Chapel on Mount Pleasant opened

THE chapel and offices at the Mount Pleasant Memorial Gardens were official opened yesterday and Peter Griffith, Chairman of Ember Investment Corporation, the company responsible for that cemetery, says the state-of-the-art facility will go a long way in meeting the needs of the people in the north for a final resting place.

Speaking yesterday morning during the official opening ceremony, Griffith said that the company was pleased that the multi-million-dollar memorial gardens, which has been almost 15 years in the making, has finally come to fruition. With that in mind, he expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley and Minister Marsha Caddle for the assistance they rendered in “getting formalities out of the way” to get the project completed.

He made the comments while noting that the site is “green ready”. He indicated that in addition to solar panels that will be on the roof of the chapel and that of the office to power the facility, they have also installed underground water storage tanks that will assist with their irrigation needs.

“...This project was on since 2006. It has been a hard ride gaining all of the permissions that were necessary – it came in two segments, but we persevered, and what would have been a project at $4 million by the time now that we are finished, we have a project for $12 million. But I don’t feel too badly about it now, looking back, the product and the outcome of it, we are very pleased,” he stated.

According to Griffith, Mount Pleasant now affords the residents of the north an alternative final resting place. Moreover, he said there is no need anymore to have two services, where they are not of the Anglican faith, to be buried in the cemetery of the Anglican church.

Reflecting on the goal of Ember Investment to provide quality burial plots, he spoke also of the investment made in the Coral Ridge Memorial Gardens, which was opened in 2000. Griffith credited former Prime Minister, the late Owen Arthur, who will be laid to rest on Friday, with making that investment a reality.

“Coral Ridge was established in 2000, but the building itself could not be a reality, because in those days we could not even find anyone to finance it; no bank in Bridgetown wanted to touch it. And I went this route to say that the gentleman who led this country for 15 years, Mr. Owen Arthur, who is going to be buried out here – that he gave us that opportunity. Not only gave us the opportunity, but made sure that the Barbados National Bank of the day financed the project. So I think it is really fitting that on his passing, this cemetery was chosen for him,” he stated.

Speaking to The Barbados Advocate after the ceremony, Griffith revealed that Mount Pleasant boasts approximately 18,000 burial plots, adding that there is still a small area which is currently being used as a soil bank, from which they could get another 1,000 plots. However, he said that they are fast reaching maximum capacity at Coral Ridge.

“When we started many people wished me well and so on, but said they had graves other places, so in our survey we anticipated that Coral Ridge would have given us 50 years. We since reduced that 50 years to 35 and then we went to 30. We are 20 years old now, which means we probably have another ten years of graves and if we don’t expand it, we will be out of space,” he said.

Griffith indicated there is some reserve left, which the cemetery will have to make use of in the future. (JRT)