On July 27 at the Annual General Meeting of the Barbados National Trust, Geoffrey Ramsey was declared president of the venerable institution. Standing unopposed and elected by enthusiastic acclaim, he replaced Peter Stevens, whose term had expired.
Ramsey’s election signals a new direction for the Trust.
Its mission — to preserve places of historic, architectural, and archaeological interest as well as of ecological importance or natural beauty—remains the same. He urged the crowd to join him in re-examining the relevance of “this noble institution” and envisioned adopting creative new strategies in an effort to redirect and rebuild.
“This venture requires us to now reflect on a broader spectrum of concerns, having regard to Barbados in its entirety, which is its cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible,” he said.
“What do we mean by this? Essentially, our people and indigenous customs, expressed through arts, crafts, literature and folk music. Also, our places of memory found in these fields and hills beyond recall, along with our chattel houses, historic sites, mills, monuments, great houses and most importantly, our natural areas, parks, beaches, and
gullies,” he added.
As highlighted at the recent United Nations COP26 Conference in Glasgow, Ramsey stated: “We must have a better understanding of the manner in which climate change increasingly threatens the above places and spaces, which we hold in trust for our nation, and the partnership role the Trust can play.”
In this regard, Ramsey also envisioned strengthening linkages with the Ministry of Environment and the Division of Culture-Prime Minister’s Office, the National Cultural Foundation, and the University of the West Indies. Going forward, another priority to address is youth groups, to whom the Trust must become more relevant.
He also called upon members “to rethink our products and services offered,” and cited the Barbados Tourism Master Plan, which looked at the development of niche markets such as heritage tourism as a key focal area in which to improve visitor economy.
With regards to the Trust’s future outlook, he said: “I posit the view that the National Trust, after 61 years, should be directly capable of assisting the Government of Barbados through consultancy services aimed at both the built and natural environment.”
Ramsey is a founding partner of Environmental Planning Group Inc. and senior partner at EPG Caribbean. Both are Barbados-based consultancy firms providing professional services in urban revitalisation, heritage tourism development and project management.
He is currently a consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank’s Living Heritage Program for the Caribbean and Latin America. (PR)
