Welcome to Jamrock Cruise patrons donate more books

Yesterday, the Welcome to Jamrock Reggae Cruise had its annual book drive to kick off the cruise activities for this year.

The organisers dropped off the reading material at the Ocho Rios Library in St Ann.

This is an initiative of the cruise conceptualiser, Damian 'Jr Gong' Marley, who has, over the years, reached out to the more than 3,000 passengers who partake in the cruise.

He asked them to donate to the local libraries, and they have given generously.

On this the fifth anniversary of the cruise, more than 400 books were donated to the library.

Among those present to witness the presentation was veteran musician Stephen 'Cat' Coore, who encouraged the schoolchildren to widen their knowledge through reading.

Merlene Walker of the Jamaica Library Service said that the organisation was extremely appreciative of the offer and indicated that so far, more than 800 volumes of young adult and children's books had been donated since the partnership started in 2015.

"The Jamaica Library Service welcomes donations of this nature as the library is the ideal institution to inculcate the love of reading, and hand in hand, we can reach our objective of encouraging everyone to read," she said.

The Welcome to Jamrock Reggae Cruise is set to ignite the sea later with much anticipated performances from the Marley brothers, Jessie Royal, Bounty Killer, among others.