Dorset Park Opened to the Public
(ZIZ)– A renovated Dorset Park was officially presented to the public on Saturday evening when the Ministry of Social and Community Development hosted an opening ceremony.
The ceremony, which commenced at 6pm, featured remarks by Chairperson Dr. Garfield Alexander and Parliamentary Representative for constituency number two, the Honourable Marcella Liburd.
Minister Liburd, who also serves as the country’s Minister of Social and Community Development, told the gathering that she was pleased to be associated with the renovation carried out on Dorset Park, adding that the area is one for community gathering.
“This is a community thing and so, I’m so very happy to see old and new merging tonight [Saturday August 30th] here from this community. I want this to continue down the road because this is community togetherness and this is what we really want to rekindle, community spirit so we can continue to be our brothers’ keepers. It’s also a focus on our children as we mentioned earlier, for our children’s development, not only in terms of the equipment for playing but also in terms of the centre…which will be used for afterschool classes, for the learning of our children,” the Minister said.
She also revealed that her ministry is seeking to facilitate training to ensure that the facilities are properly maintained and patrons are kept safe.
“We’re thinking about training some park wardens, not just for here but for the New Road Family Park in particular, she said. “These people would be trained in first aid and how to deal with children and so on, so that the equipment will not be abused. So we’ll have these park wardens working to ensure, and be able to say if something needs to be maintained here and there in quick time so we don’t have things going on and on and on not being corrected.”
Recognising the importance of basketball to the area, particularly for the males, Minister Liburd said further upgrades are being planned.
She said, “We’re also doing this, and I hope Romel [Tobias] is listening, so that we can bring Premier Division Basketball to Dorset Park. You note that we have all our gates up so there’s no problem, people can pay to come in here to look at the games. We also have new toilet facilities behind there as part of the renovations and so, you have access to toilet facilities. We want just to make sure they are properly maintained. Very soon Romel, this would be better than Basketball City Court so let the minister know. We are going to have our fibre glass boards coming in, we’ll get our snap back rings and we’ll get our digital clock and we’ll do whatever is necessary to bring it to be a first class facility to have Premier Division Basketball here.”
James “Barman” Hanley presented a history of Dorset Park while several Basseterre residents provided entertainment through song and dance during the opening ceremony.