SCOTIABANK, the official bank of West Indies cricket and proud sponsor of the West Indies Cricket Board’s Kiddies Cricket, last Wednesday joined forces with the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) to sponsor their fourth Annual Cricket Academy. According to the BCB’s Public Relations Officer Hilbert Foster, the Academy would be held for two weeks at the Port Mourant Cricket Club where five coaches will work with approximately 75 students.
“Over the last three years, the BCB/Scotiabank Academy has assisted the Board to properly groom its young cricketers and for this, we are grateful to the sponsors, who will be undertaking the cost of this year’s Academy to the tune of $175 000.
“Apart from the Academy, Scotiabank would also be sponsoring an inaugural Spelling Bee and Essay Competition for Primary and Secondary schoolchildren respectively, as part of the BCB’s Pro-Education Campaign, which promotes the importance of education for sportsmen,” stated Foster.
In the Essay competition that is being sponsored to the value of $150 000 the winner will receive $15 000 and a trophy, with the second- and third-place finishers collecting $10 000 and $5 000 respectively, along with trophies. Foster thanked the sponsors for the generosity and faith they have shown in the BCB once again.
“I wish to assure everyone on behalf of the president and executives of the BCB, that we are totally focused on the development of cricket in Berbice and while we had a successful 2011 where we hosted over 12 cricket tournaments at all age levels, we are looking to rise further in 2012 and I must say thanks to Scotiabank for the continued trust shown in the BCB.”
In her brief remarks, Scotiabank’s Manager for Marketing, Jennifer Cipriani, said the Essay and Spelling Bee competitions were being sponsored under the Bank’s ‘Bright Future Programme’ which is a programme that targets the children of communities within the countries where the bank operates.
“Guyana’s Bright Future Programme focuses on initiatives that would benefit children in the areas of health, education, sports and social development.
Some of the major initiatives undertaken by Scotiabank through our ‘Bright Future Programme’ so far are our Schools Road Safety Programme in partnership with the National Road Safety Council and the donation of computers to the School Net/Global Partnership for Literacy Programme. And now we are pleased to be doing for the first time a Spelling Bee competition.”
Before handing over the cheque to Assistant Treasurer of the BCB Romesh Munna, Cipriani said she was confident the BCB would execute the respective programmes flawlessly and with transparency, while congratulating them for the work done in previous years.