LONDON, England -- His Excellency Ed Bethel, High Commissioner of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to the Court of St. James, attended a reception hosted by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, for Realm High Commissioners’ at Clarence House in London on Thursday, January 24, 2013.

A Commonwealth Realm is a "Sovereign State within the Commonwealth of Nations that currently has Queen Elizabeth II as its reigning Constitutional Monarch and shares a common royal "Order of succession" with the other Realms.

There are 16 Commonwealth Realms: Antigua and Barbuda; Australia; The Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Canada; Grenada; Jamaica; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Solomon Islands; Tuvalu; and the United Kingdom.

Photo 1: His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales; His Excellency Ed Bethel, High Commissioner of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to the Court of St James; Mrs. Dawn Bethel; His Excellency Dr. Carl Roberts, High Commissioner for Antigua and Barbuda to the Court of St James; and Mrs. Pauline Roberts at a reception for Realm High Commissioners at Clarence House in London on Thursday, January 24, 2013. (Photo/Richard Lewis)

NASSAU, Bahamas -- Last year in June there were secretive giggles in the hallways at Lyford Cay International School (LCIS). The giggling started in the administration building, in the Development Office, where they had just been asked to help in a unique project.

Phone calls and emails were sent out. Where we interested? Did our students have the time at the final weeks of a busy school year? Were our students good enough? Could they even pull this off? Excited responses from the LCIS Music Institute assured that “Of course we are interested and yes! our students could certainly rise to the occasion.”

LCIS had been contacted by an international production company, Rumor Mill, who had heard about the success of the school’s Glee project, and asked if LCIS students would like to sing the back up track for a famous brand’s upcoming commercial.

Mrs. Kim, previous Director of the LCIS Music Institute and the force behind the incredible success of the LCIS Glee program, was faced with the daunting task of selecting 12 primary school students to represent the school. Selected students were brought into a secret meeting where they were asked if they want to sing for a commercial. The response was a unanimous yes.

They were told that this was a secret project, they couldn’t tell anyone who they were singing for until the final commercial was released. Students, ranging from grade 3 to 6 agreed. Mrs Kim, with her usual dramatic flare, leaned in towards the students. “Do you want to know who you’re singing for?” she asked in a whisper. Expectant faces all nodded “yes!” In an even lower whisper she told them,”Coca-Cola!” The collective scream could be heard at the Secondary School Building.

FREEPORT, Grand Bahama -- Visiting People-to-People participants Mr and Mrs Bowes of British Columbia, Canada, stopped by the Beacon School Sunday for a special donation of communication equipment.

The equipment donated to the Beacon School was a Touch Tech 32 Voca Voice Output Communication Aid.  The VOCA is used in increasing communicative interactions of young children with autism.

The Bowes' in turn received gifts in the form of a Bahamian-made straw bag, and straw portfolio.

Pictured L-R: Karenda Swain, Ministry of Tourism; Nurse Laura Jones, Rand Memorial Hospital (Public Hospitals Authority); Mr. & Mrs. Bowes, People-to-People Participants; Cheryl Wood, Beacon School.

Click HERE to learn more about the VOCA.

NASSAU, Bahamas -- Minister of National Security, the Hon. Bernard Nottage, MP, toured Bahamas Striping’s work site on Carmichael Road on Thursday and said he was pleased to see the Christie’s election promise to put Bahamians first was a success and working. Nottage learnt about Bahamas Striping’s plans to hire and train up to 40 young Bahamians by end of 2013 and about the company’s expansion into other road maintenance services.

In South West Plaza Minister Nottage met with five new Bahamas Striping trainees, all previously jobless, who began training four weeks ago at Old Fort Bay Shopping Center. Nottage praised Mitchell for sharing his success by training young Bahamians. When asked how it felt to see the Christie government’s pro-Bahamians policy working, Nottage replied “good, good, good.”

Mitchell claims that were it not for the government’s sincere desire to deliver on its election promise to put Bahamians first, these young men would not have jobs or careers. Mitchell was able to hire them because the Christie government policy to put Bahamians first was real and the fact that  his company was starting to get government work, which might previously have gone to foreign owned or the larger Bahamian companies was proof positive of the policy in operation.

“Last year we decided to expand and invest because we felt sure the PLP government would deliver on its promise. Now we see its policy coming true. We’re getting more work that used to go to foreigners. So we have the confidence to hire and train young Bahamians to tap into this $4.5 million demand that we expect in the next five years,” said Mitchell.

“We took a risk on expensive training to be ready for any public roads jobs. Now the jobs have started coming in and we expect the frequency of bids to grow much greater. These five additional guys are just the start. We expect to create 40 more new jobs by year end. They’ll be trained, not only in striping, but as we diversify into new services such as production of wheel stops, construction of sidewalks and highway cleaning, they will have the opportunity to acquire those skills as well,” said Mitchell. “This country needs a lot of striping and drains maintenance.