Community activist and outspoken former Member of Parliament Hamilton Lashley, is spearheading a committee to celebrate the sporting legacies of a number of Pinelands residents.
Speaking exclusively to Barbados TODAY, Lashley said he hoped the initiative would also erase the stigma surrounding the St Michael community.
Recalling the infamous “P for Perry, P for Pine and P for Prison” statement coined by a former judge several decades ago, Lashley says the area has been unfairly branded in a negative light, despite making an immense contribution to the local sporting landscape.
He explained that the committee was continuing the work of many community practitioners, who had worked assiduously to turn around its image by using sports as the gateway.
“So against that background, one of the first things we’ll be looking at is identifying those persons who have played that transformative role.
“We are planning a series of community projects and one of them would be the Pinelands Community Hall of Fame. We plan to have induction ceremonies for these outstanding persons that have contributed to the Pine,” Lashley said.
According to Lashley, one such person is former national athlete and administrator Rawle Clarke, who lived in the Regent Hill area. Clarke passed away last year.
“We believe that he played a tremendous role in the development of athletics across Barbados, from the National Industrial Games to the Senior Games and even at the community level.
“So against that background we are planning to have soon the Rawle Clarke Memorial Community Athletic Meet. The whole idea of this is to bring the residents of Pinelands, St Barnabas and all the communities and the schools within St Michael East together in a one day activity that will really immortalize the memory of this great organiser,” Lashley said.
Lashley also called for the pasture adjacent to the Parkinson Memorial School to be renamed after the trio of Forde brothers: Ivan, Colin and Mark, who have all made a tremendous impact on the local football arena.
Ivan Speed Forde is a well-known football commentator and former player, Colin ‘Potato’ Forde is a former national player and coach, while Mark ‘Bob’ Forde was one of the island’s most prominent FIFA accredited referees and is also a longtime Barbados Football Association administrator. The trio all attended the school.
“The thing is, we feel seriously that you have these three outstanding young men out there, you know still in their 50s and 60s and they should be heralded and celebrated for their representation at the international, regional and local level, so we want to have that field named in their honour,” Lashley said.
“We made a recommendation to the National Sports Council and government is in the process of creating mini-stadia. We are hoping that as soon as they get to the planning in that regard and we understand that lights will be installed, that we can have one big ceremony, the athletic classic and have the renaming at the same time.”
Lashley says the plans for the area have an even wider intended scope.
“We think that it would also be fitting at the same time on that day to have the hard court adjacent to that playing field, being named after some of our outstanding netballers, so hopefully it’s going to be a massive, rebranding and renaming exercise, with the ultimate aim of uplifting and celebrating the Pine,” he said.
(KH)
