The 'rum tree' at Calabash 2010
Published:Sunday | June 6, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Many are called, but few are chosen. Attorneys Aloun Assamba and Dianna Davis-Smith, Visalus' Gaudia Aquart, Intralot's Millicent Lynch, JamVenture's Dollis Campbell, Lorna Robinson of the Jamaica Tourist Board, businesswoman Ruth-Ann Woolcocks, Munroe's Marcia Wright and one man, 'The Weekends' Dwayne Smalling were among the chosen seated beneath the Lignum Vitae 'Wray and Nephew rum tree' at Calabash 2010.
From religion, relationships to real life problems, this was the tree under which all the country's problems were discussed with inspiration from red and white rum.
Rum tree rules
Efficiently run by a 'Presi' and a company secretary, there were more than enough legal counsellors to give advice and maintain protocol. No drinking and driving, was one of the few rules the 'rum tree' established, but members were free to get lost in Treasure Beach, which was exactly what Aquart and Davis-Smith did.
Anyone wanting to leave the tree had to seek permission using the words, "My Fellow Jamaicans, it is with deep regret that I apologise for having to leave the rum tree".
On their return, they joined in reciting a poem or two.
Pieces such as 'Song of the Banana Man', 'Spanish Needle', 'Tacky the Chieftan', while the effervescent Dr Blossom O'Meally Nelson, a regular visitor to the tree, read love poems from her impressive catalogue.
Aloun Assamba read Millicent Lynch's 'Full Size Woman' and guests, including journalist Michael Sharpe, Harmony Cove's Dr Lorna Simmonds, lecturer, young adults Renee Lynch and Neila Ebanks, also participated.
Naturally, the 'rum tree' featured only Jamaican liquor. So, was Calabash 2010 the bomb or what? If you missed 'So Much Things to Say', you are poorer for not being there.