Ten of Bermuda’s most influential women and a promising athlete were all honoured at the annual CableVision ‘Salute to Service’ banquet on Saturday evening.

Former Premiers Dame Pamela Gordon Banks, Dame Jennifer Smith and Paula Cox were also acknowledged.

Governor George Fergusson and Premier Craig Cannonier were among the 500 guests who gathered at the Fairmont Southampton as some of the Island’s ‘Leading Ladies’ were recognised for their contributions.

Among the honorees was Louise Jackson who died just over a week ago and whose funeral was held on Saturday.

Others who received awards were Amy Adderley, Molly Burgess, Shirley Dill, Rev. Betty Furbert-Woolridge, Dr Eva Hodgson, Dolly Pitcher, Ann Smith Gordon, Ruth Thomas and Bernella Williams.

In addition, athlete Kyrah Scraders received the annual Rollin Nathan Community Award and was handed $1,000 towards her training for upcoming competitions.

The Governor made special mention of former MP Mrs Jackson. “There is a particular poignancy in the recognition of Mrs Louise Jackson, whose service to the community was enormous and whose funeral took place earlier in the day,” he said.

“But the range of service represented by these awards, in so many fields and so many ways, is a cause for real celebration.”

Terry Roberson, general manager of Bermuda CableVision, said: “Bermuda has greatly benefited from the hard work and dedication of tonight’s award recipients. Bermuda CableVision is honoured to have the opportunity to celebrate the strength and passion of some of Bermuda’s most influential and impactful women.

“We are engaged in building a stronger community together and tonight’s recipients have raised the bar of community responsibility. They are extremely deserving of the recognition for their work.”

The Premier added: “The ‘Leading Ladies’ of Bermuda who Bermuda CableVision has recognised with their community service awards are extraordinary women. These women have made a profound difference in the community and I am grateful for their dedication and perseverance. I want to thank each award recipient for dedicating their time and energy to Bermuda and for helping to enrich the Bermuda community.”

• Eva Hodsgon, a prolific letter writer to The Royal Gazette, is a renowned race activist and author.

A longtime member of Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda (CURB), she founded the National Association of Reconciliation in Bermuda.

A former professor of history at the Essex County College and a teacher for many years at Berkeley Institute, she has authored two books, ‘Second-Class Citizens; First-Class Men, or, Great Men All Remind Us’ and ‘A Storm in a Teacup: The 1959 Bermuda Theatre Boycott and its Aftermath.’

• Louise Jackson was a teacher, dance studio owner, author, business woman and politician. When she arrived on the Island from Philadelphia in 1952, her passion for dance led her to open the School of Dance in 1953, which later became the Jackson School of Performing Arts.

She sold the school in 1999 after 46 years as the owner and director. During that time, she co-founded the National Dance Theatre of Bermuda.

She served as a teacher at Berkeley Institute, Prospect Primary and Sandys Secondary School and as a UBP MP she was the Shadow Minister of Cultural Affairs and Seniors until 2005 when she became the Shadow Minister for Health and Seniors.

• Helena Molly Burgess is a well-known labour relations activist and is the second highest placed officer in the Bermuda Industrial Union.

She began working at the Elbow Beach Hotel in 1960 where she became involved in the trade union movement and was elected Chief Shop Steward. She was elected in 1965 to the position of secretary of the BIU’s Hotel, Nightclub and Restaurant Division and in 1968, she became the recording secretary of the Union.

She remains the organiser of the BIU’s Hotel, Nightclub and Restaurant Division and the Hospitals Division.

In 2006, the Caribbean Congress of Labour honoured Ms Burgess for her outstanding and dedicated service to the labour movement of the region.

• Bernella Williams is a nurse who has been heavily involved in the medical professional for many years.

She studied nursing in England in 1969 and returned to Bermuda after her graduation in 1972 and joined the medical team at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

In 1981 she took a leave of absence from nursing to focus on raising her eight sons and led the Bermuda Institute Parents Teacher Association, where her sons attended school.

In 1991, Mrs Williams returned to the medical profession and took on an active role in the care of geriatrics, conducting house calls for elderly people in need. A year later she returned to King Edward Hospital as a full-time nurse and acted as shop steward for her team in the Continuing Care Unit from 2002 to 2010 and continues to work with the elderly today.

• Amy Adderley is the treasurer at Bermuda’s Junior Service League, promoting volunteerism, developing the potential of children and improving the community.

She moved to Bermuda in 2001 and has worked on numerous projects including “The Stuff the Bus Project,” a programme that supplies all children entering the public school system at Primary One with the required school supplies.

From 2006 to 2011, she was the Bermuda Junior Service League Scholarship Committee chair, assisting young Bermudians with their financial needs and is currently chairman of the Committee of Management at the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club, responsible for overall club operations.

• Ann Smith Gordon is in her 31st year as head of PALS Cancer Care in Bermuda. In 1995, she moved into her current role of president and CEO.

In 1995, she was appointed vice-chairman of the World Home Care and Hospice Organisation, appointed chairman in 1999 and became vice-chairman again in 2007.

In 1997, she was invited by Dame Cecily Saunders, founder of the Modern Hospice Movement to write a chapter about PALS in her book Hospice Care on the International Scene, the first book of its kind ever published.

She has served as a Council Member of the Bermuda Girl Guide Association and in 1994 she was honoured by the Kiwanis Clubs of Bermuda in recognition of her outstanding community service.

• Dolly Pitcher is a well-known Bermudian chef, famous for her conch stew.

She grew up in a family of chefs and has cooked her traditional dishes in various Bermuda locations over the years including: Mount Airey, Captains Lounge, Elbow Beach and Mid Ocean Club.

In 1967, she began cooking in her ‘Texas Country Road’ stall at Cup Match and became famous for her conch stew, Bermuda fish dishes and mussel pies.

In 2003 and again in 2006, Miss Pitcher received The Bermudian’s Best of Bermuda Gold Award for best local fare.

• Reverend Betty Furbert-Woolridge is the Presiding Elder of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Churches of Bermuda.

She was ordained an Itinerant Deacon in 1981 and Itinerant Elder in 1983 and was pastor of St John AME Church from 1986 until 1993 where she led the congregation in completing the building of the new St John AME Church.

In 1993, she was the first female appointed to Pastor Allen Temple AME Church and she was the longest serving pastor with 17 years. In 1998, she instituted a reading programme at West End Primary School, helping students to improve their reading skills. The programme is now in its 15th year.

In 2010, she was appointed pastor of St Philip AME Church and has overseen renovations of the parsonage and was appointed as the first female Presiding Elder of the Bermuda Conference of AME Churches, overseeing the work of the 11 churches in the Conference.

• Shirley Dill is a veteran broadcasting radio and TV host.

She has co-hosted shows ranging in scope from ‘Junior Club,’ a children’s TV show to ‘Bermuda Sunrise,’ a morning show on VSB. ?She can currently be heard Mondays through Thursdays on VSB from 10:30am until 2:00pm and on Sundays from 8am until noon on ‘Now You’re Talking,’ her popular call-in talk show.

She was the first woman in Bermuda to co-anchor newscasts at Bermuda Broadcasting Corporation and was the first woman in Bermuda to interview a major government figure in a talk show format, interviewing the Premier at the time, Sir John Swan.

Mrs Dill was the recipient of a Role Model Award in Public Service in 1989, a Barbados Independence Community role promoting West Indian culture in 1988, a Bermuda Business and Professional Club award in 1991 and an Eastern Lioness Club Award in 1994.

• Ruth Elaine Thomas is a former teacher and education officer and a current writer, actor and storyteller.

Over the years she has taught music to children at Francis Patton Primary School, worked at the Department of Education to investigate the need for preschool education in Bermuda and taught at Friendship Vale School for challenged children.

Miss Thomas became the Government’s first officer for early childhood preschool education and was the first officer for the Government’s Cultural Affairs Department.

From 1978 to 1990, she chaired the Bermuda Arts Council, is an active member of the Shakespeare School Festival Committee and the History and Culture Committee of the Bank of Bermuda Foundation Committee.

• Kyrah Scraders is striving to represent Bermuda at the Olympics.

In 2012, she won both the 1500 metres and 800 metres in the Bermuda National Championships in her age category. She also won gold in both races at the Junior Central American and Caribbean Championships in El Salvador.

In 2012 she received the Bermuda Youth and Sports Junior Athlete Award.

Last year, Kyrah won the KPMG Front Street Mile and gold medals in both 1500m and 800m at the CARIFTA Games and competed at the IAAF World Youth Championships, placing seventh in the semi-finals and setting a new Bermuda record.

Others recognised during the evening were the wives of the former Premiers — Lady Eileen Sharpe, Lady Lully Gibbons, Lady Jacquelyn Swan, Mrs Christine Saul, Mrs Olga Scott and Mrs Wanda Henton-Brown.