MICHAEL Manley would have been proud yesterday.

Thirty-four years after he first rallied the nation to put work into Labour Day, Jamaicans again turned out in their communities across the length and breadth of the island, to put meaning into this year’s theme “Jamaica’s Beauty, Our Duty”.

“I want to commend the Jamaican people. They have ignited the spirit of 1938,” said an elated Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller after a triumphant entry into Water Square, Falmouth, the Trelawny capital, site of the national Labour Day project.

“This is really something that Michael Manley envisioned when he launched Labour Day years ago. I really think that we saw some action in people…”, Simpson Miller told newsmen who jostled for a comment among the throngs.

Earlier, pandemonium threatened briefly when Simpson Miller arrived to be greeted by the almost fanatical crowds whom the security forces tried in vain to hold back.

The prime minister described the Labour Day activities as “a massive success” and added that the high level of participation shown by the nation was what Manley expected when he conceptualised Labour Day in 1972.

Three months after he won the biggest election victory to date, on February 29, 1972, Manley capitalised on his unprecedented popularity to mobilise the people to volunteer their labour to better their communities. Manley died in March 1997.

But yesterday Jamaicans were still responding to the call, with strong backing from many private firms which supplied materials and encouraged staff to work on a variety of projects.

“I would love to commend corporate Jamaica, the service clubs, the chambers of commerce, all who really came out today and performed well,” Simpson Miller said in Falmouth.

The prime minister, spending much of the day in Trelawny, planted a tree near the fountain in Falmouth’s Water Square – the national project to beautify the Falmouth Town Centre.

There was a buzz of activity in Water Square as the historic town received a much-needed facelift. The work involved the cleaning of drains, painting of recently erected utility poles by JPS workers, the repairing of the fountain, the painting of buildings and business places, as well as pedestrian crossings, planting of trees and the bushing of sidewalks, among other things.

As part of the 33 projects registered for the parish, the Falmouth branch of the Jamaica National Building Society carried out beautification work at the cenotaph and residents of Bounty Hall painted the Bounty Hall Primary School with over 40 gallons of paint contributed by businesswoman, Cynthia Baker.

Members of corporate Jamaica supported many Labour Day projects in Kingston and St Andrew, mainly painting and cleaning, although the large turnout of years ago did not materialise yesterday.

At the Majesty Gardens community in St Andrew, IBM workers painted and cleaned the community centre and graffiti wall, a project which they first did five years ago.

“Ninety per cent of the persons working here are staff and the others are their family members,” explained Stephen Meghoo, general manager of IBM.

“I think it will brighten up the community,” said Yvonne Hamilton, a resident of the community.

Meanwhile, Norman Alleyne, Half-Way-Tree branch manager of COK Credit Union and Karen Maylor-Graham member service officer, re-painted the pedestrian crossing in the vicinity of the Hagley Park Preparatory School.

“When we pass along this route in the mornings we notice that the kids had a hard time crossing the road and so as corporate citizens we decided to do this,” explained Alleyne.

He said they would also be assisting the school with the painting of its bathroom.

Over at the Seaview Gardens Police Station, Red Stripe staff members were engaged in a major refurbishing exercise, repairing roofs, painting and cleaning, among other activities.

Mayor of Kingston and St Andrew, Desmond McKenzie along with Custos of St Andrew, Rev Carmen Stewart and Rev Canon Weeville Gordon, Custos of Kingston visited the Duhaney Park recreation park where they participated in a tree-planting exercise. New Haven Seventh-day Adventist Church members also bushed the grounds and painted the fence.

“Sometimes we keep our crusades here and so the youth arm of the church decided to do this as their Labour Day project,” said Pastor Daviceto Swaby.

At the Marverly Primary and Junior High, members of the Parents Teachers Association in collaboration with the Past Students Association, painted the walls, scrubbed metal windows and patched sections of the asphalted school yard.

At the Cooreville community recreational park, residents were seen bushing the park in preparation for a football field.

The Citizen’s Association president David Foster said the community generates up to $900,000 each year from fundraisers and rent it charges the telephone company, which has installed antennas there. It is from this pool of funds, he said, that they were able to construct a million- dollar wall around the park as well as the basic school.

“This Labour Day we are going to put in a football field and put a security fence around it,” he said, adding that in the future they hope to put in stands as well as a bathroom and a tuckshop at the park.

In St James

St James benefited from several beautification projects which saw many participants repainting curbs, planting trees, refurbishing several roads and the fountain in Sam Sharpe Square.

Suzette Brown, the community relations officer of the St James Parish Council, said there would be no opportunity for anyone to get into the fountain because the municipal police would be monitoring the area, a reference to the street people who often occupy the area.

At the end of the day, the fountain proudly sported new coats of blue, white and gold paint as well as a new water pump courtesy of Appliance Traders Limited and the Sandals group, while Lennisford Cornwall, proprietor of Cornwall Gardens Limited, led the effort to landscape the fountain.

“What was happening was that the coffee rose plants were blocking the view of the fountain and were proving very difficult to maintain. So we are taking these plants out and replacing them with Ruella, Yellow Lantana and Texas Sage,” he told the Observer.

The plants, according to PNP Councillor Richard Solomon, who chairs the Council’s Civic and Community Affairs committee, are to be dedicated to the memory of the late John Rollins, chairman of Rose Hall Developments Limited.