A significantly-extended playing field for the children at the Alwyn Allison Primary School, and the West End community, is in the works there.
The project is being spearheaded by the Elected Representative for District 7, Mr. Cardigan Connor. He has succeeded the former long-serving village and visionary parliamentarian, Mr. Albert (Belto) Hughes, who had such a project in mind but passed away before its realisation.
On Tuesday, January 14, a backhoe operator, supervised by Mr. Connor, began clearing three acres of land to the west of the school, and the Community Development Centre, for the playing field.
Mr. Connor spoke to The Anguillian newspaper. “This is one of the assignments that my late Godfather, Belto Hughes, left me when he endorsed me in 2015 as the then future representative of West End,” he explained. “One of the things he asked me to follow through on was getting a playing field for the schoolchildren – and not only them, but also for the community.
“The three acres of land are owned by three families in West End. For a number of years Governments have been trying to get the land swapped, but we are now closer to it in the sense that the families have agreed in principle that the swap should take place. In the meantime, they have allowed us to clear the area so that the schoolchildren can have enough space to prepare for sports day, football matches and the likes. Rather than allowing them to go on the streets which can be very dangerous, here in this area, they will have their own playing field. This is just the first stage today to clear the land. We will then look at getting it filled and have grass planted.”
As Parliamentary Secretary in the Anguilla Government, Mr. Connor has responsibility for Tourism, Sports, Youth Affairs and Culture and sees the coming playing field as an important school and community project. He named the landowners as the families of the late Marita Connor; the children of the late Ezra Richardson; and Eleanor Richardson, popularly known as Neety.
“As I said, all the families have agreed in principle, at this point, even though the land hasn’t been swapped,” Mr. Connor stated. “They have given permission for the land to be cleared and Government will swap the land. That process is now with the Attorney General’s Chambers. But I stress my thanks to the families for allowing us to clear the land so that the schoolchildren can at least train there in safety rather than going out on the streets.”
Although the plans are still to be developed, Mr. Connor explained that “the idea is to build a stand and provide some toilet and parking facilities.” He added: “The whole idea is to create a school and community playing field – here in West End. It is the only district, throughout Anguilla, that does not have an adequate playing or community field and this is actually what I have been pushing for to make it happen.”
Apart from his role in the Government of Anguilla as the District 7 Elected Representative, Mr. Connor, drawing from his earlier days as a former English and Australian county cricketer, has an overwhelming interest in sports and recreational development both at school and community level in Anguilla.
