Trinidad & Tobago Laser Sailor, Andrew Lewis has secured his third Olympic qualification to represent the country at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Lewis competed at the Hempel World Cup Series Miami which began on January 20.
During the five-day regatta Lewis finished 2nd, 4th, 3rd, 5th, 8th, 8th and 17th . There were 40 sailors in the annual race fleet with 15 athletes from three countries vying for the Olympic berth. 
Although he placed 4th overall, Lewis out-sailed his rivals from Canada and Mexico who were also competing for country spots to qualify for Tokyo 2020. The Hempel World Cup Series in Miami had one qualification spot available for the Olympics.
Commenting on his performance and qualification success, Lewis said, it was a long and difficult journey.
“This was a long hard journey, especially after the accident. I am thankful to God and my team for helping me along this path. Yesterday was the anniversary of when I started training with my coach, Javier Hernandez Cebrian, what better way to celebrate it than my Olympic qualification.”
He thanked his sponsors Atlantic, Tatil, Blue Waters, Republic Bank, as well as The Ministry of Sport & Youth Affairs and the Sport Company of Trinidad & Tobago.
Lewis also expressed thanks to the people of Trinidad & Tobago for its continued love and support, messages and positive vibes. Source: The Loop, Jan 26, 2020

A British dub poet who was raised in Trinidad has won the prestigious T.S. Eliot Prize for his book A Portable Paradise.
Poet Roger Robinson won the £25,000 award which was announced on January 13 at a ceremony in London.
Nine other books were shortlisted for the prize, the most valuable in UK poetry, and considered one of the literary world’s highest-profile honours.
Robinson is only the second Caribbean writer to win the prize, following Nobel laureate Derek Walcott, who won in 2011 for his book White Egrets.
A release from Bocas Lit Fest said Robinson's book. published by Peepal Tree Press, ranges in subject from family and ancestry to the perils of making art, but has been most celebrated for a sequence of poems addressing London’s tragic Grenfell Tower fire.
“There was a strong sense of humanity to the book,” said the chair of the prize judges, poet John Burnside.
“It came down to how moving the personal poems were and how relatable and accessible his poetry about his family was, alongside the more political parts about black history, Grenfell and the NHS. There is a wonderful balance of the public and the personal in this collection. It is passionate and sociologically engaged….
“Poets have always written about injustices like racism and misogyny, because poetry is a great medium for that, as it engages all of our faculties, our abilities as humans, our empathies. When people are overtaken about rationality, they forget humanity and pity. Poetry reminds us of those traits again.”
Born in London to Trinidadian parents, Robinson was raised in Trinidad. He returned to Britain at age 19 and since then has divided his time between the two countries — calling himself “a British resident with a Trini sensibility.”
Beginning as a spoken word performer in the 1990s, he was chosen as a British Next Generation poet in 1999, and published his first collection, Suckle, in 2009. His book The Butterfly Hotel was longlisted for the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature in 2014.
“Roger Robinson’s win is a triumph not just for him but for Caribbean poetry,” says Marina Salandy-Brown, founder and director of the Bocas Lit Fest. “As well as for our partner Peepal Tree Press, the most prolific publisher of Caribbean poets over the past three decades. This is a time of great opportunity for our writers.”
Robinson is scheduled to participate in the 2020 NGC Bocas Lit Fest in May.
The T.S. Eliot Prize is the latest in a series of recent international successes for Trinidad-born authors. In November 2019, writer Ian Williams was named the winner of Canada’s Giller Prize, that country’s most prestigious award for fiction, for his novel Reproduction. (The Giller Prize was previously won by Trinidad-born Andre Alexis in 2015.)
Also in 2019, Claire Adam won the Desmond Elliot Prize — “the UK’s most prestigious award for first-time novelists” — for Golden Child. In 2016, Vahni Capildeo was named winner of the Forward Prize for Poetry for her book Measures of Expatriation, and in 2017 and 2018 poets Richard Georges and Shivanee Ramlochan were shortlisted for the Forward Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection.
According to Bocas, Caribbean writers have taken home many other coveted prizes in the UK and USA in the last four to five years
The 2020 NGC Bocas Lit Fest, this country’s annual literary festival is set to take place May 1 t- 3 and The Bocas Lit Fest which runs it will officially launch its plans for its 10th year with an ‘open house’ event on January 22 at The Writers Centre, 14 Alcazar Street, St Clair.   Source: The Loop, Jan 14, 2020

The Council and Staff of the National Trust rejoice in the reopening of the Red House, the seat of our democracy.
It is our fervent hope that the grandeur of the Red House will spark a desire in citizens to preserve, cherish and celebrate all heritage symbols that entwine our shared past with our shared future.
The National Trust wishes to thank all those who have contributed to the restoration of the Red House and other heritage properties that are the inheritance of every citizen of Trinidad and Tobago.

A contingent of dancers from Trinidad and Tobago has triumphed in different categories at the World Salsa Summit.
Of the six categories they entered, the team placed in five.
The dancers have emerged victorious with first place in the Pro-Am Mens Salsa Shines category, second places in the Pro-Am Ladies Salsa Shines and Amateur Mens Salsa Shines categories and third places in the Amateur Ladies Shines and Amateur Small Team Salsa categories.
The competition, which is taking place in Miami until January 13, pits the best salsa dancers in the world against each other.
Kurt Thorne, known as DJ Fluffman in the local Salsa world, said this is the first time T&T has fielded such a big contingent of about 20 dancers.
“We are totally blown away,” he said. ‘This is the first time a small country like us are going up there and competing against the best in the world and for us to come away with trophies is amazing.”
He said the team comprised instructors, teachers and dancers from various schools who came together to train under renowned instructor Nelson Flores. Flores, his son Devin Flores and Destiny Garcia, directors of Descarga Latina New York, together with Martin Jim of Salsa Fiesta T&T gave the dancers the opportunity to audition and form Descarga Latina Trinidad and Tobago.
As such, the team received expert choreography and top-level coaching which helped them to make their mark on the competition. The team also received support and training from their local coaches Ade Smart and Karline Braithwaite.
Source: The Loop, Jan 10, 2020

This David Moore painting is yet another excellent rendition showing the arrival of a TGR Train. Probably the 1:05 pm ex Port of Spain or perhaps the 4:25 pm.
Note the figures on the right: The Station Master who is second from right is receiving the "tablet" from the Engine Driver or is it the Fireman?
Notice the colours of the coaches indicate the real TGR, pre-PTSC.
That Gentleman with the children should not be walking on the tracks, but this is merely artistic licence.
On a normal day(during school time) the 4:25 pm ex POS would depart with 700 or so persons. These coaches had a capacity of 96 passengers seated (2 per seat), or 144 sitting 3 per seat.
That large wagon at the back of the train, behind the four coaches is the Brake Van. That would also carry excess passengers and any wheelchair passenger. In a previous time it would also carry the goods of small traders who would have made their purchases in Port of Spain.
If it is the 4:25 pm, it would sleep overnight in Arima to be joined later by the 6:10 pm ex POS. They would depart next morning at 6:29 am and 7:00 am for Port of Spain.
In the last years of the Railway the 6:29 am became 6:30 am.
The 6:29 am would run non-stop from San Juan, omitting Barataria, Morvant and Laventille arriving Port of Spain 7:31 am with a steam engine or 7:33 am with a diesel-electric engine.
Essentially the running-time was 1 hour 8 minutes making all the stops.
Thanks to Glen Beadon for sharing this article written by his friend on ABVMOTT.
"Credit must go to my good friend Mr Ruthven Bunting. A beautifully written account of this magnificent painting by another friend, the one and only, David Moore.
Source" Virtual Museum of TT

The Red House has been pro­claimed as the place for the con­tin­u­a­tion of Par­lia­ment.
A state­ment from the Par­lia­ment yes­ter­day showed a le­gal no­tice signed by Pres­i­dent Paula-Mae Weekes where she ap­point­ed the Red House as the place at which the Fifth Ses­sion of the Eleventh Par­lia­ment shall con­tin­ue.
Here is the full text of the procla­ma­tion be­low:
WHERE­AS it is pro­vid­ed by sub­sec­tion (1) of sec­tion 67 of the Con­sti­tu­tion of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go, that each ses­sion of Par­lia­ment shall be held at such place with­in Trinidad and To­ba­go and shall com­mence at such time as the
Restora­tion works have been on­go­ing at the Red House, which housed Par­lia­ment for decades.
Last last year it was an­nounced that sit­tings of the Up­per and Low­er House would re­turn to the Red House this month af­ter be­ing housed at the In­ter­na­tion­al Wa­ter­front Com­plex, Port-of-Spain for the last eight years.
Gov­ern­ment said last year it would take some time for Par­lia­ment staff and op­er­a­tions to move in­to the Red House and this would be done dur­ing while the hous­es were on re­cess.
It was not the first time the his­toric Red House had to be re­stored or re­built.
The orig­i­nal build­ing was de­stroyed in 1903 wa­ter ri­ots and re­built in 1907.
It was giv­en its fa­mous coat of red paint in 1897 when this coun­try, which made up British colonies, pre­pared to cel­e­brate then Queen Vic­to­ria’s di­a­mond ju­bilee.
Pres­i­dent may by Procla­ma­tion ap­point:
Now, there­fore, I, PAULA-MAE WEEKES, Pres­i­dent as afore­said, do here­by ap­point the Red House, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, as the place at which the Fifth Ses­sion of the Eleventh Par­lia­ment of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go shall con­tin­ue.
Giv­en un­der my Hand and the Seal of the Pres­i­dent of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go at the Of­fice of the Pres­i­dent, St. Ann’s, this 10th day of Jan­u­ary, 2020.
Source: Trinidad Guardian, Jan 16, 2020

​WITH THE TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO FLAG WAVING AND HER PARENTS CHEERING AT THE FINISH LINE, ABIGAIL VIEIRA MADE HISTORY BY BECOMING THE FIRST ATHLETE FROM THE DUAL-ISLAND CARIBBEAN NATION TO COMPETE AT A WINTER YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES.

The 17-year-old Alpine skier was born in the United States but chose to represent her parents’ homeland at Lausanne 2020.A day after serving as Trinidad and Tobago’s flagbearer in the Opening Ceremony, Vieira competed in the women’s Super-G at Les Diablerets, the first medal event at Lausanne 2020.
She placed 42nd out of 62 competitors, finishing in 1 minute, 2.58 seconds. But neither the time nor the result mattered: representing the nation on the global stage was what counted most.
​“This is the greatest day for me,” Vieira said moments after crossing the finish line. “I wanted to ski for Trinidad because they never had a skier before at the Youth Olympics.
“I just thought it would be a great opportunity to show that part of me. It’s very special to me because my parents are from Trinidad. Yes, I could have chosen the US but I can share more of my story this way.”
Waiting to embrace Vieira at the finish were her father Richard, mother Allison and 19-year-old sister Ria. Her father serves as the chef de mission for the Trinidad and Tobago team, while her sister is the assistant coach. The family lives in Boston.
“It is a crazy feeling,” Vieira said. “Today I have represented a part of me that has not been shown on slopes before. It is great to have my family there.