Following my recent Nostalgia update on Cosmos Sports Club, Dr Ian McDonald challenged me to write a tribute to the other clubs in British Guiana in the pre-Independence years. The role of these clubs in our maturation was so significant, that I hasten to record for posterity the following snippets.
Georgetown Cricket Club
The oldest cricket club in the Caribbean can truly be credited for the emergence of the West Indies cricket team, and also cricket in British Guiana. Founded 1858, it shared playing facilities at the Parade Ground (now Independence Park) opposite the Promenade Gardens. The club had its own pavilion and flagstaff, and the initial intercolonial matches between BG, Trinidad and Barbados, were played at that Mayor and Town Council venue.
In 1883, with threats of losing playing privileges there, the members subscribed to lease the Bourda field, and by dint of hard dedicated effort by subsequent committees, GCC became
