PM promises financing for ‘Josephines’

AFTER HEARING A LENGTHY list of community needs and recommendations from residents of St Joseph on Tuesday night, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has promised to allocate supporting financing.

But in wrap-up comments to the St Joseph Ideas Forum at St Bernard’s Primary School in Lammings, the Prime Minister insisted that initiatives from “Josephines”, as St Joseph residents call themselves, must target the wider community.

Mottley, in responding to a series of recommendations which included sporting and business projects, also appealed for communities to support local programmes. She was told about needs for football infrastructure, pavilion facilities, netball and cultural development and upgrading of the St Elizabeth Primary School.

Resident Carolene Hinkson said St Joseph has had basketball, football and netball teams before. The audience heard that personal sponsorship has proven to be unsustainable.

“It comes down to sponsorship,” Hinkson said. “There is need for the financial resources.”

The victorious seven-a-side winners of last week’s We Gatherin’ St Joseph football tournament, Lammings and Airy Hill Ballers were present with their trophy. Team members spoke about their journey to winning the cup and were applauded for their dedication to twice-weekly training under coach Dexter Marshall.

Marshall said he wanted to see an inter-parish football competition organised.

“Give our young people a chance to do what they love,” he said.

The audience heard from businessman Kenny Hewitt that communities needed to come up with structured plans to attract financial support with potential benefits to the wider community.

“You all have to come with a proper programme,” Hewitt said. He added that he has supported such events in the past and was willing to help identify funding.

Mottley responded: “If you have youngsters who can train to be the best that they can be across every single discipline, including surfing, let us know and the government will find a way to finance it.”

She urged the community to come out and support sporting and cultural events.

“When you have scale you don’t only have performers you have followers of audience and that’s the point you guys (the victorious footballers) were making here. That you want support also so that when you go out to play the people from the community . . . come outside and support the community,” she said.

The Prime Minister added: “If you don’t have an audience you don’t have the capacity to lift the sport or the culture or the show where it needs to go.

“I want us to practice the art of followership. If you are not a good follower you cannot have good leaders among you. And that is what these youngsters need as well.”

Mathew Hinkson and Latasha Layne spoke of the success of the St Joseph We Gatherin’ series of 21 activities in April and wanted to see similar events held on a regular basis.

St Joseph parliamentary representative Dale Marshall pledged that April would be St Joseph’s month for sporting and cultural activities.

Andrew Dixon and Kenny Hewitt said parts of St Joseph were in need of a clean-up and faced beach and land erosion challenges. They lamented dumping and littering in the parish and appealed for more garbage cans and education of the youth about littering and its health risks for the community.

Hewitt proposed the planting of two rows of coconut trees to fend off beach erosion as an urgent priority.

Melissa Forde and other members of the audience wanted to see the former Andrews Sugar Factory turned into a centre for arts, craft and other businesses where entrepreneurs would attract sales from tourists.

Forde said there were people in the community with leather craft and other business skills who could earn from such a venture which did not have to be on the scale of Haymans Market in St Peter, the site of a previous sugar cane factory.

“Give the youngsters the opportunity to showcase their talents and make some money,” Dixon said. (HH)

A SECTION of the audience that attended the St Joseph Ideas Forum at St Bernard’s Primary School.

CAROLENE HINKSON is appealing for financial to fund youth and other programmes.

(Pictures by Lennox Devonish.)

FOOTBALL COACH Dexter Marshall wants to see inter-parish football competitions organised.