By MUHAMMED S. BAH
The first history book of a school in The Gambia was officially launched on Monday, 14 November 2016, at the St Augustine’s High school hall in Banjul.
The book titled St. Augustine’s School is the history and accomplishments of the school written by George Gomez.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Peter Gomez, the proprietor of West Coast Radio in his introduction of the Author said the Author of the book was a former student of St Augustine’s.
As part of the Author’s Biography, Mr. Gomez said he spent 14 productive years at the hospital, retiring in 1991 as hospital secretary. He further said that he also did sports administration.
He added that the Author retired as a sports administrator the same year he retired from hospital service. “This man took up appointment as the first executive secretary and later director of the Gambia National Olympic Committee (GNOC). As a school boy he was very active in sports. He played football for both his school and country and equally stood out in athletics, particularly in distance running where he set a national record in the mile,” he remarked. He further disclosed that the Author initiated the now very popular May Day Mass Sports in 1991 and received multiple awards for his long years of service to sports.
He added: “In 1998 he received the ‘Sports for All’ award and four years later he picked up the ‘Most outstanding Personality of the year Award’. You could see why-apart from starting the May Days Sports event he was made chef de mission of the Gambian teams to the commonwealth Games in Malaysia, 1998, Manchester, England, 2002 and Melbourne, Australia, 2006. He was chef de mission for four Olympic Games from 1996 to 2008-Atlanta, Sydney, Athens and Beijing,” Gomez said. He added that the Author served as secretary general of the football association and later as its president, and vice president of the boxing association and football veterans association. He also made a name for himself in showbiz under the banner of the Senegambia Beauty pageant which he initiated in 1985, Gomez stated.
Mr George Gomez for his part expressed appreciation and gratitude to all the people who made the day special with their support, love, care and encouragement towards achieving his goal.
