Turf fuss over Toni-Ann Singh: Arcadia, Bath spar for Miss World

This is the house in Arcadia, St Thomas, where her father,
Bradshaw, grew up, and where young Toni-Ann spent
 some of her childhood. Residents of Arcadia say
 they, like the people in Bath, St Thomas, have a stake in
 the 'ownership' of the new Miss World.
(Photos: Naphtali Junior and Norman Thomas)

BY SHARLENE HENDRICKS Staff reporter hendrickss@jamaicaobserver.com  Sunday, December 22, 2019

THE people of Arcadia, St Thomas, say they, too, have a stake in the 'ownership' of Miss World 2019, Toni-Ann Singh, a native of the soil.

This follows reports of her background as being born in Bath, St Thomas. But the residents of Arcadia insist that the community has outdone Bath in laying the foundation for Singh's development.

When the Jamaica Observer visited Arcadia on Wednesday, residents said they were eagerly awaiting Singh's return.

Toni-Ann arrived in the island on Friday for a four-day visit and was scheduled to return to her home parish last night for the Unruly Fest stage show. She will tour sections of the eastern parish today, then fulfil other engagements in Kingston tomorrow before jetting off to some 40 other countries during her reign.

Toni-Ann Singh, Miss World 2019

When the Sunday Observer visited Arcadia, residents said the small farming district in eastern St Thomas would have been the stomping ground for young Singh between the ages of four and five years old before she emigrated to the United States with her parents.

And while Toni-Ann's mother, Jahrine Bailey, is in fact from Bath, her father, Bradshaw Singh, was born and raised in Arcadia where residents said Toni-Ann spent much of her early childhood.

Residents boasted that Toni-Ann's father, a past principal of Barking Lodge Primary School in the parish, is a son of Arcadia and a shining example of hard work and ambition. more