Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

The Bee Gee's Staying Alive thumped, as Disco Inferno burned the soles of the feet that drummed feverishly on the makeshift dance floor at Montego-Bay's Cornwall Beach on Saturday, January 17.

Hovering near the transformed venue, an Air Jamaica aircraft brightened the skies on its approach into the nearby Sangster International Airport. A large cruise ship danced gracefully on the ocean, giving a magnificent backdrop to Cheryl Atkinson's 'Hawaii Five-O' 50th birthday party.

Atkinson, the life of every party, never really needed bonfires,but her friends Greg Lee and Michelle Daswani felt that lighting several of them along the white sand beach would add a cosy ambiance and they were right.

Creating a natural feel of Hawaii with a thatched hut tunnel entrance, colourful leis, huge sofas framed by bamboo with large coconut branches, draped canopies and pepper lights, made the perfect setting for the birthday girl and the 300 people who turned out for this celebration.

As if this was not enough, the event planners built a large dance floor, an invitation to the funky people, wearing grass skirts, played hoola-hoops, did the limbo and soaked up the incredible talent of the party band, 'Hugade'.

Loved my many, Atkinson's mother, Joyce Atkinson; brother David and sisters Charmaine and Judith Linton travelled from Mandeville, New York and Guyana for the party of a lifetime. Her friends, too many to list included: Andy Daswani, Donna Roper, Donna Lee, Belinda Levy, Charlene Sleem, Beverly Russell, Richard and Rayne Russell, Peter Williams, Elisabeth and Heinz Simonitsch, Godfrey and Odette Dyer, Racquel and Aroon Dadlani, Karen Chung, Yoli and Gul Mahtani, Senator Noel Sloley and wife Sharron and Veena and Denny Chandiram.

Janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com