St. Mary’s breaks new ground

The official ground breaking ceremony of the New St. Mary’s RC. Primary School took place on Wednesday, February 23 at Buccament.

The ceremony was well attended by a number of parents, members of staff and the students and members of the community who in support of the Project. {{more}}

The 90-minute programme began with Blessings from Fr. Pio Antonio, Vicar General of the Kingstown Diocese. He was followed by a number of addresses including an historical perspective of the School by Sis. Ivy Pacheco, Principal of the School.

Douglas Slater the Representative of the area welcomed the coming on stream of another Primary School in the Constituency and Minister of Education Mike Browne pledged the Government’s support, Browne gave an unprecedented four minutes address, much to the delight of the children who were by then getting restless in the hot sun. Daniel Cummings who heads the Building Committee chaired the session and remarks came from O.T. Mayers, whose support to the school over the years has earned him the coveted title of an adopted parent of the St. Mary’s.

Brief remarks also came from Jules Ferdinand, a parent and member of the Building Committee and Colin Boyle, President of the SVG Rotary Club endorsed his organization’s support in the supervision of the construction. Peggy De Freitas gave the vote of thanks.

The New School Building that is expected to cost some six million dollars, has been on the front burner for over fourteen years. During that period the St. Mary’s PTA was able to raise the funds to purchase the lands for a new school.

The project received special publicity two years ago when Bishop Robert Rivas led a Sponsored Walk to raise funds for the building. The Bishop did a marathon eleven miles journey to Argyle in just under six hours.

Work on the project is expected to commence soon.