Home drum

QUEENS, Brooklyn, and London are the places where they make their big bucks, but for them home is where the heart is and the place to be for the festive Crop-Over season.It was a wet homecoming as there were steady afternoon showers on Wednesday, but that really didn’t seem to matter to the dozens of Barbadians who were glad to be back home with their family and friends.Former Pickwick and Barbados Youth Team cricketer Odwin Gilkes was happy to welcome back his daughter Tamara, who came home from New York via JetBlue.Tamara returned home for the first time in two years with her husband Dwight and sons Tristan and Damani. She will be staying with her dad in Welches, Christ Church, for the next two weeks.Jamaican Alton Walker has an extra special reason to be here. He came in from Croydon, England, on Virgin Atlantic Airways, to tie the knot with Barbadian Vanessa Johnson on August 3 at the Accra Beach Hotel.Walker, who hails from Spanish Town, will be soaking up the Barbadian sunshine for the next four weeks.Serena Carrington has been residing in Queens, New York, for the last 25 years, so it was no wonder she flashed a huge smile on touching home soil for the first time in ten years. She and her brother Tyrese returned home on a JetBlue flight and will be here for the next three weeks.In to see relativesSisters Cherry-Ann Ainsworth and Janelle Hall, along with brother Altmark Applewhaite, who are originally from St George, came in from New Jersey by way of American Airlines, to spend time with their relatives for two weeks. Cherry was accompanied by her daughter Summer, and Janelle’s children Martica and Devon.For Janelle, it’s her first homecoming since 2001 and she said she was delighted to be back.