Ole Farmers fund-raiser

The College Of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE) Alumni Association, otherwise called 'Ole Farmers', on Saturday, December 17, staged its annual fund-raising dinner at the Bloomfield Great House in Mandeville.

It was an event geared towards raising money for past students of the institutions who had fallen on bad times.

President of the association, Webster McPherson, explained, "The funds are raised for the Ole Farmers Welfare Fund. We have found that in recent times, even though we don't have an official fund, we have had to be pulling on the association's reserves to help in cases where ole farmers are dying and leaving dependents who we have to assist to put through school. Some ole farmers have died and we assist with the funeral expense."

McPherson added: "We have ole farmers who have also become ill and we have been assisting them with medical bills, so we came to a decision to set up the welfare fund, and do some fund-raising activities. This is the first of such."

The event was hosted by businesswoman Doreen Lawson and had ole farmers from all across Jamaica in attendance, including Dr St Aubyn Bartlett, former member of parliament for Eastern St Andrew.

Also in attendance were some of Mandeville's popular figures on the social scene. They were entertained by the UG's band, once the resident band of the institution from the 1970s, with original band members such as Major Johnathan Lamey on keyboards, Earl Jackson on bass and Vincent Afflick on drums and vocals. The band struck up hit after hit that had the audience singing and dancing away, especially to the vintage Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs and Beres Hammond selections.

"We have been trying this (event) in Kingston without success, we tried it once in Mandeville and it was blast, so here we are again," Lawson said.

The guests were treated to a scrumptious meal courtesy of the Bloomfield Great House staff who worked overtime to please patrons.