JAMAICAN M Patricia Durrant, the first United Nations ombudsman, will deliver the keynote address at the St Andrew High School’s 80th anniversary banquet on Thursday at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston.

Under the patronage of the wife of the governor general, Rhema Hall, another distinguished old girl, the event is one of the high points of the school’s year-long 80th anniversary celebrations under the theme “Abundantly Blessed – The Legacy Continues”.

Among the old girls to be recognised at the banquet are:

.Reverent Dr Hyacinth Boothe, first female ordained Methodist minister in 1956. She was later called to full time ministry.

. Dr Barbara Carby, first female director of the Office of Disaster Preparedness, also the first woman to be awarded a PhD in geochemistry at the University of the West Indies.

. Dr Blossom O’Meally Nelson, first female postmaster general of Jamaica, pro-chancellor and chairman for the University of Technology.

.Dorothy Pine-McLarty, first woman to be admitted to partnership of the law firm Myers, Fletcher and Gordon. She was later transferred to London to become the first managing partner of the London-based firm.

. Hillary Phillips, the first woman elected head of the Jamaican Bar Association.

. Barbara Gloudon, first female editor of the Star newspaper.

. Elsa Leo Rhynie, first female pro-vice chancellor of University of the West Indies, Mona. She is now acting -principal.

The guest speaker has had a long and distinguished career representing Jamaica at the international level, reaching a crescendo when General Secretary Kofi Annan named her to the newly created ombudsman position, a non-renewable, five-year term at the level of assistant secretary-general. Prior to that, Ambassador Durrant served her country at the United Nations as deputy permanent representative from 1983 to 1987 and as permanent representative from 1995 to 2002.