Chairman of the Council of St. John, Colin Curtis, was recently elevated to a Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem by The Queen.

Mr. Curtis is thought to be only the second Bermudian to receive this honour, the first being the late Dr. Simon Frazer, a former chairman of the Council of St. John, Bermuda.

Mr. Curtis has been a member of the Council of St. John, Bermuda for 18 years and served as chairman for the last seven years. During his tenure he has addressed two conclaves of the Order, one in Bournemouth, England and the other in Wellington, New Zealand. This international involvement has also seen him taking part in the formation, in Trinidad, of the Caribbean Association of St. John.

Mr. Curtis, after his years of outstanding service to the Order, has decided to stand down as chairman, while remaining a member and will hand over on June 30 to Anthony Goodfellow, a Bermudian international businessman and, interestingly, the stepson of the late Dr. Frazer.

The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, instituted in 1099, is the oldest Order of Chivalry and in 1886, Queen Victoria made it a Royal Order of which the Monarch is Sovereign Head and another member of the Royal family, the Grand Prior, currently HRH the Duke of Gloucester.

Apart from a world-renowned Eye Hospital, the Order maintains a huge fleet of ambulances and has some 75,000 volunteer members world-wide. In Bermuda, St. John Ambulance Brigade members teach first aid and CPR and distribute (and train in the use of) Defibrillators and first aid kits. It supports local social and sporting events with its three ambulances and newly acquired mobile clinic, made possible thanks to the generosity of three local companies, ACE, XL and Bacardi.

Traditionally, His Excellency the Governor is President of St. John, Bermuda and new Governor, Sir John Vereker, will serve in that capacity.