New life for recreation in St Michael North

Sporting and other activities will be returning in a big way to the St Michael North constituency, Member of Parliament and Minister of Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology Davidson Ishmael has promised.

He said the appetite for recreational areas continues to be high and the call for more facilities will be answered.

“All throughout the constituency of St Michael North we have had, over the many years, many young people who have asked for additional recreational sites to be established. Right now, there are really only two that are established in the St Michael North constituency – one in Eden Lodge that is a playpark, and one that would have been in Grazettes that for many years was [in] a state of disrepair,” Ishmael said during the launch of the Clean and Green initiative in Husbands Development last Friday.

“One of the key things I want to do as your Member of Parliament is to expand the number of recreational facilities to give back a rebirth to sports and those various connected activities across this constituency of St Michael North,” he added.

Ishmael said several sports clubs have been recently launched in the area.

Minister of Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology Davidson Ishmael was accompanied by colleague, Minister of the Environment and National Beautification, Adrian Forde.

“We have just recently launched, this week, a new netball club, and we are all branding under one umbrella, and for those who have been around for long enough and you know the legacy of Eden Stars, we are now giving a rebirth to the Eden Stars Club franchise, where we are going to have Eden Stars netball, Eden Stars Cricket Club, and we are going to have Eden Stars football as well.

“All of those clubs right now are in training, and we are going to go through various mechanisms of government to provide coaches training, to provide the youth with training. So, it’s not just sports, they are also learning social skills,” the MP said.

In just over two weeks’ time, a new recreational site will be finished in Husbands Development, with additional trees and benches planned for the area.

Stressing the need for these kinds of spaces, Ishmael said: “It is important not only from the perspective of giving children an opportunity to play, but it also gives them the opportunity to learn social skills, how to interact with each other during play, how to avoid conflict and to resolve conflict. So, while they are playing, they are learning and developing and becoming the leaders of tomorrow.” (SB)