The Kingston College Old Boys Association New England was born in 1991 from the desire of seven KC old boys, members of the KCOBA USA in New York but who resided in the state of Connecticut.

The underlying sentiment was that the state with the 3 ^rd largest Jamaican Population would be a fertile area to raise funds in support of the College and add to the tristate another KCOBA to expand the work started by the New York chapter.

Through the years we have had some stops and starts but never gave up on the objective of a chapter that would potentially harness KCOB in the entire New England region. In 2015 the chapter relaunched and started raising funds with a calendar of past principals and we have continued to support Kingston College via the KCOBA USA and the scholarship program. Since then, we have added thirty KCOB to our group and decided it was time to step up the work of supporting Kingston College, its staff and students. An expanded leadership model was introduced, and the executive named was named to lead the new efforts.

These KCOB are Aston Bishop Archer- President, Charles Morrison- Vice President, Louis Ruddock- Treasurer, Errol Smith, Dennis Johnson, Norris Taylor, Rousseau Taylor, and Patrick Hamilton.

This year we launched two new fundraisers to build up to this our first Scholarship Dinner and Dance held on November 18, 2023, at the West Indian Social Club in Hartford Connecticut. We launched three Branded scholarships named in honor of Evrel R Grey, Milton Mitchell, and Delano Franklyn. Also proceeds would help the choir and cricket programs in their efforts to fulfil their piece of the Fortis mission.

The evening was filled with anxiety, anticipation, expectation, and excitement at an event worthy of Kingston College Old Boys Association globally. The ballroom was exquisitely decorated in the colors we all love. And the evening started off with gentlemen resplendent in their purple and white KC ties and ladies in their fancy ballroom dresses. The meet and greet provided sumptuous appetizers catered by Louis Ruddock. Promptly at 8:15pm we started with MC Andrew Lawrence’s welcome, the start of Dinner and President Aston Archer’s introduction and chapter overview.

At the completion of dinner our Keynote Speaker R. Perry Bloomfield took centerstage and gave an inspiring speech on ‘Why KCOBA do what we do for our college’ The full house in attendance gave Perry rousing applause for his expose on Global Fortis and its mission to further and deepen the investment in our boys. At the end of his speech, he and his lovely wife were presented with KCOBANE souvenirs, we also presented Dwayne Montaque KCOBA USA President with a token of appreciation for the support and advice given by the New York chapter over the years.

The night ended with dancing to the wonderfully appropriate music of DJ Stardon until the wee hours of the morning. Overall, the event was successful, we managed to get very close to our financial goal and the food and party top notch. We hope to improve this our new signature scholarship program. See you there in 2024. Fortis UP.