Woolridge featured speaker at Black History Month event

Club Yesepoch, Inc., a non-profit charitable organization composed of black women of the city of Enterprise, will have Rev. Trevor Eugene Woolridge as guest speaker at the 17th Community-Wide Black History Banquet scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 7, at 6 p.m. at the Enterprise Civic Center.

In commemoration of the centennial of Black History Month, Club Yesepoch embraces the 2015 National Black History Theme, “A Century of Black Life, History, and Culture” which was selected by the Association For The Study Of African American Life And History.

Rev. Woolridge, the eldest child of Eugene V. Woolridge and the late Cynthia E. Woolridge, was born in Bermuda on Oct. 22, 1956. He is currently serving as the pastor of Johns Chapel A.M.E. Church in Enterprise. He was appointed to this pastoral charge in November 2014. He has come with a vision of growth and commitment to Almighty God. He preaches with power and conviction and proclaims, “...it’s not about me and it’s not about you, but it’s all about God.”

Rev. Woolridge attended the Francis Patton Primary School, The Whitney Institute, Robert Crawford Secondary School, all in Bermuda; and Knox College in Jamaica. He then attended Allen University in Columbia, SC. Rev. Woolridge was called to preach at the age of 18. He was licensed in 1976 at St. John AME Church, and ordained an itinerant deacon in the New Jersey Annual Conference in May 1981 by Bishop Richard Allen Hildebrand, where he was a member of Bethlehem A.M.E. Church at the time. In October 1985 he was ordained an itinerant elder in the Columbia South Carolina Annual Conference by Bishop Frederick C. James.

Rev. Woolridge has served as pastor in the follow places: South Carolina, Bermuda, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and now Alabama.

He was appointed to serve in the Bermuda Senate in February 1989 and served for four and a half years. He was then elected to the House of Parliament in Bermuda in October 1993. As a Progressive Labour Party, Member of Parliament, he became the first clergyman to serve in Parliament in Bermuda’s entire 400 year history.

Rev. Woolridge, with his instinctive pastoral concerns for the “persons in the street,” carried more than his weight in addressing issues of national concern. While in the Senate he was the Opposition spokesman for Education, Transport, Youth, Sport and Recreation, Tourism and Community and Cultural Affairs. As a Member of Parliament he served as the Shadow Minister for Community and Cultural Affairs.

Aside from both heavy church and political involvement, Rev. Woolridge is a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the Bermuda Progressive Labour Party, Bailey’s Bay Cricket, Club, Berkeley Educational Society, and Masterworks Foundation, all in Bermuda. He served as president of the AME Ministers’ Alliance in Bermuda from October 1993 until October 1995. Rev. Woolridge was selected as the 1993 Person of the Year by the Bermuda Times Newspaper. He is also a member of Enterprise Masonic Lodge No. 166 in Kelton, SC. In July 1996 he was elected for four years as chairperson of the AME Connectional Social Action Committee.

Given the great value which he attaches to education, it is not surprising to find between January 1993 and January 1994, Rev. Woolridge was instrumental in providing scholarships and work assistantships for 85 Bermudian students to Allen University in Columbia, SC.

Rev. Woolridge has two children, a daughter Erica C. Woolridge and a son Tyler Justin Woolridge and a granddaughter, London Marie Woolridge.

Entertainment for the event will be provided by the Gospel Controllers.

For ticket purchases please contact any club member. Questions or concerns regarding this event may be directed to Club President Mary Merritt at 790-2339; Queen Amos at 393-7361; Janie Rogers at 406-3119; or Jamesie Rivers at 347-4212.