MoBay Boys and Girls’ Club to get music hall roof repaired

WESTERN BUREAU:

The Montego Bay Boys and Girls’ Club (MBB&GC) in St James, whose facilities were extensively damaged by Hurricane Melissa, is set to receive a new $10-million roof for its music hall, courtesy of the Rotary Club of Grand Cayman (RCGC).

The construction project, which is slated for completion by the end of June, is being financed through the Cayman National Bank. The project’s contract was signed on April 28 in collaboration with the EZ Management Group Limited.

RCGC President Vinton Chinsee said that the project, which was identified as a priority work following the impact of the Category 5 hurricane on October 28 last year, is aimed at improving the welfare of Montego Bay’s younger residents.

“This project is a testament to what Rotary can achieve when clubs reach across borders in common cause. The children of Montego Bay are not strangers to us.; Tthey are our neighbours, and their well-being is a responsibility we are honoured to share,” said Chinsee. “We are proud to walk this road alongside the people of western Jamaica, and prouder still of the partners whose generosity has made it possible.” 

Nerissa Persaud, the immediate past president of the Rotary Club of Montego Bay and a current member of the RCGC, expressed satisfaction at being able to contribute to Montego Bay’s post-Melissa recovery through the restoration of the MBB&GC premises.

“The MBB&GC has given Jamaica some of its finest sons and daughters for more than 80 years. To help secure its future, as work now begins, is among the greatest privileges of my service in Rotary,” said Persaud. “When the new roof is in place, it will shelter not only a building, but the dreams of every child who walks beneath it.”

The MBB&GC, located on Gladstone ‘Pop’ Lawrence Road (formerly River Bay Road) in Montego Bay, was launched in 1942 as the Montego Bay Boys’ Club, with its name later being changed to reflect the input of the girls, who haves been positively impacting the club over the years.

The club has produced stalwarts such as former national footballers Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore, Paul ‘Tegat’ Davis, and Warren Barrett; top-flight musicians A. J. Brown and Tony ‘Ruption’ Williams;, renowned singer Stamma Haughton; and all the members of the once popular STUDS Band.

Funding for the restoration of the facility’s music hall, which was originally built by the late Rotary Club member Ratimar Pavlovic, has been secured through the assistance of Pavlovic’s grandson, Sean O'Donnell, and Canadian businessman and philanthropist Stephen Bronfman.

Montego Bay Mayor Richard Vernon, who serves as chairman of the MBB&GC, said that the facility’s restoration wouldill serve as a symbol of hope to Montego Bay’s residents.

"For the people of Montego Bay, the Boys and Girls’ Club is far more than a building. It is a second home for our young people, and a place that has shaped the very character of this city across generations,” said Vernon. “To see it rise again after Hurricane Melissa is to see hope return to our community, and I am deeply grateful to Cayman National Bank, its staff, and our Rotary partners for standing with us when it mattered most."

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com