– anniversary committee
The Walter Rodney Anniver-sary Commemoration Com-mittee says it will make the memorial site in Hadfield Street “a living monument” and it will be used to host lectures, art and culture exhibitions and other activities.
Moreover, the committee is inviting members of the public to visit the memorial site at their convenience and “rekindle their memories of Walter Rodney as they view the inscriptions relating to his life and work,” a press release stated. “For the younger generations, we hope these inscriptions will arouse their interest in learning more about this extraordinary Guyanese,” the release added.
According to the committee, the entire cost of refurbishing the Walter Rodney Memorial Site and the Walter Rodney Avenue between John Street and Austin Place was funded by the Walter Rodney 30th Anniversary Commemoration Committee (Guyana). This group comprised longstanding friends and supporters of the late Rodney and members and former members of the Working Peoples Alliance (WPA).
The release noted that the committee also created and was responsible for carrying out the 30th anniversary programme of activities with support of a number of organisations and individuals, including the young and exciting members of the Buxton Fusion School of Music group and the Raju Tassa and Taja drummers from Lusignan.
The committee has expressed its profound gratitude to all of them.
In giving a background to the project, the release noted that the memorial site had its genesis with the laying of a granite stone in June 2005 by the Walter Rodney 25th Anniversary Commemora-tion Committee which re-ceived permission from the Mayor and City Councillors of Georgetown to erect the monument in tribute to Rodney’s life and work.
And following agreement on a proposal made to the City Council by Councillor Desmond Moses in 2007, the WPA was asked and agreed to undertake the development of that block of the Hadfield Street Avenue between John Street and Austin Place as an enlarged memorial site. This request was passed by the WPA to the Walter Rodney 30th Anniversary Com-memoration Committee, which willingly accepted the challenging task.
The project suffered a number of delays but in March 2010 the Guyana Chapter of the Committee under the leadership of engineer Bert Carter moved with haste to ensure that it would be completed in time for the 2010 anniversary observances. The ceremony, which was attended by a cross-section of persons was chaired by Dr Rodney’s friend and colleague from his outstanding days at Queen’s College, Vic Insanally, and the dedication of the site was done by Rev Oslen Small of Smith’s Congregational Church.
The release stated that the site which is intended to inform current and future generations beginning with the children of the Werk-en-Rust neighbourhood, benefited from encouragement, suggestions and guidance from citizens of the community. In that regard, the committee said it must place on public record its sincere thanks to all of them and in particular to Rev. Small of Smith’s Church, the administrators and students of Smith Memorial Primary School, Lorraine Chance, Ms Murray, Safiyya Khan, Wayne Harry, the proprietor of the White Castle Fish Shop at John and Hadfield streets. Meanwhile, the committee has expressed concern at what it called “a cleverly worded and misleading” GINA release reported in the Stabroek News on Saturday last, about the construction and dedication of the Walter Rodney Memorial Site in Hadfield Street.
“The GINA statement associates the activities largely with members of the government and the PPP [and] because of this mischievous inaccuracy, the committee is compelled to clarify for the benefit of the public the facts surrounding the construction and dedication of this monument and avenue to one of Guyana’s greatest sons,” the release said.
