Event To Pay Tribute To Three Former Premiers
The Second Annual Celebratory Luncheon will be hosted by the Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast Committee on March 1oth, paying tribute to former Premiers Sir John Swan, Dame Jennifer Smith, and Alex Scott.
A spokesperson said, “The people of Bermuda will have a rare opportunity to pay tribute to three former Premiers on Sunday afternoon, March 10th at the Willowbank Resort, in Somerset, when the Second Annual Celebratory Luncheon will be hosted by the Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast Committee.
“The Celebratory Luncheon will begin at 1:30 pm and tickets are $95.00 and are available from PTIX and 27th Century Boutique and by calling telephone number 292-2665. Tickets must be purchased in advance as they will not be available at the event, as they are limited in relation to the availability of space.
“Former Premiers selected include, Sir John Swan KBE J.P., A real estate developer, a political luminary and a philanthropist, who served as Premier of Bermuda from 1982 to 1995. As such, he was the longest serving Premier of Bermuda and helped to lead the country to the world stage as an international financial centre.
“Sir John who built one of Bermuda’s most successful property development companies, attended West Virginia Wesleyan College. In 1957 on Foreign Student Recognition Day, the President of the college gave his opinion as to the career path he saw for each of the foreign students and eerily prognosticated that: “John Swan from Bermuda, upon completion of his education would return home and go into the real estate business and one day become leader of his country.” With these two similar messages from his parents and college president, upon returning home, Sir John set out to secure a job at a real estate firm.
“Success came after five weeks and the job lasted for two years. With his savings of $830 he opened a small office and launched the John W. Swan Agency, in 1962. He was told by a number of people, that he would fail, something he said that he never understood. Additional information will be shared with reference to the contribution that Sir John continues to make to the country of Bermuda at the luncheon.
“Dame Jennifer Smith, DBE, JP, D HumL, MP [born 1947] was the Premier of Bermuda from 1998 until 2003, the first Premier who was not a member of the United Bermuda Party. Affectionately referred to as “Dame Jennifer”, she has marked her place in Bermuda’s history as the first woman to lead a political party to an election victory, the first Progressive Labour Party Shadow Minister of Education, and was the second woman to serve as Premier.
“Dame Jennifer is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an international network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.
“More information will be shared on the contribution that Dame Jennifer made to the country of Bermuda.
“Mr. William Alexander Scott is a former Premier of Bermuda, having served from 2003- 2006 under the Progressive Labour Party. Mr. Scott’s political career began in 1985 when he was appointed to the Senate, where he was promoted to Opposition Leader in the Senate in 1989.
“He was first elected to Parliament in the general election of October 1993, representing the Warwick South East constituency. He became Deputy Leader of the Opposition, PLP on August 20, 1996.
“After the PLP victory in 1998, he was appointed to Cabinet as the Minister of Works & Engineering. He was appointed Leader of the PLP and Premier in July 2003, serving until 2006. He took over from Dame Jennifer Smith, and was succeeded by Dr. Ewart Brown in 2010.
“In 1978, Mr. Scott served as one of the five members of The Pitt Royal Commission that investigated the root causes of the 1977 riots. In 1983, he was appointed a member of the House Regulations Committee.
“More will be shared on the contribution that William Alexander Scott has made to the country of Bermuda at the Celebratory luncheon.
“Join us on Sunday 10th of March at the Willowbank Resort to help celebrate these three former Premiers, as we express our appreciation for the tremendous sacrifices, commitments and contributions made that has helped to make Bermuda the country of which we are all proud!”
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