Nazareth Past Students to Stage Major Emancipation Day Celebration in Manchester

Jamaica’s rich social and cultural heritage will be the focus of the Nazareth past students at their annual Emancipation Day celebration in Maidstone, Manchester.
Emancipation Day, a national holiday, will be observed on Tuesday, August 1, 2006.
At a recent meeting of the North American Chapter of the Nazareth Old Students Association (NOSA), to review last year’s celebrations, the membership pledged to re-focus its priorities and commitment to “create a more appealing event that would highlight our rich heritage”.
Members of NOSA are hoping that such a decision would allow the organization to better focus on the unique reasons Maidstone became a key player in Emancipation activities.
The New York based NOSA said it would work with the local planning group to better market the celebrations as a package, concentrate on such activities that closely depicted life during the pre and post Emancipation periods, the display of artifacts with adequate data, the availability of a wide variety of indigenous foods and tours to historic sites.
The review meeting resulted from concerns expressed by patrons who attended last year’s celebrations, that there were limited cultural offerings for such a programme.
This year’s celebrations will be held under the theme: ‘Helping our community to grow from a distance’, and according to NOSA, it welcomes the participation of all past students as well as the general public.