All falling into place for Hanover 300 celebrations
Published:Thursday | November 9, 2023 | 12:06 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
With a list of activities slated to take place in Hanover, starting next Sunday and continuing until November 12 next year, the Hanover 300 planning committee is reporting that all their plans seem to be falling into place nicely. It’s therefore all systems go for the grand celebration of 300 years since Hanover was declared a parish in Jamaica.
History books will reveal that, in November of 1723, the then Jamaican House of Assembly passed laws to recognise a demarcated section of Westmoreland as the parish of Hanover.
Hanover shares borders with Westmoreland in the south, St James in the east and north east, and is bounded by the Caribbean Sea to its north and west. Known as the second smallest parish in the country, only surpassing Kingston in its size, Hanover is approximately 177 square miles or 458.43 square kilometres in area.
A special anniversary committee has been established within Hanover since December of 2022, which has been meeting regularly to plan the 300 anniversary activities, with the committee under the joint chairmanship of Justice of the Peace, Reverend Glenroy Clarke, and Deputy Mayor of Lucea, Andria Dehaney-Grant.
“The committee is made up of a wide cross-section of persons from across the parish, drawn from the business, professional and political sectors among others,” Dehaney-Grant told The Gleaner during an interview.
She listed the planned events as starting with an ecumenical service on November 12 at 3:00 p.m. at the Lucea Anglican Church, with a celebratory social get-together taking place at the historic Fort Charlotte, in Lucea, the parish capital, immediately after the church service. She noted that the guest speaker at the service will be the Reverend Dr Burchell Taylor, a noted son of the town of Sandy Bay in Hanover.
“Several noted political and community persons are expected to attend the church service, inclusive of the prime minister, the governor general among other government ministers and political leaders,” she pointed out.
Other events listed to take place between November 12, 2023 and November 12, 2024 include Hanover Lucea Night Out on December 20th 2023; a Hanover 300 Walk/Run 5K on January 19, 2024; A Hanover 300 Banquet and awards ceremony on March 30th 2024; Hanover 300 Homecoming celebrations from August 1st to 6th 2024; among others, such as a business and economic symposium, school competitions, community clean-up events and community sporting events.
Co-chair of the planning committee, Reverend Clarke told The Gleaner that a number of agencies have been on board with the planning and implementation of the events, inclusive of the Hanover office of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), also the Social Development Commission (SDC) in the parish.
“The celebratory events will continue into 2024, when we will end with the Hanover Day celebrations on November 12th 2024,” he stated.
“So far the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) is our main sponsor for the first event, and we are grateful for the corporation’s support, and we note that going forward we are expecting many more supporting sponsors for the other events,” he stated.
The Gleaner has been informed that the Hanover 300 planning committee has established a secretariat within the HMC offices in the Sir Alexander Bustamante Square, Lucea, and anyone wishing to contact them can do so at that location.