Congratulations
are very much in order for President of the Heart & Stroke Foundation of
Barbados, Dru Symmonds, who was awarded the Silver Crown of Merit in the
Barbados 40th Anniversary Honours in November last year. The award was
presented by His Excellency Sir Clifford Husbands GCMG, KA, Governor General
of Barbados, at a ceremony at Government House on November 30th 2006.
Following is the citation that was read on his presentation
for the receipt of his honour:
QUOTE: -
MR. HEWITT DRURARD McDONALD SYMMONDS, SCM, J.P., was educated at both the
illustrious institution on Crumpton Street – Harrison College - AND the
illustrious institution in the republic of St. John – the Lodge School. He
clearly acquired the best of both worlds!
“Dru”, as he is known to his friends and the world at large,
joined the British Army’s Royal Corps of Signals in 1962 and was soon assigned
to the Far East Land Forces in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Borneo, where
he earned the General Service Medal, and had the rare distinction of being one
of very few non-British telegraphists engaged in coding and decoding classified
communications. This experience must have helped hone his unflappable approach
and his diplomatic skills.
But Dru has understood the meaning of serving since the age
of 14, when he went into the village with his father, the late McDonald Symmonds,
to help the old and the hurricane victims. His life’s motto “There but for the
Grace of God go I” and his deep spirituality have inspired a commitment to
service second to none, first in the Lions Club of Barbados South where he
became Club President, and Lionism regionally as Secretary/Treasurer District
60B, and then Council Secretary/Treasurer of the Multiple District 60. Dru is
the co-founder the Heart Foundation, now the Heart and Stroke Foundation of
Barbados. He was Founding Vice-President for 10 years and President for the last
eleven.
The secrets of his success, I submit, both as a successful,
now retired businessman, and as leader of our most outstanding NGO, the Heart
and Stroke Foundation, are his instincts as a team player and motivator, the
fact that he truly cares about people, and his lively sense of humour. He
manifests the prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas – love is service, and the main
medicine is humour and laughter.
The award of SILVER CROWN OF MERIT is being made in
recognition of his contribution to the community and in particular the health
care sector.
UNQUOTE.
Congratulations
are very much in order for President of the Heart & Stroke Foundation of
Barbados, Dru Symmonds, who was awarded the Silver Crown of Merit in the
Barbados 40th Anniversary Honours in November last year. The award was
presented by His Excellency Sir Clifford Husbands GCMG, KA, Governor General
of Barbados, at a ceremony at Government House on November 30th 2006. 
