AFTER A HARD WEEK’S WORK

Sep 17, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

As you move around the country, it is horrifying to note the state of many of the playfields and grounds. Many of these are in a terrible shape and therefore cannot be used for recreational purposes.
Not all of these playgrounds are under the control of the government. Many of them fall under local authorities who are themselves in no better shape than the grounds they have to manage.
While it may be unreasonable to ask the already over-taxed central government to undertake responsibility for all public recreational parks, it is clear that if this task is left to those to whom they are presently entrusted, that it will take years before any overall improvement can be detected.
As such, the government needs to at least establish a special committee to examine ways and means of improving the recreational facilities throughout Guyana, since without these facilities, our citizens are deprived of an important social need.
Sports also suffer because of the rundown nature of many of the grounds and facilities throughout the country. There are already a limited number of playing fields in many communities. And there have been reports that in one major housing scheme, lands originally designated for playfields have been converted to provide additional lots.
Obviously there is a great demand for housing in Guyana and the authorities are under pressure to provide increased lots but the health of citizens are directly related to the provision of adequate recreational facilities.
Guyanese are now enjoying a far higher standard of living than before and a great many families are now more mobile and desire to spend quality outdoor time on weekends. Many of them are forced to travel long distances to get to a public park. In some regions, especially in the countryside there are no parks for them to have some clean outdoor activity. As such they have to commute long distances to come to the city to visit the Botanic Gardens and the National Park.
Every weekend, those two facilities provide evidence of the great need of families to have wholesome outdoor fun.
The National Park is used for exercise activity by a number of persons, which means that the parking space is not large enough for the number of vehicles that use that facility on weekdays. Interestingly, the National Park is now charging a fee to park in the lot. As a result, many persons end up parking on the verges of the roads that run alongside the park.
Not far away from the National Park there is the Georgetown Seawall, also another haunt for Guyanese. But the Georgetown Seawall, near to the Bandstand, is no longer a place that you can go to relax on weekends.
Instead of providing a tranquil atmosphere on weekends, where older folks can go and relax and be away from the more youthful fun further east, the area around the bandstand on weekends is now a play park with all manner of contraptions and carts there for children to have fun.
The children need to have a play park, but that area should be reserved for more sober relaxation.
The concession tents, the boom boxes, the trampolines, the go-carts and all the other things that convert that area into a play park on weekends should be relocated to one of the grounds nearby. That section of the seawall should be reserved for peace and quiet.
Different public parks can have different types of activities suited to the varying needs of the public. For example, there should be picnic parks, exercise parks, children play parks, sporting grounds, camping and fishing parks, etc.
We can learn a great deal from how other countries have dealt with the need to provide wholesome but varied recreation for the family.
In the meantime, if there are any plans to convert playfields in housing schemes to lots, this plan should be jettisoned.
There is a need for more rather than less outdoor parks in communities, and definitely a need for people to be able to have somewhere near to their homes to go and relax after a hard week’s work.

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