Chapelton , Clarendon — Hundreds of past students from Clarendon College returned to their roots on Sunday, July 23 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of their school.

Gathered for a thanksgiving service at Stuart Hall, the school’s auditorium named after its second principal, Claude Stuart, the past students hailed former principals and school leaders.

They marked the occasion with the theme “Keepers of the Flame; Sustaining a Tradition of Excellence”.

Past students were reminded of the work of the founding father Rev Lester Davy who started the school in 1942 and his quote “I shall light a candle in Chapelton whose flame shall never be put out”. A lit flame was kept going throughout the service representing the Davy light.

The school, which was founded by the United Church of Jamaica and Grand Cayman, is referred to as a church school and is still closely connected to the church. General Secretary of the United Church of Jamaica and Grand Cayman Rev Norbert Stephens reminded the past students that they are “celebrating this educational giant of an institution in order to remind and inspire those who now lead…”.

The gathering was reminded that Clarendon College is an institution that sets itself apart, not only in combining academic excellence with high Christian and moral values, but offers as well the principles of social consciousness and civic responsibility, all towards allowing students to become difference-making citizens.

“You have kept the flame of the founding father Rev Lester Davy, ‘I shall light a candle in Chapelton whose flame shall never be put out’,” said Stephens.

— Everard Owen