New Year’s Eve in West Bay was the scene of a huge family get-together.

They were all the descendants of Grandma Ellen Ebanks, who lived in West Bay, and died in 1956 at the age of 85.

She had ten children, Leila, Chrissie, Adella, Emily, Martha, Ellen, Freddy, Austin, Cadian, and Malcolm, and although none of them are living today, the Sir John A Cumber School Hall was filled with her grandchildren, great, and great-great grandchildren.

Although many of them still live in Cayman, many others had travelled from far and wide, such as Dr. William Combs and his wife, Emily Combs who had come all the way from Naples, Florida. “We are very pleased to be here,” Dr. Combs said.

“She’s my great grandmother, and her husband was James Ebanks. We called him Grampa Jim-Jim,” said one of the event’s organisers, Ezethamae Bodden. “She lived in Birch Tree Hill, and had ten children, and from those ten children,102 grandchildren were born, and from that, 305 great-grandchildren. From that, it’s just multiplied, so now we’re over a thousand strong,” Ms Bodden added.

Over two hundred and fifty signed the family book, left at the hall’s doorway, but Ms Bodden thinks that nearly twice that number joined in the celebration altogether.

When everyone was seated the get-together began with a prayer-and-praise service.

Barbara Morrison, another organiser, led family members in a prayer for the bereaved, and then everyone joined in by singing a very appropriate song, The Family of God.

Then it was time for the family photo. But how do you get hundreds of family members into the picture? It took some organising, but eventually everyone was in, and smiling, ready for the camera.

Afterwards everybody tucked into a big traditional Cayman buffet-style meal complete with delicious stewed conch.