Wisroc

Ethel Lewis takes pride in her flower garden

 Story and photos by Cathy Richards

Back in the 1970s, the Wisroc Housing Scheme was the showpiece of Linden with its hundreds of three-bedroom claybrick houses, most of them built by self-help. While they were not the first set of houses constructed in the community, they remained its centrepiece.

The scheme was the initiative of Forbes Burnham when he was prime minister.  The very first houses were made of wood and were elevated off the ground, but the claybrick ones which succeeded them were bungalows. A trip around the community reveals that most of the wooden ones and the later claybrick structures are still standing,