ANGUILLA--In Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s birthday honours two Anguillians were awarded the Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) – Oluwakemi Linda Banks and the late Reverend Wycherley Gumbs. The news was published in The Gazette, one of the official journals of the British government.
Banks is a clinical psychologist and was given the award for her services to the social and cultural development of Anguilla. The late Reverend Gumbs was given the honour for his services as chairman of the Anguilla Christian Council and his contribution over the years to the spiritual community and the cultural heritage of Anguilla.
Banks currently works as a psychologist and a human resource development consultant. She is known in Anguilla for her work in the Anglican Church where she served as President of the Caribbean Congress of Churches. She is also known for being the founder of the Teacher Gloria Omololu School in 1994. She was the Commissioner of Girlguiding, Anguilla, for some years and the chairperson of the Caribbean link for Guiding.
Reverend Gumbs is best known for his work in the Methodist Church, where he served with distinction as the chairman and general superintendent of the Leeward Islands District from 1988 to 1993. He was appointed Superintendent of the Anguilla Methodist Circuit in 2013 and for the past seven years he provided exemplary service in church and community life, winning the respect, admiration and love of all.
He was a gifted and influential preacher as well as a prolific writer and publisher of plays, poems, biographies, religious and historical works. Up to his recent death he was a member of The UWI Alumni Society in Anguilla, and a member of the Board of Governors of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School.
