Hartley Neita

For a couple of hundreds of years, a large open space at the border of Kingston and St. Andrew was known as Kingston Race Course.

At various times, it was the scene of various national athletic events, boxing, horse racing and cycle racing, as well as visiting circuses. During the 1950s, there were several designs proposed to build a national stadium on the grounds, plus cricket and football fields, and mini-parks with fountains. It was also the proposed site for a parliamentary building and at the southern end it was once planned to build a Kingston Town Hall.

When King George VI died, the park was given majesty by changing its name to the King George VI Memorial Park. This was in keeping with the penchant then of paying homage to royalty. So that we named the hospital in Port Morant the Princess Margaret Hospital, and there is the Royal Box in the National Stadium, and Hope Gardens was renamed the Royal Botanical Gardens. There are also the many King Streets, Queen Street, Princess Streets and Duke Streets in towns all over the island.

The Cenotaph, commemorating World Wars I and II, was removed from downtown Kingston to the park, and when the body of Marcus Garvey was returned to Jamaica from England it was re-interred there.

HISTORICAL CONFUSION

From there on, there has been some amount of historical confusion. I was involved in the information planning regarding the naming of National Heroes Park and I believe I am not yet suffering from 'small-zheimer'. My memory is strong that it was only a section of the park which was designated as National Heroes Park - the part which now has a concrete perimeter.

That section was laid out in the form of a cross with one line designated as the 'Avenue of National Heroes' reserved for the burial spots of National Heroes and the other designated as the 'Avenue of Prime Ministers' for Prime Ministers.

An interesting aspect of this was that consideration was not then given for the spouses of these heroes and Prime Ministers, so that when Edna Manley died, the architect, Denny Repole, had to design a special way of inserting her casket in the mausoleum. You will also notice that Marcus Garvey's wife is not interred with him. That, however, is an aside.

The fact that the bodies of the Eventide Home tragedy, as well as Ranny Williams, Dennis Brown, Kenneth Hill, Aggie Bernard and Kapo are buried outside this designated area -and they are by no means national heroes - is indicative that the entire space of land cannot be National Heroes Park. Note, too, that over 100 cars owned by members of the staff of the Ministry of Finance now park in the park is another indication that the entire area cannot be National Heroes Park. If it is, then, we are desecrating a national heritage spot.

I tried some years ago to obtain a definitive answer to the question of what and where is the National Heroes Park. I contacted the Heritage Trust, the KSAC and the Lands Department, but did not succeed in my search.

Maybe we can get an answer now before the entire area becomes a cemetery or a parking lot. For it is my view that the area beyond the burial sites of our National Heroes and Prime Ministers is still the King George VI Memorial Park. Long to reign over us - God save our King!

There is another concern I have. Earlier this week the walls and kerbs inside the park, and the edge of the sidewalks around it were painted white.

This meant that motorists can now park on the park side of East Heroes Circle without being towed away. Is this so? In addition, these white-painted walls will soon be splashed with dirt and become ugly. Why not paint them green next time? Oh, I forgot. That is the colour of a political party.