Last Sunday, we had a great communty event that started at 9am. Residents of Devonshire Bay and Rocky Bay came out and joined in with a numnber of young persons to beautify the Mary Prince Emancipation Park.

About ten persons picked up bottles and trash, left by those who obviously do not care about cleanliness.

Another team worked on cutting grass using a lawnmower and weed whackers. Then there was a team dedicated to raking, picking up the grass that had been cut, and placing it in trash bags.

There were two young ladies, Daniell Simons and Chelsea Minors, who were taught the proper use of weed whackers by Razi Garland and Amon Robinson. The ladies then went about to happily practise their new-found skills.

Without a doub,t they will be using these skills at home and other community projects.

The final team consisted of neighbours who contributed water, sandwiches, baked goods and fresh fruit. These snacks have proved to be a big hit with all who attend.

Within three hours, there was a grand total of 20 bags collected — ten bags of trash and ten bags of cut grass. By Monday morning, Department of Works and Engineering teams had collected all of the bags.

Without a doubt, what was most important was to see a diverse collection of persons from all backgrounds working together for a few hours; certainly some lifelong bonds were created.

Thank you

We wish to thank the Devonshire Bay community, the young persons and the ladies of the Devonshire community — Sharon Welch, Marilyn Boyles, Christine Saul, Robin Saul and Kathryn Rossiter — for their help in making this gathering successful.

Special shout out to Royal Gazette Chief Photographer Akil Simmons for capturing the community in action on his weekend off.

Our next clean-up will be on March 6 when we return to Mary Prince park.

We look forward to seeing the community come together once again.

• Christopher Famous is the government MP for Devonshire East (Constituency 11). You can reach him on WhatsApp at 599-0901 or e-mail at carib_pro@yahoo.com