Bittersweet moment for Toni-Ann - Miss World 2019 pays tribute to her late paternal grandparents

Tears ran down her cheeks as Miss World 2019, Toni-Ann Singh, lowered wreaths on the tombs of her paternal grandparents in Arcadia, St Thomas.

It was the third stop on her day-long tour on Sunday of her birth parish, the first of which was a meet-and-greet in Yallahs, followed by a stop at the Women’s Centre in Morant Bay.

Describing the moment as bittersweet, Toni-Ann’s father, Bradshaw Singh, told The Gleaner that his 23-year-old daughter and his late mother, Julia Watson, shared a good relationship before she passed.

And he revealed that although his father, Harold Singh, had passed a year before her birth, Toni-Ann knew of the life he lived and the impact he had on the community.

“It’s a sad moment because it brings back memories, but there’s joy in it as well because it is a reminder that my father was a parish council member and a BITU (Bustamante Industrial Trade Union) officer who served the communities very well,” he divulged.

“It is also a reminder of the way in which my mother worked hard in ensuring that her children, though born while she was a teenager, received good health and education while my dad set the foundation in terms of community work.”

Singh described the return of his daughter as queen to the community as a grand opportunity for the residents to celebrate.

“It tells the community a couple of things. One of the things is that you, as a lady, can achieve anything you put your mind to. Toni-Ann is a combination that represents Jamaica and this district, and she comes out of a rural community and St Thomas, the forgotten parish … . That tells a lot that people in these communities have a future, and with hard work, they can get along in life,” he said.