ST JOHN’S, Antigua – In today’s society, with the busy lives led by so many, people often lose touch with those they once considered dear friends and sometimes never realise how much they miss these people until they reconnect.

Members of the Pigotts Community have recognised the need to touch base with people and family they have not seen in years, and have planned the first ever village reunion.

While speaking with Chairman of the Pigotts Reunion Organizing Committee, Hugh Smith one could not deny the anticipation and excitement that filled his face as he talked about their plans.

He noted that the notion for the reunion started in 2010 and have been in motion for the last two years.

“The idea for the reunion started after Carnival 2010. Some of the guys from the village were together at Obstis’ bar and came up with the idea to get the village together and host a reunion,” Smith said.

The committee in an effort to involve even the children and come up with a theme for the event, held a competition at the Pigotts Primary School.  The theme “Old faces meeting in familiar places,” later came from a former resident of the village.

“The committee commissioned the school to have a competition encouraging the children to come up with ideas for a theme. However, the best theme came from Mary Erskine, a former Pigotts resident living in Texas,” Hughes said.

The committee could not ask for more, as there were many hands on deck to assist in making the reunion a reality, including members of the Pigotts Community Group, who later formed part of the organising group.

The chairman noted that the aim of the reunion is to reconnect people from the village and bring those living abroad together with those still living in Antigua.

He sees it as an opportunity to renew old friendships, forge new ones and reminisce on old times and fun things that happened. Hughes expects that there will about 250 people participating in the week of activities.

“Initially the committee thought about 150 people would be coming from abroad but the number has since grown to around 250, some of whom have already arrived. We printed 150 shirts, but now we have order an extra 100 shirts,” he noted.

The reunion, which is slated for July 21-29 will include a number of activities such as a meet and greet and family fun day, a boat cruise, a health screening, a variety concert and a bus tour around the island.

The highlights of the week will be the inter-denominational thanksgiving service to be held at the St Marks Anglican Church on July 21 and the banquet to be held at the Jolly Beach Resort’s Hibiscus Room on July 28.

Despite the fact that there is a lot of work involved in the planning process the, 15-member organising committee hopes that individuals will stay in contact with each other and will not allow too much time to pass before coming together for another reunion.