Spurling and Kempe co-hosted a lunchtime series of "Parent to Parent'' drug awareness seminars recently in an effort to coach working parents in the area of drug abuse prevention without their having to give up a "precious'' weekend.

More than 44 staffers at ASK took part in the series of eight one-hour sessions, which were conducted over a number of days by Ms Pauline Richards, Ms Amanda Outerbridge and PRIDE representative P.c. Donville Yarde.

Certificates of participation were presented to those employees who completed each of the sessions, which aimed to provide parents with the tools they need to prevent their children from taking drugs and to intervene effectively if they find that they are.

The local chapter of PRIDE, which consists of parents from various backgrounds and professions, was started on the Island after a group of Bermudians returned from a PRIDE conference in Atlanta in 1986.

The original PRIDE chapter was formed in the United States more than a decade ago after a group of parents discovered that their young children had been using drugs at a backyard birthday party.

*** In tourism news, meanwhile, the Sonesta Beach Hotel in Southampton was recently awarded the 1995 Premium Circle Award by the readers of Insurance Conference Planner magazine.

The award, for "outstanding service and facilities,'' is given to hotels that distinguish themselves in the course of hosting insurance meetings.

Sonesta Beach, a property of the Boston-based Sonesta International Hotels Corporation, is one of 31 hotels to have received the prize.

"Winning the 1995 Premium Circle Award gives us great pride in our employees, whose hard work and commitment has been recognised by our insurance clients,'' Mr. David Boyd, the hotel's president and managing director, said in a statement.

The 400-room hotel employs some 375 people in Bermuda.

TAKING ACTION -- Some of the 44 Appleby, Spurling and Kempe employees who took part in a recent lunchtime series of "Parent to Parent'' drug awareness seminars surround one of the three seminar leaders, P.c. Donville Yarde. Ms Margaret Swift, the Parent to Parent co-ordinator for co-sponsor PRIDE, stands at top right.