Serving Bermuda proudly

Jonathan Bell

Published Aug 29, 2018 at 8:00 am (Updated Aug 28, 2018 at 11:02 pm)

Life of service: Jim Woolridge was devoted to the island

CV “Jim” Woolridge was born in 1926 in Flatts as one of ten children.

He wrote in his memoirs that, appropriately given his later role as cricket’s Voice of Summer, that he “practically grew up on Flatts cricket field”.

Cricket was a lifelong passion and he was a devoted member of the Flatts Victoria cricket club.

Mr Woolridge was educated at Elliot School in Devonshire, followed by the Berkeley Institute and, as a child, wanted to be a dentist.

He later qualified as a dental technician after he attended the New York School of Dental Technology and the Kerpel School, also in New York.

He married Roslyn Lowe, a fellow Bermudian student, in New York in 1951 and the couple had two daughters, Annarita and Marcia.

Mr Woolridge’s career ambitions back home were thwarted by the racism of the 1950s and he supported his family with a variety of jobs, including driving a taxi.

His broadcasting career started in 1961 after he joined TV station ZBM and in 1965 he was appointed sales manager.

Mr Woolridge’s political ambitions were sparked by a 1966 visit to Parliament.

He joined the United Bermuda Party in 1968 and that year he became a Member of the Colonial Parliament for Smith’s South.

Mr Woolridge was the UBP parliamentary Whip and deputy chairman of the Department of Tourism until 1971, when he was appointed to the Executive Council as Member for Immigration and Labour.

He held the portfolio for six years.

Mr Woolridge was also the deputy chairman and treasurer for the Berkeley Institute governing body from 1963 to 1973, served on the executive committee of the Sea Cadets from 1969 to 1972 and was director of the Hamilton Lions Club from 1972 to 1974.

He was appointed chairman of the Labour Advisory Council in 1972.

Mr Woolridge was mostly associated with tourism, a ministry he took over in 1977.

He was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1994 in recognition of his public service.

Mr Woolridge lost the tourism portfolio in 1995 and in 1997 he was appointed Minister of Works and Engineering.

It was a short-lived position as the UBP was replaced as government by the Progressive Labour Party in the 1998 General Election.

Mr Woolridge retired from Parliament in 2001, at the same time that he published his autobiography, The House that Jack Built.

He marked his 92nd birthday ten days ago, but his family said he celebrated his birthday on today’s date for much of his life until the record was set straight by documents.

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