THIS DAY IN OUR PAST

The following events took place on August 15 in the years identified:

1989: marks This afternoon the start of the last phase of the 30th annual Spelling Bee Competition. Five boys and nine girls, winners of the Parish Championships in the 1989 competition organised by the Gleaner’s Children’s Own newspaper, will assemble at the Oceana Hotel in Kingston, accompanied by their teachers, to begin the final phase of the competition. The programme will be highlighted by two dictation tests, results of which will help to determine the spellers’ standing in the finals. On August 16, the spellers will undergo the final oral test to decide who will be the all-island champion and runners-up eligible for the many prizes which have been made available by The Gleaner and friends of the competition.

1990: Ardenne

High School creates a Spelling Bee record by winning the championship for the fifth year in a row. Janice Maxwell is the student who tops the Spelling Bee Championship to give the school and her teacher, Glen Archer, the record. The three top places go to girls. Laura Mae Patterson of Vaz Prep takes the second place and Tesha White of Lyssons All-Age is third. The finals of the competition started on Tuesday, August 14, with two dictation tests and continue on August 15, with the first spelldown among the 14 parish champions. The eight best spellers left for the final spell-down were: Laura-Mae Patterson of Vaz Prep; Tesha Whyte of Lyssons All-Age. St Thomas; Alicia Henry of Sturge Town Primary, St Ann; Kamla Brown of Corinaldi Avenue Primary, St James; Ricardo Blair from Petersfield Primary, Westmoreland; Serita Thomas of Mt Nebo Primary, St Catherine; Janice Maxwell of Ardenne High, St Andrew; and Patricia Cameron of Bethel AllAge, Trelawny. At exactly 5:50 p.m. Laura-Mae spells ‘aphyllous’ incorrectly. Janice capitalises on this opening and corrects Laura’s spelling, and after spelling an additional word, ‘applique’, she is declared the winner.