WHEN the Executive Committee of Guyana’s leading youth and sports organisation, the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club, met in early December 2016, it set itself a target of 500 programmes/activities for 2017.

Members agreed it was a very ambitious target that would require a lot of hard work and co-ordination. However, on September 1st, 2017, that target was easily surpassed when the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club and its ten cricket teams hosted an Evening of Music for residents of Guyana’s smallest township.

Secretary/CEO, Hilbert Foster has described 2017 as a year of unbelievable and smashing success and the most successful one in the club’s twenty-seven years history.

Huge success was achieved on and off the cricket field and Foster hailed the outstanding contribution of every executive member, Patron of the club, His Excellency President David Granger and all members of Guyana’s largest Sports Club. The year ended with the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club successfully completing a mammoth 712 programmes/activities.

A total of 22 club members represented Berbice, the Guyana Cricket Board President XI and Guyana at different levels while Erva Giddings and Shemaine Campbelle played for the West Indies. Mahendra Gopilall, Kevlon Anderson, Keith Simpson, Junior Sinclair, Kevin Sinclair, Sylus Tyndall, Marian Samaroo, Plaffiana Millington, Shabeka Gajnabi, Dian Prahalad, B. Thomas, K. Munroe, Sheneeta Grimmond, Shemaine Campbelle, Erva Giddings, Sherica Campbelle, Aleema Arokium, Roshanna Lynch, Uma Matadin and Melanie Henry represented Berbice at the different levels.

At the Guyana Cricket Board Franchise League, the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club was represented by Royston Crandon, Clinton Pestano, Eon Hooper, Kevlon Anderson, Shawn Pereira, Kelvin Sinclair and Jason Sinclair.

At the National level, Junior Sinclair and Kevlon Anderson played for Guyana at the Under-17 level while Anderson, Kevin Sinclair and Sylus Tyndall played for the Under-19 male team.

Marian Samaroo, Sheneeta Grimmond, Uma Matadin, Plaffiana Millington, Melanie Henry, Shemaine Campbelle and Erva Giddings played for the National Female Senior Team while Clinton Pestano, Eon Hooper and Assad Fudadin played at the Senior Male level.

Fudadin also played for the Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League and is currently representing Jamaica.

Towards the end of 2017, the following members represented Upper Corentyne with great success at the Under-13 and Under-15 levels: Jonathan Rampersaud, Mahendra Gopilall, Shivnarine Ramnarain, Christopher Deroop, Angelino Ramdihal, Reyad Rahaman, Matthew Pattaya, Jeremy Sandian, Shamar Scott and Jonathan De Veir”.

To conclude a highly successful cricket year, club members Shemaine Campbelle, Kevlon Anderson and Shabeka Gajnabi received awards from the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB).

Off the field, the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club hosted a two-week cricket academy for over 80 young cricketers and hosted a total of 21 cricket tournaments, including the Patron’s Green Economy Cup, Busta Champion of Champions, Nasir memorial, GWI Under-19, Republic Bank Under-17, Say No/Say Yes 5/5 Cup, Hand-in-Hand Anniversary Cup, GBTI Inter Secondary Tournament and Smartt/King Memorial.

The Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club cricketers were also involved in a six-month coaching programme sponsored by the Demerara Mutual Life Assurance Society. Major repairs were undertaken on the main pavilion which houses the cricket teams.

The club during the year introduced two new cricket teams “Rose Hall Town King Solomon Logistics Under-12 and Poonai Pharmacy Under-13.

Under its Sports Outreach Programme, the Club organised or sponsored a total of 37 tournaments, including football, chess, domino, table tennis, volleyball, basketball, body building, scrabble and cycling.

The club also distributed over $1.5M worth of school bags; $1M in exercise books; 25 bicycles to less fortunate students and close to $1M in school uniforms and footwear, while 39 schools received assistance to assist them to fulfill their mandates under the Patron’s Fund.

Assistance were also provided to three different classes at the Tain Campus of the University of Guyana, while 73 students received assistance to successfully complete their CSEC SBA.

The Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club also assisted eight students, upon request, to pay their CSEC dues while a total of 16 senior citizens received funds for medical expenses.

The Club’s Social Programme was also expanded in 2017 and included General Feeding Programmes for less fortunate families, distribution of $3M worth of clothing, Mash Parade with over 700 students, Evening of Music, Mother of the Year Award Scheme, Father of the Year Award Scheme, donation of a combined 250 hampers to mothers and fathers, Dare to Dream Programme, Make a Wish Project, Role Model of the Year, Say No to Drugs Campaign, Say No to Alcohol Campaign, Say Yes to Life Programme and Say Yes to Religion Campaign.

The club also launched a massive programme to provide pensioners with refreshments every month as they wait to uplift their Old Age Pension.

The club also worked closely with the Guyana Police Force under its Say No to Crime Programme and made several donations to assist the fight against crime while numerous awards ceremonies were organised to honour outstanding Berbicians, including the Ansa Mc Al Award of Excellence, tribute to law enforcement officers, tribute to heroes and Region Six Sports Award.

Seventeen Guyanese were also honoured with the club’s highest award “The Dolphin Award of Excellence”.

They include Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo; Minister of State, Joseph Harmon; Director of Sports, Christopher Jones; Minister Amna Ally and Region Six Regional Chairman, David Armogan. Over 50 cricket clubs and 23 NGOs received millions of dollars worth of cricket gears, cricket balls and sport gears. They include Chesney, Toopoo, Mt. Sinai, Rose Hall Canje, Kildonan, Upper Corentyne, Tamarind Root, Mental Hospital, Police, Blairmont, Tain Block Four, Bush Lot and Tucber Park.

The Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club under its Community Development Programme in 2017, also constructed a scoreboard, a 175th Rose Hall Monument to honour the fifty seven former slaves who purchased the Village in 1842 and secured funding to asphalt the compound of the Rose Hall Town Primary School at the cost of over $5M. The Area ‘H’ Ground is also currently undergoing major restoration work in another Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club-inspired project. Floodlights would also be installed around the Area ‘H’ Ground all weather Court to accommodate matches and practice sessions.