The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunmedia.net

THE stalled Fox Hill community centre, once considered a dream, is now expected to be refurbished and completed by October as a result of a $250,000 loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and a private-public partnership launched by the Christie administration yesterday.

The announcement was made by Fox Hill MP and Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell during the 178th anniversary of Fox Hill Day.

As a result of the loan, which is being financed by the Inter-American Development Bank through the Ministry of National Security, the government has secured $250,000 of the $750,000 needed to complete the stalled community centre located on the corner of Fox Hill Road and Romer Street.

The remaining $500,000 needed to complete the projected is expected to be supplied through a private-public partnership exercise sanctioned by Prime Minister Perry Christie.

In 1992 former Fox Hill MP George Mackey purchased the plot of land, hoping to develop a community centre capable of servicing the needs of the residents in the area. Subsequently, a foundation was erected, however plans to complete the construction stalled shortly after the PLP lost the 1992 general election.

When the PLP returned to office in 2002, with Mr Mitchell as the area MP, new construction plans were commissioned.

That PLP administration constructed a new foundation and completed the building to the extent that the multi-purpose auditorium portion of the building could be used. However, the “super structure” component of the facility –- kitchen area, offices, bathrooms, study areas – were not completed.

The cornerstone of the remaining section was erected in 2007.

Accompanying Mr Christie, who made his 18th consecutive appearance at the annual Fox Hill Day celebration, were Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis, National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage, Social Services Minister Melanie Griffin and State Minister for Investments Khaalis Rolle.

They, along with Mr Mitchell, visited several churches in the area that held services to commemorate the occasion.

Fox Hill Day marks the journey that took the message of freedom from one historic slave distinct - Gambier Village - to another, Fox Hill.

Touting a message of “celebration” at every stop, the delegation started at St Paul’s Baptist Church where Mr Christie urged those in attendance to mark not only the Fox Hill Day occasion with pride, but its origin.

In 1801 Samuel Fox, a freed African slave took up residence on a 23-acre plot of land awarded to him in the eastern district of New Providence.

In the years that followed, scores of other freed slaves migrated to and settled on the plot of land, forming the community that was later named in Fox’s honour.

According to Fox Hill lore, despite the declaration of the abolition of slavery being read on August 2, 1834, a decree of the occurrence didn’t arrive to the community until a week later on August 9.

To mark the joy that reverberated throughout the community that day, descendants of those first generation area residents have marked August 9 as the date of celebration since 1838.

Mr Christie noted that the journey of freedom, while a protracted one, once realised gave way to a nation that has made a great impact on the modern world.

Other churches visited by the government delegation were Mt Carey Union Baptist Church and St Mark’s Baptist Church.

It was at Mt Carey where the delegation fully embraced the festivities of Fox Hill Day, as both Prime Minister Christie and Mr Mitchell joined several of the church’s youth in a dance routine; and Mrs Griffin and Mr Davis serenaded the audience with moving Baptist spirituals.