CNS Local Life

Alfonso Wright addresses the crowd at the launch of Celebrate Cayman

(CNS Local Life): One of just two surviving Vestrymen who were serving in office when the Cayman Islands was granted its own coat of arms in 1958 kicked-off the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the culturally significant historical symbol Monday. Captain Owen Farrington unveiled the new replacement warrant, which recently arrived from the UK after the original warrant was lost in the government building fire of 1972. In his address to the people gathered on the Glass House lawn for the launch of the year-long celebrations, Premier Alden McLaughlin said the Coat of Arms represented Cayman’s first internationally recognised symbol of identity, as he outlined the history of the arms.

The event marks the start of celebrations that actually began last month in the UK and will include a summer festival celebrating all things Cayman. During Monday’s event, a new recording of the national song was also played publicly for the first time based on the original song written in 1930 by Leila Elberta McTaggart Ross Shier and performed by her great-grand-daughter Lisa Scott with a full orchestra.

The event can be seen in full below and more details of further celebrations can be found on the website.