St Ann Labour Day crews repair hurricane-damaged community spaces

Labour Day work across St Ann brought together public bodies, private interests, security personnel and community volunteers in a parish-wide push to improve public spaces and strengthen facilities damaged by Hurricane Melissa.

In Eltham, members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Jamaica Defence Force worked on a parish project at the playfield, where a fence that had been flattened by the hurricane was being restored. Crews cleared grass and shrubs so the fence could be raised, put uprights and posts back in place, and mixed concrete for the base to give the structure a firmer foundation against future natural disasters.

The mayor said Labour Day 2020 activities in St Ann were progressing well, with several agencies and groups mobilised across the parish. He noted that, in addition to the fence repairs, teams were cutting the Eltham playfield and carrying out painting work at the old post office in Exchange.

That work, he said, would help residents, especially elderly persons, use the postal agency to collect passport payments, pay bills and conduct other business in a cleaner, more comfortable setting.

Outside Eltham, volunteers also turned out in Ocho Rios, where stakeholders gave time and resources to improve important public areas in the tourist town. Pedestrian crossings and curb walls were repainted, verges were cut, and residents in districts across the parish swept, bushed and handled smaller clean-up projects.

The mayor described the effort as a broad community undertaking, saying the municipality, councillors, local committees, agencies and residents were all contributing. He said the many small projects together amounted to a major parish beautification exercise.

Contestants in the St Ann Festival Queen competition also joined the Labour Day activities at the Exchange Postal Agency. Despite the heat, they helped spruce up the site, noting that its sign had already been brought down by Hurricane Melissa and that the team wanted to prevent further deterioration while improving the space for the parish.