Montego Bay Boys and Girls Club to Be Reopened

Deputy Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Richard Vernon, has announced plans for the reopening of the Montego Bay Boys and Girls Club (MBBGC) with the intention to properly engage youngsters in St. James. 

The announcement was made during a ceremony on Thursday (January 25) to rename River Bay Road, where the Club is located, the Gladstone “Pop” Lawrence Road, in honour of the founder.  

The renaming exercise is intended to commemorate the decades of hard work and dedication of Gladstone “Pop” Lawrence to Montego Bay. 

According to Councillor Vernon, the Club’s doors will be reopened on the anniversary of the late honoree’s birth on Monday (January 29).  

Mr. Vernon highlighted that the reopening is an initiative to help curtail the parish’s crime rate. 

“We want to ensure that our youngsters are properly engaged, especially those whom we call unattached. We need them, because they are the ones that find time to be otherwise engaged, and then we have all the problems,” he noted.  

The Deputy Mayor added that “curricular development will help to engage our youngsters and mould them into more rounded and productive individuals”. 

Mr. Vernon emphasised the significance of the reopening as a beacon of re-socialisation. 

“Being a clubbite is more than a membership. It is a way of life. It is a culture. We want to bring that back, to present this institution, once more, as the vehicle of re-socialisation of the marginalised and unattached youth of Montego Bay,” he emphasised. 

In his address, Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister (West), Hon. Homer Davis, highlighted the great influence of the MBBGC under the leadership of Mr. Lawrence.  

“Many lives have been transformed because of this club. Not only that, but the influential leadership of “Pop” Lawrence has been second to none, who did tremendous work to transform especially the inner-city youth of Montego Bay,” he pointed out.  

Mr. Davis mentioned several notable persons who have emerged in Jamaican culture while under the guardianship of Mr. Lawrence. 

“Because of Mr. Lawrence, Montego Bay Boys and Girls Club enjoyed dominance in sports, music and academia. Under his tutelage, Jamaica celebrated the rise of the likes of national and international footballers Garnett Rowe, Theodore Whitmore, Paul Davis, Steve “Shorty” Malcolm, and the undisputed international umpire, Steve Bucknor,” he shared. 

“As a respected figure in [the parish], “Pop” was also a mentor to popular musicians, including Antonio “Ruption” Williams of Third World, and Carl Matthews, who is the first and possibly the only music master teacher in Jamaica. So, this is a momentous occasion… for the entire city, ” Mr. Davis said.