VICKY Felix is doing all he can in his community to promote sports through the All Stars Cricket Club at Number 72 Village ‘Hong Kong.’ He has dedicated more than 20 years as the manager fostering youths and other villagers to become involved in cricket and they have had many winnings.

In fact, this cricket club is one of the top clubs in Corentyne despite the challenges they face with a collapsing pavilion but has managed to maintain the ground. However, with the Neighbourhood Democratic Council’s (NDC) input they were able to have the place fenced.

“I am all for the development of sports in this village and if we get some form of assistance from the government, there is so much more we can do besides fund-raising,” he said. Felix reported that on weekends he would get the youths involved in community self-help projects to garner funds for the cricket club to make a positive impact on their lives and to develop and promote cricket.

The 50-year-old stated that the All Stars Sports Club has a membership of 45 between the ages of 15 to 55 and they do what they can to raise funds to buy gear and upkeep the ground. “These young people need something in their lives because just you miss them they have a piece of weed in their mouths and doing nonsense, so I does get them to participate in cricket,” he said.

The good old days
Felix revealed that he used to work in the sugar industry and did so for more than 20 years before calling it quits. He explained that those days money did not come by easily and getting cash entailed working hard and doing many things to earn.

The villager reported that even though things were not easy in those days, it was better because people were used to that hard life of working in the backlands and farming. He added that as a small boy before going to school he had to fetch water to fill a barrel, pick mangoes which would be sold in the market and also pick dry coconuts to make coconut oil and branches of the coconut trees were trimmed to make pointer brooms which were also sold at the village market.

Felix recalled going to school with a piece of slate, bare-footed and one time as he got older his mother sewed a cloth school bag for him. This sports activist pointed that today he is a farmer and like most residents, they inherited their property from their parents and fore-parents so they did not have to work so hard, in fact, they got things good at one point through inheritance.

“The big people died and left us with things so that we can live comfortable today, they sacrificed their lives working hard to make us right a day like today,” he said. The elders of those days were a different set of people, he stated, who were accustomed to hard work and toiled from dusk to dawn to accomplish a lot to the benefit of this younger generation of today.

Honouring sports personality
On another note, Felix and other residents will be holding a peaceful picketing exercise before next Tuesday in honour of Corentyne Sports personality, Sherwin Murray called “Chest” of #47 Bengal Village, Corentyne, Berbice, who was killed in a road accident on November 10, 2020.

He explained that the funeral service is expected on Tuesday so they will be holding a picketing exercise sometime before that calling on the authorities to have all derelict vehicles removed from the shoulder of the road.

Felix said these vehicles parked on public thoroughfare poses a hazard for all motorists especially at nights and can result in the loss of lives and injuries to many.

The 38-year-old father of four died following an accident between a motorcycle and a Motor Lorry on the No 47 Public Road, Corentyne Berbice.
Murray was an ardent sports personality and a popular figure in the Upper Corentyne area and was the son of popular Community activist and Sports Personality Linden Murray.