Businesses urged to help cover Christmas in the Square decoration costs

With plans in the works to decorate close to 300 trees to mark the 10th anniversary of the Christmas in the Square project spearheaded by the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS), corporate Barbados is being urged to support the effort.

Following a meeting at State House with the project’s committee members on Tuesday, the coordinator of the RCS Cheryll Belle said that while schools have shown keen interest in making decorations for the trees, many of them have indicated they need financial assistance to purchase raw materials.

She said the RCS was hoping to secure sponsorship to provide a stipend to participants to give them enough time to make the decorations.

“Everybody wants money because everything is going up, so I am reaching out now to sponsors [to] donate so we can give each school a stipend – $200 would be ideal – towards glue and glitter and those things to make the decorations.

“Laurie Dash has come on board to give them a 10 per cent discount on whatever they purchase from there. And we have to hope that various sponsors would call and say ‘here is $200 or here is $5 000 or $20 000 towards the schools’. I would smile,” Belle said.

Trustee of RCS, Miles Weekes, said in an effort to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Christmas in the Square, 287 trees will be decorated this year.

He said 255 of those would be on land while the remaining would float on bamboo rafts in the Constitution River and be powered by solar energy.

“On land – because we are also celebrating the 75th anniversary of the United Nations this year – for the first time, every single country in the world, all 195 recognised by the United Nations, will have a tree dedicated to it.

“In addition, we also have trees that will represent some of the major youth groups in Barbados, and we will also have some representing some of the major institutions in the service sector like the Barbados Police Service and the Barbados Defence Force.

“And then, as usual, in Heroes Square, we will have a tree representing each parish in Barbados and those trees are decorated by parish independence committees from each parish,” Weekes explained.

He added that since 2014, Christmas in the Square has been an annual event much anticipated not only by the schools and youth participating but by the general public.

Weekes said because the project has outgrown its original space at Independence Square, this year the trees will also be placed at Heroes Square, Fountain Gardens, the Chamberlain Bridge, Church Village Green, Queen’s Park, State House, and the Grantley Adams International Airport.

Patron of the RCS President Dame Sandra Mason, who hosted the meeting, noted that since January, different ideas have been explored to celebrate the educational project that she helped conceptualise.

“I just want all of Barbados to recognise that it is indeed an educational project…. And I want to thank all of you for coming and emphasising that Christmas in the Square is not just about beautifying Bridgetown and the airport and other places,” she said.

RCS Barbados believes that Christmas in the Square provides a forum for the display of teamwork, research and creativity by the students of the nursery, primary and secondary schools and the youth groups in Barbados.

The project allows the participants to create tree decorations from recycled, repurposed and natural materials, using the unique images and emblems of the countries of the world as their themes.

Each school or group is assigned a different country and given the freedom, in a non-competitive environment, to express how they see that country. In doing so, they learn about other countries and peoples and are better equipped to become global citizens while showcasing their talents, knowledge and creative skills. (AH)