MAY 24 last would always be remembered as a special day in the professional life of Hilbert Foster, since he was awarded the Medal of Service by President David Granger in front of a packed audience at the National Cultural Centre.

Foster described it as one of the proudest moment of his life. A very humbled Foster dedicated the award to his mother Claudette, who is ailing, his wife Sylvia, daughter Marissa, brothers Keith and Alex, and all other relatives of the Foster’s household who have supported him over the decades of unselfish service to humanity.

He also acknowledged the support of all members of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club, MS, and noted that without their support, it would have been impossible to have achieved so much success.

Foster noted that the club is a family who stands by each other. He also shared the award with sponsors of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club, members of the media who have assisted to promote the outstanding work of the club over the last three decades.

Special mention was made of Rajiv Ganga, Larry Wills, Bert Sukhai, Onai Vasconcellos, Jennifer Cipriani, Michael George, Avia Lindie, Robert Selman, Oscar Ramjeet, Patrick De Groot, Frankie Wilson, Claude David, Angela Haniff, Leon Horatio, Gregory Rambarran, Rajiv Bisnauth, Avenash Ramzan among others.

An emotional Foster also noted the contribution of his late grandmother Josephine, his late dad Hilbert Spence, Father Harold Wong and his mentor the late President Hugh Desmond Hoyte.

He stated that he and elder brother Alex inherited their passion to assist others from their dad, who was a Minister in the Forbes Burnham Government.

The late Hugh Desmond Hoyte was Foster’s mentor for over 20 years and provided invaluable advice until his sudden death in 2002. Father Wong, the late Catholic priest also played a major role in shaping Foster’s spiritual belief in making a positive difference.

The vibrant Berbice Cricket Board president since his election has personally raised close to $17M cash and kind, launched 43 tournaments, organised dozens of developmental programmes and, during the period 2008 to 2014, raised over $20M for Berbice Cricket as Chairman of the BCB Special Events Committee.

As Secretary/CEO of the club, Foster has successfully spearheaded the completion of over 9 000 activities under a wide range of sub-headings such as sports, education, anti-drugs, religious, anti-crime, community development, youth development, social, cultural and anti-alcohol.

Foster, a household name in Berbice, has also spearheaded the restoration of the Area ‘H’ Ground at the cost of over $29M among other major projects.