Ann’s Grove is steadily evolving, striving for higher grounds

THE Ann’s Grove community has always had a football club which dates back to the 1960s, and it became structured when the East Coast Sub Association was established in the 1970s.

It started out as the Ann’s Grove Football Club, then the Ann’s Grove Line Stars and later as the Ann’s Grove United Football Club.

President, of the club, Lieutenant Colonel Raul Jerrick told the Pepperpot Magazine, that Ann’s Grove has always had a reputation of producing adept footballers. As a result, they were able to field the National Team with players a few years ago. In addition, the club was the finalist at two STAG Year-end Tournaments, and is currently in the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Elite League.

“We have a facility, but it is nothing to boast about. It is far from the required standard. There is no lighting and no internal facility. Because of the poor state of the ground, we were able to acquire a grant of two million dollars from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), which will complete the earth filling and construct an ablution facility,” he stated.

He said that the club is currently training for the recommencement of the GFF League in February, and added that they have also competed in youth tournaments hosted by the East Demerara Football Association (EDFA).

According to Col. Jerrick, the club continues to attract players from the adjoining villages such as Two Friends, Dutch Four, Clonbrook, Bee Hive and Hope. In addition, players are also drawn from the Lower and Upper East Coast.
He further pointed out that there are at least two categories of players – the seniors and the juniors; explaining that most of the senior team players are pork knockers and tradesmen, while the youth teams are primarily school -aged.

A TURNING POINT
Col. Jerrick says that as President of the club, he sees the game of football as a potential game-changer for any community, once the support system is there. He expressed the fact that the game has managed to provide football exposure to many young men, both overseas and locally.

He noted that the club would also facilitate motivational and interactive sessions, at the same time providing assistance in the form of school materials (books, pens, pencils etc.) to its young members.

“Ann`s Grove has a very high percentage of young persons and the club wants to do so much more than just football; but we lack the human and financial resources needed to incorporate other disciplines,” he posited.

RESPECTED VILLAGER
However, 70-year-old Aubrey Nedd, who has been a seasoned educator and coach for over five decades in the village, told the Pepperpot Magazine that football is being played since he was a youngster – since in the 50s, 60s. He added that he is a proud, born and bred, Ann’s Grove resident, having arrived in the village straight from the hospital as a baby, he proudly stated. He has been a teacher, mostly in agriculture, for all of his working life.

Notwithstanding his full-time involvement teaching, Nedd said that football was always one of his main interests, even though he loves all sporting activities, as well as the steel band.

“There was a time when the older fellows used to invite teams from Berbice and other villages to play cricket and so on the present playfield, but eventually football being the more rough game became the choice since the ground has become not smooth enough for many other games. So football has been played there since I was a youngster – since in the 50s, 60s,” he said.

He said that he was a teacher all of his professional life, having started teaching as a young primary school teacher, right there, in the village – at the Ann’s Grove Methodist Primary School. He later went to the Teacher’ Training College, after which he returned for a while before attending the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA) to study agriculture.

“I am an agriculture teacher and I even went to UWI and studied agriculture and then returned to Ann’s Grove to continue my teaching career. I then went to Mackenzie High School, then to Cove and John Secondary School, after which I retired. I went abroad for a short while and then returned to my hometown, Ann’s Grove to continue to serve,” he related.

Further, he said that that the village has grown leaps and bounds over time; I have seen a lot of development, yet the potential is there for much more to be done.

MULTI-PURPOSE PLAYGROUND
Currently, Nedd is the coach for the junior teams, which are the Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17. He informed that he has always been the coach, even though he went abroad for a short while. For the senior team, the coach is Bill Wilson.

“I have a keen interest in seeing sporting activities expanded within the community and one of the ways in which I believe this can happen is by the building of a multi-purpose playfield at the Ann’s Grove Community Playground. This is a ground that is large enough for this kind of activity,” he said. “We had a volleyball team that was pretty good; there was also a basketball team, but those guys are all grown now. However, space is not there, where they used to play – it is now called the Car Park, and that space is now crowded out with vendors and other activities, including a place where hire cars for the village park to have their business done,” he noted.

However, Nedd insisted that the Ann’s Grove Community Playground has the right kind of space to accommodate the various kinds of sporting activities and therefore serious consideration should to given towards the development of a multi-purpose playfield for the use of villagers and others.

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
Once an educationist, always an educationist – and Nedd said that he has a keen interest in all things that can be uplifting and educational, especially for the young men of the village.

“You know, I am not so comfortable with the manner in which some of our young men operate – some of them seem to lack the motivation. I feel that some kind of structure can be put in place for some of them. For example, trade programmes within the community could be useful,” he reasoned.

Nedd postulated that in the village there were some ‘Crown lands’, which were all used up, but suggested that the trade school beneath the NDC building be resuscitated for use once more. He added that in that building there is some ready equipment and with some amount of servicing it can be used all over again.

“Originally that place started off as a community school – it was the Austin’s Community Trade School because one Mr. Austin did a lot in building it, but now nothing is done there. It can be developed; this is one of the spaces that can be made available. They used to do welding there, they can do technical drawing and much more,” he offered.

Nedd also said that Ann’s Grove, also being a farming community can do with more guidance in this regard – with their agricultural crops, livestock such as the rearing of cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens and others. The assistance of veterinary personnel, as well as agricultural specialists, would be highly regarded.

CULTURAL ACTIVITIES
He said that in terms of cultural activities one of the things that the village can do well with is a steelband. “Way back when I was a boy, we had one and that would be a really nice thing to have here in the village once again,” he recommended.

While the village is rich in terms of cultural activities a more advanced setting would serve to take it to a much higher level, he concluded.