Bermuda's newest minister, Dale Butler, was brimming with ideas as he took on the Community Affairs, Youth and Sport brief at a Government House ceremony yesterday.

The 50-year-old part-time author called for community ambassadors to reward outstanding seniors. “They could fill in for a busy minister, especially a minister of cultural affairs.”

Another idea was for a “Sir” Stanley Burgess Day to highlight the veteran of May 24 marathons, Bermudians on local stamps and for a government-commissioned historian to publish a text book on Portuguese history and Bermuda's Portuguese heritage.

Too many people were ignorant of Bermuda's history and key players said Mr. Butler who promised to champion radio programmes highlighting local culture.

On the sports side he said there were a lot of competing claims from sporting bodies which had to be looked at in a balanced way.

He said he was hoping to have an input on labour and training issues for the young, something which the Little Venice group training director has spoken out on in the past.

Mr. Butler said he will continue to push to get wallsitters integrated into the mainstream. “I have always believed that someone in labour and training should have been designated to gather the names and addresses of these young people, contact them on a regular basis and bring them in.

“That's something I will continue to push for. I have started collecting names and addresses myself which I forward on to Labour and Training.