20 Labour Day projects registered in Portland

PORT ANTONIO — As plans for Labour Day gain momentum in Portland, a total of 20 projects have so far being registered for the parish.

The plans were extensively discussed at a Labour Day Committee meeting, held at the Portland Parish Council, on May 13.

Labour Day will be observed on Monday, May 23, under the theme: ‘It takes a village to raise a child’.

The Port Antonio Hospital has been identified as the parish project, and the children’s and maternity wards will be painted, as well as the exterior of the building;  debris will be removed from the hospital compound, and the hospital grounds will be beautified.

Other projects include the repair, cleaning and beautification of a number of basic schools in the parish; the painting of police stations; cleaning and beautifying communities, and building bus sheds.  Work will also continue on the Muirton Boys’ Home in Manchioneal, which was the parish project for Labour Day 2010.

Speaking at the meeting, Mayor of Port Antonio, Councillor Floyd Patterson, exhorted all persons, agencies and members of the local business community in the parish, to support the parish project, as the hospital belongs to everyone.

“We want Portland’s project to be the best national project, and so I am encouraging everyone to give it their best support,” the Mayor said.

Meanwhile, Locksley Johnson, representing the ‘Friends of the Hospital’, said  the Portland Ministers Fraternal has said that 50 volunteers will participate in the parish project, and explained that members of police youth clubs, the Lions and Kiwanis Clubs will also be providing volunteers.

Persons are being invited to attend the Labour Day Church Service for the parish, which will be held at the Shiloh Apostolic Church on Mannings Avenue, Port Antonio, on Sunday, May 15, beginning at 11:00 a.m.                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Among the agencies present at the meeting were the Portland Fire Department, the Social Development Commission, the Jamaica Information Service, the Police, the Portland Parish Council and representatives of the Port Antonio Hospital.

By LORNA WILLIAMS, JIS REGIONAL OFFICE