Uncertainty surrounds Barrow’s birthplace

Uncertainty still surrounds the future of the birthplace of this island’s Father of Independence and first Prime Minister the Right Excellent Errol Walton Barrow.

Over the decades, Barrow’s childhood home at The Garden, St. Lucy, has been allowed to run to ruin, with a roof that has all but fallen in and the structure now overgrown with bush and weeds.

Announcing the area was undergoing a massive clean-up ahead of today’s Errol Barrow Day celebrations, Member of Parliament for St. Lucy and Minister within the Ministry of Transport, Works and Maintenance Peter Phillips however was unable to give an indication as to what would happen with the structure in the nearby future.

Admitting many persons were unaware of where Barrow’s first home stood, Phillips, who in 2014 spearheaded a petition for the location to become a heritage site, insisted the area was one which would attract the attention of tourists and locals alike.

He was speaking to the media last week at Government Head-quarters on the activities planned for celebrations to mark Barrow’s centennial, including the unveiling of a plaque at The Garden by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley.

“One of the first areas we would be attacking would be highlighting the actual area…so we are going to establish a plaque exactly where he was born and then take it from there as we move on. I know there were plans and discussions with his family in terms of the restoration of the house and so on, but that has not yet been considered and I cannot venture to speak to it at this point in time,” he stated.

The deterioration of the home has drawn comments from Barbadians over the years at home and abroad, as many insist that it should be restored to pay proper respect to the man who helped to shape this country. (JMB)