QUEEN’S College (QC) alumni from at home and abroad have chipped in with $1M (or $5000USD) in funds to renovate the school’s playing field, which has fallen into a deplorable state.

Chairman of the Queen’s College board of governors, Alfred Granger, said he is “effusive” in his gratitude to the alumni– spearheaded by Dr. Terrence Blackman– who responded to the need of the school without the funds being solicited.

“The donation is going towards the [rehabilitation] of the field and so that’s a project in itself,” he explained to the Guyana Chronicle. Rehabilitating the field involves constructing proper drains, building up some parts of the nine acres of land, the field and weeding.

The field had deteriorated over the years, causing the students of the college to use nearby fields for their sporting events. The administration was also forced to rent the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground at Bourda in order to facilitate the annual school sports for the past two years.

In response to this, Granger highlighted that alumni at home and abroad had pooled funds earlier to clear the weeds that had taken over the field. This time however, the funds were raised to completely renovate the field, so that it may be used by the students.

The group has also contributed over $6M to this school for various projects during the past school year.

And though repairs will be made to the field, it is unlikely that the annual school sports will be held there come this September, according to the chairman.

“The problem we have [currently] is the drains of the field,” Granger noted and he explained that the field becomes inundated because of the poor drainage it currently has.

“Trying to get the field ready for sports is going to be a problem,” he posited, but said that it may be used for standard trials, which are the field events activities leading up to the annual sports, which do not require the use of the entire field. This will only be possible if the middle of the field can be fixed in time.