New Community Centre for Three Hills Residents

The Government has spent some $13 million to upgrade and refurbish the Three Hills Community Centre and Sports Complex in St. Mary.
The project, which was funded through the Sports Development Foundation (SDF), under the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, also includes a fenced football field, and an irrigation system to maintain the landscape. The facility will serve more than 20,000 residents from several communities, including Charlestown, Cascade, Retreat, Petersfield and Valley Bush, in the parish.
Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Hon. Olivia Grange, who officially opened the facility at a ceremony held on Friday (June 18) at the Complex, said the government was serious about promoting sports and cultural development at the community level.
She noted the importance of providing young persons with the necessary tools to harness their skills, creativity and energy. “If you provide them with the right tools then they will take up the right things, and they will be productive and ensure that they do things and make Jamaica proud,” she emphasised.
The Sports Minister referred to the many achievements by talented Jamaicans in culture and sports. “At the centre of it was our young people who were able to express themselves and to utilize the talent that they have to make the country proud and it starts in a community,” she said.
Minister Grange urged the residents to protect the facility and ensure that it was kept clean. She also presented a weed whacker to members of the Management Committee, which is responsible for the maintenance of the complex.
“You have to show that you’re proud of what you have got, you are going to maintain it, and you are going to encourage us to continue to do things like this in other communities by making your community a shining example,” she said.
Miss Grange promised to improve the sports programme in the community, by ensuring that officers of the Institute of Sports, the Social Development Commission and the Three Hills Management Committee, work closely to ensure that the programmes are supported and coaches identified for various sports.
Additionally, she promised to ensure that cultural programmes were organised for community members.