…close to $700,000 worth of donations shared out

DOZENS of youths from the Ancient County of Berbice over the last week benefitted from donations of bicycles, electronic tablets and school bags from the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club MS (RHTYSC) under its Basil Butcher Trust Fund.

The items were handed over to the youths over the last week, to mark the 89th birthday celebration of the legendary Test cricketer Basil Butcher, who died in December 2019.
Club Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster stated that the cricket teams of the RHTYSC, MS, under the fund seek ways to make a positive difference in the lives of the less fortunate and youths.

Special emphasis, he stated, is placed on the promotion of sports and education as part of the club’s effort to assist youths to fulfil their potential in the classroom and on the cricket field.
Ten youths benefitted from the donation of cycles compliments of Dave Narine of Dave West Indian Imports of New York, United States of America.

The ten youths included Adrian Kistama, who recently excelled at the recent Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exams (CAPE).
The cycles would assist the youths to attend school and cricket practice. Foster urged them to take care of the cycles and to balance their involvement in sports with a solid performance in the classroom. Thanks were extended to Dave Narine for his sponsorship of the cycles.

A total of 17 electronic tablets were also handed over to cricketers across the county and members of the St Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Youth Club of Port Mourant.
Cricketers from several clubs benefitted including Achievers, Bush Lot United, Cotton Tree, Rose Hall Canje, Upper Corentyne, Port Mourant and Edinburgh.

Eight members of St Francis on Sunday during mass received a tablet each. Foster stated that the RHTYSC was pleased to assist members of the youth club which played a major role in the launching of the RHTYSC in 1990.
The tablets, which were donated by Ramdeo Kumar of Beacon Cafe and Bruce Butcher, son of Basil Butcher, would be used by the 17 youths to do research in school.

The cricket teams of the RHTYSC also donated over 400 school bags with educational materials to schoolchildren under the Trust Fund. The school bags were donated to the club, compliments of Beacon Cafe, Pernel Christie, Pixel Guyana Inc, Jason Sripal of J Supermarket among others. The educational materials were donated by Canadian Surplus of Providence and Food For The Poor (Guy).

The late Basil Butcher was the fourth Berbician to play for the West Indies at Test level. Butcher was a mentor to cricketers of RHTYSC for over two decades and is widely credited for the role he played in offering advice in the club cricket development programmes.
He played 44 Test matches, scoring 3 104 runs at an average of 43.11 with seven centuries and 16 fifties.