Dr Beverley Goring new Chair of UK Bajan Groups

Retired Barbadian University lecturer, Trade Unionist, and Administrator, Doctor Beverley Goring, was elected Chairperson of The National Council of Barbadian Associations in the UK at the group’s recent Bi-Annual AGM in Birmingham. She brings a wealth of community work and a teaching career spanning 40 years, from primary school teaching to university lecturing, to London South Bank.

In her first public statement after being elected, Dr Goring asked the community to join the group’s broader remit to support our beautiful island, Barbados, and achieve their goal of serving our communities with dignity, respect, and mindfulness while valuing and celebrating our vibrant culture.

She continued, “As a collective, our overall aim is to encourage and support Barbadian organisations to develop and maintain their cultural and other identifiable characteristics and participate in our local communities. However, we are not alone in this endeavour; we work closely with the Barbados High Commission, local government, other statutory bodies, like-minded organisations, and friends.”

The NCBA (UK), established in 1966, is the umbrella group for nine Barbadian Associations in England.

Dr Goring was a youth worker, counsellor, mentor, and advocate for parents whose children were excluded from school. She also participated in the Saturday School movement and taught there for over twenty years.

Dr. Goring said there have been many influences in her life, including many families and friends. “However, I would say that I owe a lot to the Alleyne School, where we had very inspirational teachers and role models who instilled in us a thirst for learning, which has stayed with me. My life and career have not been a typical linear one, educationally. I was one of those people who worked and then went to University later on. But I always felt that I could achieve more, and those feelings about the importance of education and self-improvement, I believe, stem from the grounding I experienced at the Alleyne School.”

She is the Chairperson of the Alleyne School Alumni Association UK and Friends. Now happily retired, she occasionally teaches but is mainly involved with charity and community work.