St George's celebrates its birthday in style

Plough Weekend has officially been opened.

Premier Craig Cannonier and St George Mayor Garth Rothwell kicked off the event in King’s Square this morning.

The day will be filled with tours of churches, cemeteries and forts, lectures, lunch specials, a film excerpt and more.

Mayor Rothwell welcomed the small crowd to the opening ceremony and gave a brief history of the settling of St George’s.

“Today, we're going to celebrate the arrival of the Lough which was 401 years ago.  As you know, Sir George Somers was shipwrecked here and spent a year rebuilding the Deliverence and the Patience.

“They left and went to Virginia and they arrived just in time to save the settlers.

“In some wants, you could say we saved America and the very beginning.”

He continued: “We’re celebrating 401 years of Bermuda’s history. Most of the history, I would say 80 percent has happened down in this end of the island.

“Not much happened past the bridge.”

Premier Cannonier also sang the praises of St George’s.

“On behalf of Bermuda and the people of Bermuda, we are excited about the fact that the organisers are putting something together that we believe is important and that’s our history.

“It’s a great joy to celebrate our history throughout these next two days.

“Four hundred and one years and we’re still growing and improving.”

He continued: “This was the capital of Bermuda and there’s a great pride and joy for us who grew up here.

“There’s so much that this represents. This is truly about us coming together.

‘This really is an island that found the beauty in the melting pot.”

Premier Cannonier encouraged the public to participate in the activities and to enjoy the two-day event.

Organiser Kristin White said the tours are what she’s looking forward to.

“Part of what happens in St George’s in that we don’t have to many activities that take you out of this area, so the fact that the tours will take you out of the square to the forts, to the cemeteries, to the churches.

“There’s even an improve group that’s not all at historical making up stories.”

She continued: “It's a great day and I think what the Mayor and Premier said, Bermuda started here. It all began here.

“It’s important to take that time and celebrate our history and our heritage.

“We’re talking about slavery, flowers, forts. It’s not just one side of history.”

Happy Birthday will be sung to St George at 5:30pm in the King Square with a birthday cake.

St George’s MPS Kenneth Bascome, Nandi Davis and Lovitta Foggo will blow out the candles.

The cake was baked by Kamilah Cannonier of Sweet Saak Bakery.