WHAT WAS once an overgrown plot of land in Husbands, St. James is being transformed into something beautiful that residents and passers-by can enjoy.
The brainchild of the St. James community council and residents of the area is being prepared by David Hall of David’s Landscape Creations, popularly known as Popsicle’s Plant Place. The landscaper says the community effort will see the space which has already been cleared, turned into a comfortable recreational space within a matter of months.
“It wasn’t an area that we would have felt proud about. My task was designing a recreational space that you could have the public come, sit down, enjoy, jog through and feel a wonderful part of knowing that they are incorporated with a lovely beautified oasis.”
“We know that we have a lot of people exercising along here and we wanted to be able to pull them into this space where they can sit and relax, read a book.”
As such there is a plan for a foot path through boulders, a rock garden, with low plants, drawing attention to the natural back wall.
Hall stressed that this is a team effort. As he gives freely of his time, people can still give contributions in the form of plants, materials and equipment. He revealed that those persons’ names will be placed on the natural wall face, in recognition of their assistance in bringing this project to a reality. Hall also commended the St. James Parish Ambassadors who rolled up their sleeves over the weekend to assist in the beautification project.
The landscaper said residents are already giving thumbs up for the project. “Some people are saying that is great, rather than having bush in the area and not feeling safe at night. Now we have our own recreational area. I think we are getting some good positive feedback from residents,”
“We have a clear understanding of what we are going to try to accomplish in this area. This is just a manner of stage by stage, going forward putting things in place.” While some delays are expected because of the weather, Hall prefers to look at the glass half full, since there would be no need to constantly water the plants.
“We wanted something different, hence why we designed it this way. We are even hoping to get those solar lights in place and that would give us a chance to incorporate technology, because we don’t want an ongoing bill of having to pay for some form of lighting. Once we have that solar lighting in place it is going to give us a sense of security as well.”
Saying he wishes to see these social spaces popping up across the island, he stressed that all Barbadians should feel proud enough to contribute to their community. “Eventually this will become contagious and the other parishes through Barbados will do what we did in St. James,” he predicted. (JH)