A Rich Legacy continues 21 years on

Jul 24, 2011 Sports

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RHTY&SC to celebrate anniversary with month of activities

What started out as a simple club in the Rose Hall Corentyne area almost 21 years ago, has matured into an institution of enormous proportions that has touched the lives of thousands and continues to be unmatched by any other institution of similar nature in Guyana.
The Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club *(RHTY&SC), founded on September 15, 1990 will be celebrating their 21st anniversary with one month of activities.
This club is a household name in Guyana and further afield and was formed by the three-time Guyana and Commonwealth Youth Service Award winner, St. Francis Community Developers.
The two entities are the main organizations in the Town of Rose Hall.
Formed with the main aim of lending a helping hand in molding and shaping the lives of the young and meeting the needs of the not so young and elderly, the successes of the RHTY&SC has been driven over these years by a simple formula according to Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster.
“The formula is a simple one; hard work, honesty, dedication, faith in the God we serve, belief in the work we do and team unity.”
Foster, one of the main pillars behind the tremendous accomplishments of the club said he believes that their role and work is a God given task designed to make a positive difference.
“The club has really matured and evolved from a humble beginning in 1990 to become Guyana’s leading youth and sports club and we are totally committed to remain the best.”
Conscious of their many achievements over the years and very mindful of the fact that for any entity to sustain and build positively on their achievements, Foster informed that the Executive Committee and membership felt that it was time to start the process of grooming younger persons to continue progress.
“We are firm in our views that the youths must be seen as assets to the organization and not threats to the positions we the older ones hold. So we decided at our last AGM to elect a number of young people to under study the seasoned leaders so that the process of continuity will not be jolted for want of not encouraging the leaders of today and giving them the chance to function under us.”
The 14-member Executive Committee of the RHTY&SC has a total of eight (8) young people who will run with the baton when the current experienced leaders moves on.
Current President is Keith Foster, Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster, Assistant Secretary/CEO Nermala Sewdatt, Treasurer Dawn Hicks, Organising Secretary Ravi Narine, Assistant Organising Secretary Shemaine Campbell/Erva Giddings, Office Manager Moonish Singh, Assistant Office Manager Dominic Rikhi, Cricket Director Patrick Lewis, Public Relations Officer Loyden Lewis, Assistant Public Relations Officer Shawn Perriera with the Committee Members being Surendra Kissoonlall and Shenella Mc Bean.
Corporate Guyana and the ordinary man in the street would know and have been following the progress of this club over the years. Many would have also benefitted from the benevolence of the club which is funded by sponsorship from companies including GT&T, Bakewell, Farfan & Mendes, Gizmos & Gadgets, Demerara Distillers Limited, Metro Office and Computer Supplies, Food For the Poor (Guyana) Inc., Guyana Beverage Company, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Apart from these partnerships, the RHTY&SC hosts a number of fund-raising (corn house, raffles, cricket matches) activities and also receives donations from overseas based Guyanese and former members of the club.
Donations and contributions from over 300 companies and individuals help to sustain the progress of the club.
There are so many achievements of the club during its existence but the following must be highlighted;
(A)    Produced five (5) first class cricketers for Guyana – Esuan Crandon, Assad Fudadin,
Andre Percival, Royston Crandon and Delbert Hicks. The Club has also produced one West Indies ODI Player, one West Indies ‘A’ player, three West Indies female cricketers, nineteen junior national cricketers, 65 for Berbice at all levels, two national junior captains, one national senior cricket captain and five national female cricketers.
(B)    Won the Guyana Cricket Club of the Year Award in 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2010.
(C)    The Club Secretary/CEO won the National Sports Commission Personality Award in 2009, while Assad Fudadin in 2000 won the Junior Sportsman Runner-up prize and Shemaine Campbell the Junior Sports Woman Runner-up accolade in 2010.
(D)    Won over 30 Berbice cricket titles at all levels from Under-15 to senior; also won 2 National titles in 2004 and 2005 and the National female cricket championship in 2009.
(E)    Led the restoration of the Area ‘H’ Ground in 1996 at the cost of $15M to transform the venue into a modem sports facility. The Ground is owned by the Rose Hall Town Council which did some work this year to enhance it by repairing the outer fence and constructed an inner fence.
The club maintains the building which was constructed under the President’s Youth Choice Initiative Project.
(F)    Led the restoration of the Lower Corentyne Secondary School in 1990 – 1992 at the cost of $2M.
(G)    The Club has published a total of 13 magazines and booklets.
(H)    Only Sports and Youth Club in Guyana to have its own Hall of Fame for outstanding members; produces monthly TV programmes and an annual youth magazine.
(I)    Has organised 14 cricket academies, over 150 TV programmes,19 annual awards
ceremonies and 4 educational summer camps for youths.
(J)    Hosted and sponsored hundreds of sports competitions for youths in Berbice. The
Club is the host of the popular Busta Champion of Champions Cricket tournament.
(K)    Has hosted 800 feeding programmes, assisted over 20,000 school children directly; distributed $40M in clothing and footwear, $35M worth of educational and hygiene kits; $20M worth of sports equipment and $15M worth of food items.
(L)    Over the past 15 years has hosted over 100 programmes/projects every year including: Tribute to Heroes, Tribute to Outstanding Teachers, Tribute to Retired Teachers, Region 6 Outstanding Students Awards, Tribute to Role Model Couples, Children Mash Parade, Mother and Father of the Year among others.
(M)    The Club’s Honorary membership list includes Roger Harper, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Prime
Minister Samuel Hinds, Mr. Universe – Master Hugh Ross, Clive Lloyd, Joseph ‘Reds’ Pereira, Carl Hooper, Basil Butcher and Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran.
(N)    Undertaken numerous community projects including the restoration of the Rose Hall Kiddies Corner, Street signs in the township, small concrete bridges, anti-drugs billboards and the construction of a charity kitchen among others.
Present and upcoming events:
(1)    Weekly feeding of the Poor sponsored by Universal DVD.
(2)    Working on the 2011 edition of Club’s annual magazine.
(3)    Republic Bank Educational Camp 60 Grade 6 students which is currently in progress.
(4)    14th Annual cricket Academy to start from July 18 at the Area ‘H’ Ground with 120 youths.
(5)    Induction of Ms. Beverley Harper as the 4th Patron of the Club, replacing the outgoing June Mendes. The other two were the late President Desmond Hoyle and Peter Ramsaroop.
(6)    The honouring of seven outstanding senior citizens under the Milton Armogan Tribute to Heroes Memorial Programme with a combined 300 years of service to Guyana.
The main objectives of the RHTY&SC are:
To promote sports, education and culture as alternatives to scourge of drugs and the evil ways of Satan
To improve facilities for youths
To bring youths closer to the God they believe in
To make a positive difference in the lives of the less fortunate and elderly.
Like any other organization, the Rose hall Town Youth and Sports Clubs faces many challenges, among them are the rising cost of sports gear especially cricket; high cost of Telephone and GPL bills for Club office; indiscipline among the young generation; the inability of the present generation to be leaders and take responsibility.
The activities of the club are divided into the following – Sports, Culture, Education, Social, Charity, Religious, Community Development and Awards.

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