The necessary and timely restoration of D’Urban Park

Sep 04, 2015 Letters

Dear Editor,
They say that cleanliness is next to godliness. If this is really so, then God has been making His presence felt in Guyana since May 16, 2015 when the APNU/AFC coalition led by H.E. President David A. Granger was declared winner of the 2015 General and Regional Elections, and took the seat of governance.
One of the first subsequent acts of godliness inspired by His Excellency’s government was the restoration and cleaning of the Independence Arch on upper Brickdam in Georgetown, general improvement and the enhanced aesthetics around the City and its environs. The clearing of the D’Urban park area, once coined a ‘junglette’ by the former infamous HPS, Dr. Roger Luncheon, is a relief to the eyes.
The latter area is my main focus.
Long before, as the old people would say “I dream to born”, that area was said to be one of the most celebrated recreational parks in Georgetown. It was the named the Demerara Turf Club, but popularly called the “Race Course”.
The area was used in the 1950’s and 60’s for horse-racing, and was visited and admired by many locals and overseas visitors. It was a prime tourist attraction.
The Demerara Turf Club was subsequently revamped to make way for the extension of a road during the expansion of the city of Georgetown sometime in the early 1970’s. That road stretched in front of the Grandstand, where jockeys and horses previously extended themselves to win, had replaced the final furlongs of their race and was known as the ‘homestretch’. The road was hence named Homestretch Avenue.
Subsequently, most of the horse racing in Guyana was diverted to the Port Mourant Turf Club, Bush Lot United Turf Club and the Rising Sun Turf Club, among others.
After the construction of what is now the NCN facility, Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, Former GBS Radio Studio and the 1763 Monuments between 1970 -1980, D’Urban Park took the form of a large pasture.
D’Urban Park was well maintained during subsequent years prior to 1992.
I recall as a young Queen’s College student in the 1980’s, using the facility to sharpen my athletic and football skills after school, since it was closer to home and a superb alternative to the National Park. The facility was also used annually at Easter by thousands who flocked the area to participate in Kite Flying. The park even hosted the GDF field gunners who set off luminous fireworks following Republic anniversary ceremonies at the Square of the Revolution during the reign of the late President L.F.S. Burnham.
Since 1992, D’Urban Park was literally left to fall to the dogs, reptiles, and overgrowth. A significant portion of the land also became an unsightly and noxious dumping ground for all sorts of waste matter.
It was the nightmare and daily haunt of many residents in the Lodge community, particularly those who live between John and Chapel Streets. They had to endure the indignity of glaring, intimidating junglette, which was the breeding ground for mosquitoes, alligators and a variety of snakes. The residents’ agony was compounded each time a huge camoudie or two ventured from the bushy D’Urban Park area across the Hadfield Street borderline and into their yards. Invariably, the alert and disgusted residents instinctively inflicted mortal injuries to those reptiles before they could prey on livestock or children.
Disappointingly, despite numerous appeals to members of the previous PPP government and the then constrained M&CC, absolutely nothing was done to change the condition of D’Urban Park for over almost two decades.
Then, as God would have it, D’Urban Park experienced an almost immediate transformation within a week of Mr. Granger’s assent to the Presidency. By May 25, 2015, the junglette had been dismantled. Georgetown sighed in relief. The residents of Lodge got a breath of fresh air, and God smiled!
The APNU/AFC government has clearly demonstrated its intent to create change, and has done so resoundingly by the initial and ongoing works to restore particularly D’Urban Park to a place of civility, admiration and ‘godliness’.
Orette Cutting

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The necessary and timely restoration of D’Urban Park

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