Keeping living standards high in Highgate

A MOVEMENT which started out with Jamaicans reminiscing one evening in Florida, United States, is now bearing fruit in Highgate, St Mary, where the group is making a positive change in the lives of residents and the town.

Seymour Hutchinson, president of the local chapter, says the United Friends of Highgate was started by Jamaicans living in Florida who had either attended school there, lived in the town or in some other way had links to Highgate years ago. Describing the pioneer group as people who are "fairly successful in what they are doing", he says they are united by their love of the town and want to "see what we can do to help Highgate".

However, being in Florida, the group needed to have people on the ground in Highgate to guide and coordinate its efforts from abroad and so was born the local chapter known as the United Friends of Highgate, Ground Zero.

"In the past, Highgate was one of the towns where people could live, move, play and enjoy a good standard of living. So now our mandate is to see to the spiritual, educational, cultural and social norms of the town, how we can bring back Highgate to what it was before," Hutchinson told The Gleaner.