KENDAL, Manchester – One leader in this south-central parish has lashed out at the long-standing pledge to erect a monument in remembrance of the nearly 200 people who died in a train crash years ago, calling it “embarrassing”.

It follows a promise by Culture Minister Olivia “Babsy” Grange that plans were forthcoming for victims of the Kendal train crash on September 1, 1957 – 66 years ago.

Manchester Parish Development Committee (PDC) Chairman Anthony Freckleton, who was one of about 25 people who turned up at the Kendal Missionary Church on Friday, was disappointed at the low turnout for a tree-planting commemorative ceremony for the 66th anniversary of the crash.

“This project is long overdue to be implemented in our parish, it was documented in The New York Times and was one of the worst disasters in the world at the time,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“We don’t seem to acknowledge the importance of this event, both to the victims and to the families of the victims, that we put up something suitable, a monument, so that a lot of these families can get closure to this situation,” added Freckleton.

He pointed out that the calls from the political directorate are made annually for the monument.

“Every year, every mayor, every councillor, every member of the municipal corporation have been advocating for this — and the wider society — a proper museum for this world event that took place down here. This is long overdue and it is very embarrassing that we come every year in the effort that we are making to keep it alive and have not borne the fruit that we ought to see happen,” said Freckleton.

Culture Minister Grange on Friday, during an interview on Nationwide News Network, reiterated her promise for the monument to be erected.

“We were working towards having it erected and unveiled last year. We were not able to achieve that. We are going to be following through on it as we plan to with a number of other projects to commemorate Jamaica 60,” she explained.

“We are working closely with the Manchester Municipal Corporation, the Jamaica Railway Corporation is on board, and Windalco is on board. There is a non-profit entity that is working closely with us to ensure that the monument is done,” added Grange.

The minister had declared September 1 Kendal Crash Day in 2017. That date has been commemorated since, with the exception of 2020 when the novel coronavirus pandemic intervened.

Freckleton said the monument is important for commemorating the lives lost, but also has potential for heritage tourism.

“The PDC wants to work closer with the municipal corporation to see how we can assist by garnering some extra funds to make it happen. It can attract people. The families of the victims would be encouraged to come and work with us, it is an attraction,” he said.

The commemorative ceremony was restricted to the church building as the crash site is overgrown with bushes. This led to six plants being symbolically shown for planting in memory of the victims.

Chair of the Memorial Committee Angela Edwards told the Sunday Observer that the Russian aluminium conglomerate UC Rusal (owners of Windalco) and the local municipality are still in dialogue to settle a land lease for the crash site.

“For the monument, we have finally gotten a draft lease agreement from Windalco, who owns the land now where the burial site is located. So the council’s lawyers are now looking over the document and in discussion with Windalco to straighten out some stuff in the draft agreement,” she explained.

“As soon as that is done and the draft agreement is signed, then we will be moving forward to look at construction of the monument at the burial site,” added Edwards.

She is hopeful that once the lease agreement is settled funding will be allocated to do the project.

“We started communicating with the ministry. We are hoping that the funds will come from the ministry, because it was actually submitted as a project for Jamaica 60 because the ministry had invited the council to submit projects for Jamaica 60 and that was one of the projects that was submitted,” she said.

“We want to have it done so we can have the unveiling at next year’s anniversary in 2024… I am really hoping that the ministry will put it on their budget for next year so we can actually get it done, because it has been a while, it is 66 years and to have your relatives out there in the open and you can’t identify them is really not a nice thing,” added Edwards.

The proposed monument is expected to bear 177 names.

“The overall plan is to do a memorial park at the site, so along with the monument we will have spaces where people can come and sit down and just relax,” Edwards explained.

Peter Espeut, Roman Catholic deacon and pastoral administrator of St Anne’s Church, said although the monument is needed, he is pleased with the commemorative ceremony.

“I am not making a big thing of it. Obviously Manchester owns the crash, because it took place here. I am very proud and pleased that they are remembering the persons who died from my church,” he said.

“We, of course, remember them back in Kingston at the church, but I am very pleased that the people of Kendal have chosen to annually remember those of our church who died. I am here not to criticise. I am here to join in the remembrance that has been organised today,” added Espeut.

He said Minister Grange is closely affiliated with the need for the monument.

“We would like there to be a monument and Minister Grange is from St Anne’s Church, so she knows about the event. They say nothing before the time, so maybe for the 75 th anniversary or maybe the 100 th anniversary that the monument will be built,” he said.

According to the accounts of survivors and people in the parish who had heard about or witnessed the event, on Sunday, September 1, 1957 hundreds of members of St Anne’s Catholic Church in Kingston had boarded a train in Kingston for an all-day excursion to Montego Bay.

On their way back to Kingston the overcrowded train derailed at Kendal, just north of Mandeville, leaving close to 200 people dead and hundreds injured.