... Father inconsolable during memorial

DENZIL MORELAND, father of Anna Kaye Moreland, one of the two wards who died in the January 16 blaze that destroyed Walker’s Place of Safety was inconsolable throughout the memorial service yesterday.

He was not alone, as students from Best Care School of Special Education, which both deceased girls attended, also broke down while performing their musical item.

Emotions really started to spill over when 18-year-old Selena Reid, a fellow ward of Walker’s and friend of both girls, began to weep as she clutched the microphone, preparing to lead the other wards in song.

“We’re singing from our hearts because we love them,” she said before performing a rendition of You Raise Me Up.

The emotional service included tributes from Opposition Leader Peter Phillips, state minister with responsibility for youth, Floyd Green, and children from Walker’s Place of Safety who have been placed in three children’s homes across the Corporate Area following the January 16 fire that destroyed their original residence.

Earlier in his tribute, Green had announced that he had recommended that the Medal of Gallantry be awarded later this year to Reid, who had risked her life on the night of the inferno to save her peers; Grace Allen, manager at Walker’s; and Kimani Anderson, a male living beside the home who rescued some of the wards during the blaze.