Almost 20 years after she joined peaceful protests against a development proposal for one of the island’s great open spaces, Val Sherwood is again bringing her music to the defence of Southlands in Warwick.

Ms Sherwood, who aims to join a demonstration planned for Saturday against a variety of proposals for amenities in the park, is re-releasing her original conservation anthem My Open Spaces to support the cause.

She told The Royal Gazette: “It shows that, over the years, it’s one things to save a property once, but it’s not for ever — even if it’s in the parks system.”

Ms Sherwood has found favour with some of the latest ideas pitched for Southlands, such as a zip-line attraction.

She said she had met with the organiser of the proposal, “Escape from Devil’s Isle”, and heard his plans for the protection of nature at the site.

“I think we have to be open to trying new things, if this is an activity that’s minimal to the park,” she said. “I’ve been on zip-lines in other countries. They didn’t take down the trees to do it.”

She added that she did not necessarily oppose the notion of bringing a café to Southlands.

“It depends on what the thought is behind it. It seems from the planning proposal that they want a huge number of people.”

However, Ms Sherwood said that any notion of pushing Southlands beach as a tourist destination was “not safe”, given the risky water conditions at the site.

“We’ve all seen how Horseshoe Bay Beach is being over utilised,” she said. “There is interest in Southlands as a place between Horseshoe and Elbow Beach in Paget. But look at Long Bay in Somerset, which is nice and shallow, or even Daniel’s Head.

“They’re much closer to get people from the cruise ships in Dockyard. I think there’s much more potential in that controlled environment.”

Southlands shot to prominence in 2007 after protesters turned out to condemn proposals for a hotel development on the property, which has been variously reported to cover 37 or 28 acres.

Ms Sherwood said she had come out in 2007 alongside the late Stuart Hayward, who was chairman of the Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce — including the demonstration that March in which opponents lined South Road, with signs highlighting proposals for an overpass connecting the shoreline section of the development with facilities farther inland.

Southlands ultimately got a stay when the Government arranged a site swap with Morgan’s Point in Sandys.

Ms Sherwood said more ambitious plans at Southlands entailing “thousands of people from cruise ships” might be better switched to beaches farther west.

She added: “What we’re hearing from everybody is that they want Southlands to be a place of history, to preserve that original elegance.

“If we do nothing with it, if it just gets locked away, then we don’t get the opportunity to minimise the invasive vegetation. The management plan calls for a team of six — it covers an area that’s the same size as the Botanical Gardens.”

Ms Sherwood said she had sent her song and its lyrics to Nekorrah Raynor, organiser of the rally 8am to 2pm on Saturday at Southlands.

She said: “Written in 2002, My Open Spaces was featured on my first album, Never Tell Them Why, released in 2004 under my married name of Wallace.

This song was the most-played from that album — a favourite of [radio DJ] Shelly Thunder’s at the time.

“It lists just some of the many reasons why preserving open space in Bermuda is so important. One of the verses speaks to the importance of history, so is especially applicable to Southlands.

“My worklife has involved the preservation of open space in Bermuda. In the early 1980s I was the technical officer at Public Works charged with developing the Railway Trail, which opened in June 1984.

“As a general practice chartered surveyor working for Government at the time, I went on to negotiate the purchase on behalf of Government, of large parcels of Hog Bay Park, and in 2000 analysed a survey for planning of 2,500 responses about open space, population and housing.”

Ms Sherwood said about 95 per cent of respondents in that case indicated that they preferred not to see new developments on the island.