Lavern Archer).

Mr. Jones hatches an elaborate plan to rid his daughter once and for-all from the clutches of Bad-Bwoy-Breno by offering him a once in a life-time opportunity to become a recording artist.  Opportunistic Breno willingly signs a contract and agrees never to set eyes on the beautiful Tamara again.

The plan however backfires when home-loving- Tamara falls head-over-heals in love with the charms of Bad-Bwoy Breno and decides to extend her time in Jamaica much to her father’s disgust.

This bitter –sweet romantic comedy stands Ricky Rowe out as being amongst the most accomplished Script Writers of his generation. His love of brand-Jamaica is reflected throughout this play but Ricky’s trump card is being able to unite crossover 2/3 generation Jamaicans.

“I was very happy with the acting tonight and I think the audience really appreciated the quality of the performance.  Their appreciation has convinced me that we should embark on a UK tour later this year.” said Ricky to FLYER Newspaper.

Tamara played by new comer Emma Dennis Edwards was also very accomplished. “I was really nervous at first because Jamaican audiences can be quite critical. I received my script three weeks ago and we’ve been practicing everyday. I really believed in my character and used my mum as a sound-bite to my performance.” said Emma.

Notable performances from seasoned actor’s Ian Pryce, Olive Miller, Charles Tomlin, Lauren Archer ensured that this play oozed quality.

“It was perfect; everyone put in 100% to give the audience got a good show. Emma did really well as Tamara.  

There’s no limit to this play and we are looking to keep the door open by touring and exploring new ideas whilst keeping our audiences entertained.” said Script Writer Ricky Rowe.