MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Known for its rich heritage as one of Jamaica’s first free villages, the Maidstone community in North West Manchester is set to benefit from an upgrade.

The improvements, which will include the establishment of a museum, are slated to take place in line with the celebratory activities for Manchester’s 200th anniversary.

Member of Parliament for NW Manchester Mikael Phillips told a Bicentennial Thanksgiving Service on December 14 that ground will be broken in January for the museum at the Nazareth All-Age School in Maidstone.

For many years the school has been responsible for the safe-keeping of artifacts which date back to slavery imposed by British colonialists. Slavery ended in Jamaica and the wider British Empire in the 1830s.

Phillips told the Jamaica Observer Central that from $3 million funding through the Tourism Enhacement Fund (TEF) historic story boards will also be placed at the Nazareth Moravian Church and in Maidstone square. The square will undergo general beautification and the driveway to the church will be rehabilitated, he said.

Maidstone is among communities in the planned Mile Gully Heritage Loop Tour aimed at highlighting historical sites in northern Manchester and developing the area as a community tourism destination.

The heritage tour is among the economic projects forming the ‘Manchester Local Sustainable Development Plan: 2030 and Beyond’.

Some speakers at the Thanksgiving Service made note of the fact that 2014 also marks the 70th anniversary of Universal Adult Suffrage.

The new conditions under the Universal Adult Suffrage policy allowed adult Jamaicans, who previously could not vote because they did not have enough property, to do so.

Manchester’s Bicentennial celebrations are expected to continue until 2016 when the capital town of Mandeville marks its 200th year.

–Alicia Sutherland