The Wolmer's Girls' Alumnae, formerly Wolmer's Old Girls' Association, will celebrate 100 years of service to the school and society with the launch on April 20 of a new history of the school called, In the Light of the Sun, the Story of Wolmer's Girls School."

The Wolmer's Old Girls' Association was established in April 1909, just two years after the earthquake of 1907 destroyed much of the city of Kingston. The Wolmer's school had recently relocated from the devastation of downtown Kingston to its present site on the Quebec Lands, north of Race Course. The story, however, begins with the 1729 bequest of Kingston goldsmith, John Wolmer, by which a free school was to be established in the parish in which he should happen to die.

Fascinating view

From slave society to the challenges of Jamaica in the 21st century, the story of Wolmer's provides a fascinating view of some 280 years of developments in Kingston and Jamaica as an emerging nation.

"In the Light of the Sun highlights the growth of the Wolmer's School Girls' division and its positioning as a social and educational centrepiece in the capital city. The role of the women who guided the education of Jamaican girls for nearly two and a half centuries is explored. Wolmer's first tutoress in 1777 was deemed competent to form the manners of the female scholars". By 1903 the headmistress of Wolmer's Girls' School had the satisfaction of announcing the opening of a science laboratory for her charges, one of many significant moments in this narrative of the movement toward educational equality of the sexes and the millennium ideal of "Education for All".

The book is described by its publishers as including a rich tapestry of reminiscences spanning the distance from days when running was considered unladylike to the school producing Jamaica's first female Olympic 100-metre champion at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Through world wars, earthquakes, hurricanes; social, economic and political fomentation, prejudices and biases based on race, class and gender, Wolmer's is shown to have led the way for several more recently established high schools in Jamaica. Its graduates, strongly represented among the Jamaican women who pursued tertiary education for the first time, have made outstanding contributions to the development of Jamaica and farther afield.

Five authors

In the Light of the Sun was written by five collaborating authors, all alumnae of the school. The chapters on the early years of the school were written by Marguerite Curtin, noted researcher and writer of local history, with several publications to her credit. Karen Findlay and Penelope Budhlall, both well known in the field of corporate communications, examine the modernisation of the school in the second half of the twentieth century. Editor/writer, Sonia Mills, reminisces on life at the Wolmer's hostel. Professor Marlene Hamilton, former pro-vice chancellor at the University of the West Indies (UWI) and deputy principal of the UWI, Mona campus, concludes with a broad view of the school's historical development and current strategies being pursued in fulfilment of its mission.

Activities to commemorate the 2009 centenary of the establishment of the Wolmer's Old Girls' Association include a service of thanksgiving at the school on April 19, and an awards banquet on April 24 at which a number of outstanding alumnae will be honoured.