Morritt’s Grand Opening of The Londoner was a ‘posh affair’ on Grand Cayman

I don’t think the Cayman Islands have ever had a Grand Opening like the one last Friday (16) complete with red coated uniformed guards ‘men’ (some were women!) with and without the tall busby hats,plus a town crier complete with large hand bell who looked remarkably like an old pirate/governor.

I am referring to the opening of “The Londoner” at David Morritt’s Grand Resort at East End, Grand Cayman that was attended by over 500 invited guests, many being owners of the time-share 35 ocean front 2 & 3 bedroom luxury suites.

A red carpet greeted the arriving attendees with the guardsmen standing in line on both sides of the carpet in honour and the town crier ringing his bell and announcing every guest as they walked down.

One of the dignitaries, Deputy Governor Franz Manderson, said it was the first time he had ever been announced by someone ringing a bell and shouting “O Yea! O Yea!”

Also on hand was live music performed most beautifully by Cayman Music School

All this set the tone for hometown Londoner and developer David Morritt to see his dream come true.

The General Manager of Morritt’s, Jerry Miller (brother of North Side MLA Ezzard Miller) gave the welcome and introduced David Morritt to a musical rendering from “Phantom of the Opera”.

Mr. Morritt gave a very passionate speech that started with, “Ladies, you are beautiful, my family is beautiful, my wife is beautiful but my building is more beautiful!”

He cried and he hugged and kissed many of the people on the platform and even got angry as he told everyone how he had been turned down by his bank (he didn’t name it) even though he had been a longtime and successful customer. He said the bank had told him they didn’t like “timeshares” and he said “timesharing” was the future and he had despite them obtained his finance from others who believed in him.

He proudly told us the project had been completed two months ahead of projected schedule and this had been largely due to Jerry Miller and a mainly Caymanian workforce.

The next person to speak was from Interval International the company that had become partners with Morritt’s and handled the timeshares. David Callaghan, a Vice President of the company, presented Mr Morritt with a huge plaque in honour of the occasion and said it had taken him over 10 years to seal the deal. Other speakers were Deputy Premier and Minister for Tourism Moses Kirkconnell, Deputy Governor Franz Manderson, East End MLA Arden McLean and finally Jerry’s brother Ezzard.

The climax of the whole evening arrived, the ribbon cutting and the Declaration of Opening.

It was indeed a very proud moment and a fitting end to a wonderful, happy and most delightful evening with plenty of wine and champagne flowing and delicious finger food.

I mustn’t forget the hard work executed by the organiser of the event, William Conolly. He pulled off a real London “posh” affair.