Lights to be installed at Bourda…Drainage system being upgraded

Dec 27, 2015 Sports

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By Sean Devers

“Another year has gone and the GCC continues to stand tall in spite of their financial struggles. The dedicated staff remains committed and continue to do an excellent job under the direction of Club Manager Mr Rudolf Singh,” these were the words of newly re-elected President of the Georgetown Cricket Club, Lionel Jaikarran.
The world famous Bourda hosted the first Test win by the West Indies in 1930 but 96 years later the once magnificent venue which hosted 32 Test matches and was the only Test venue in the world below Sea level, has been allowed to go into disrepair.
While the ground is in very good condition, the main pavilion, the former ladies pavilion, the Lance Gibbs and School Boys stand and the Rohan Kanai stand are in poor structural condition and need urgent carpentry work in addition to painting.
The removal of International cricket from Bourda when the Providence Stadium was contracted for the 2007 World Cup, significantly contributed to the present state of a venue that hosted its last Test in 2005, when Shiv Chanderpaul, then a GCC player, made his captaincy debut with a double century against South Africa.
Jaikarrian said he had initiated contact with Minister of Sport Dr Roopnarine and was very hopeful that he will provide some financial aid to the club.
“In addition to this, very early in the New Year we will be sending a proposal with our five-year vision plan to various local and international corporations inviting them to come on board as corporate sponsors.
In January we will be proceedings with a dream that we have had for many years. We will finally be installing lighting at Bourda,” the GCC top man informed.
The project will be implemented in three stages, with the final stage see the lights are up to the International Cricket Council’s standard for night cricket.
Jaikarrian disclosed that the lights are being designed and installed by Canadian engineers and are environmentally friendly since green technology is being utilized.
“Solar powered security lights are being installed to illuminate the parking area which is presently vulnerable to ‘trunkers’ and vagrants. By installing Flood lights we are virtually assured of activities every evening” Jaikarrian continued.
Activities such as softball, baseball, T-20 cricket, Cycling, track and field, Fairs, BBQ’S and other social events will be placed on the agenda. These activities would generate funds which a Club needs to survive.
“At last year’s AGM I informed the membership that drainage would be our priority for 2015. Since then we have dug new drains in and around the ground. The koker outside of the pavilion was severely clogged resulting in extremely slow drainage of the ground. We have since solved this problem and flooding of the ground has been reduced by more than 80 %.
Gone are the days when a couple hours of rainfall resulted in the ground being under water. GCC member Minister David Patterson gave unwavering support with this project.
“There continues to be an economic downturn in the local economy and this has affected the clubs as our financial report indicates. We have had to work extra hard at securing donations and holding fundraisers to remain financially viable,” Jaikarran.
“I also have in my possession a proposal from a Potential investor to establish a cricket themed international cuisine restaurant on the upper level of our pavilion.
“The Committee will be holding discussions with this individual at our next meeting and hopefully we can arrive at a mutual decision that will benefit our Club,” Jaikarran disclosed.
“To implement these projects we will be doing extensive fundraising and to a greater extent relying on donations from our members and friends of the Club. It’s has never been an easy task to ask for financial donations but for love of our historic club I ask this of all present. I will start the pledges with a personal donation of $200,000,” Jaikarran said.
“I thank Mr Ramsay Alli of Sterling Products Ltd, Mr Les Ramalho and Mr Richard Jodah of Noble House Seafoods and Mr Surendra Etwaroo aka Papo for their continued financial support of our Club cricket and acknowledge the unflinching support that the John Fernandes group of companies has provided to GCC over the years.”
Club members Mrs. Bramdeo Persaud and Navindra Persaud donated 14 LED fluorescent lamps and bulbs to our lower pavilion area to help our club save on our energy bill.
But all is not gloom and doom at Bourda, with Club cricket continuing to flourish under Coach Monty Lynch, a level 3 Coach.
“Many of our cricketers have done exceeding well this year. Leon Johnson and Vishual Singh continue to play inspiring cricket representing Guyana and if Vishual continues to score centuries we may well see the capping of another GCC cricketer for the West Indies team. Robin Bacchus and Raj Nanan are both playing in the GCB professional cricket league,” the proud GCC Boss reminded.
He disclosed that the club’s hockey teams continue to dominate locally under the supervision of hockey captain Devin Hooper, while the ladies team created a historic first by competing in the Trinidad and Tobago national hockey league and placing fourth out of eight teams.
“The men’s team which is in a rebuilding process, showed great success by winning the GT&T indoor hockey championship recently in addition to seven members of the team representing Guyana at the PAFT Challenge championship held in Peru earlier this year. Meanwhile, the GCC executive was returned unopposed except for the Secretary Stuart Hughes who declined re-election and was replaced by Jameel Baksh.
GCC Executive: President: Lionel Jaikarran, Vice-President: Ramsay Ali, Honorary Secretary: Jameel Baksh, Club Captain: Graeme Ali, Treasurer: Satyanand Gopie
Committee Members: Philip Fernandes, Stuart Hughes, Timothy Tucker.
Cricket Captain: Leon Johnson, Hockey Captain: Devon Hooper, Tennis Captain, Jainarine Singh (Don), Squash Captain: Robin Low

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