PORT MARIA, St Mary – Residents of Pagee in Port Maria are welcoming the decision to make Clembhards Park the Labour Day project for St Mary, saying the long-neglected sporting and recreational facility is overdue a facelift.

“Yeah, a good idea, as the place just a tek time a run down. It can be useful to the people fi do nuff sporting things and so on,” a man who gave his name as Rasta told the Jamaica Observer.

He recalled when the park hosted many sporting events.

“Nuff match! Star Cosmos Football Club play here and the high school football teams; but Jah know, the people in charge just let it go.” he said in a high-pitched voice, pointing to an area where goats are now the main users of the playing field.

The once-sougt-after facility was upgraded in 2014 under the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP). That included painting the bathrooms, fixing the main gate, erecting perimeter fencing, and upgrading the canteen. At the time, work was estimated to cost $3.1million.

In 2021, then Member of Parliament Dr Morais Guy installed lights at the park through his Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and the Tourism Product Development Company’s (TPDCo) Spruce Up Jamaica programme. Today, the park looks abandoned. Laundry hangs on the verandah, and stray animals roam or are tied for feeding. One resident, who asked not to be named, said some people have taken over parts of the space for personal use.

“Look there, dem wash and hang up the clothes. Some use it as dem bathroom, [passing faeces] over there or in a bag and throw it over there,” the resident said.

She added that the facility needs proper fencing, security, and monthly maintenance if it is to be usable and viable again.

Clothes hung out to dry on the multipurpose building at neglected Clembhards Park in Port Maria, St Mary. (Photo: Ingrid Henry)