Residents in the Stoney Ground area and other parts of the Valley North Constituency have shown how community participation can play a vital role in nation-building.

Community members working at the Stoney Ground School

This was demonstrated in no uncertain terms on Sunday, August 28, when many able-bodied persons turned out along with the Minister of Social Development, Evans Rogers, to begin some well-needed improvement work at the Stoney Ground Primary School.

Section of the Stoney Ground Primary School

The work, which is ongoing during the current summer holidays, involves the surfacing of major portions of the school yard, repairing of the concrete fence and tiling and painting of the classrooms.

L-R: Nigel Connor, Hon. Neil Rogers, Wilma Proctor and Fabian Griffith of C O Williams Construction Company

“It is an effort to enhance the environment of the school,” said Minister Evans Rogers. “For a long time we have had problems not only at this particular school, but other schools as well and we will be addressing all of these problems as we go forward. We will take them one at a time and deal with them.”

Tiling of classrooms in progress

He went on: “When it rains water settles in some areas of the playground like a pond and when it is dry, it is like a desert because of the dust. We are therefore paving in front of the school to eliminate the problem; and we are working on the gutters to channel the water into a receptacle and have it for watering the playing field where we are also doing some work.

“This is in keeping with the overall development of the schools. Anguilla is being sold as a high-end tourist destination and I think it is time that we put a lot more effort and money into our social services and starting with the schools is a good way to do this.”

Tiling of classrooms in progress

Mr. Rogers expressed gratitude to a number of persons including Roads Engineer, Nigel Connor, and Deputy Director of Agriculture and Horticulturist, Wilma Proctorwho are responsible layout, drainage and planting of trees and grass respectively. He also thanked workmen from C. O. Williams, the Barbados road construction firm involved in the surfacing of the school yard.

Building new section of concrete fence

Mr. Rogers added: “The Stoney Ground community has always been a very vibrant one. The people usually come out in large numbers to work on various self-help projects. They seem to be an active community that can easily be galvanised into lending a helping hand and I am grateful for this.”

Preparation of snacks for workers

The people worked in the extreme hot conditions of the day. By evening new sections of the wall fence were erected, bitumen was applied to an area of the school yard, five classrooms were tiled and some of the painting work was done. The work is expected to continue next Sunday.

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