THE Barbados Turf Club (BTC) and Wanderers Cricket Club, two of the island’s oldest sporting institutions, were among the hardest hit by Tropical Storm Tomas when it swept across Barbados in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The BTC, established in 1905, suffered extensive damage to most of its buildings, surroundings and infrastructure with the repair bill expected to top $1 million.
Less than a mile away, Wanderers, established in 1877 and the oldest cricket club in Barbados, lost the entire roof of its Denis & Eric Atkinson Pavilion, half of it ending up in Dayrells Road, blocking cars from passing and bringing down power lines.
The club moved to its current location in 1953. Rosette Peirce, the CEO of the BTC, was brought to tears when she visited the Garrison Savannah yesterday morning around 10 a.m.
She outlined the major damage that the institution had suffered.
“The roof to the Grandstand is completely gone. We lost the partial side to the roof of the field stand,” she said. “The glass to the Members’ Lounge was also shattered so the water and the wind was able to get in and there is massive destruction in that area.”
Peirce said that much of the BTC’s offices was destroyed as well.
“With the loss of the roof to the Grandstand, there was also major damage to both administrative offices which lie directly underneath. What happened there is that the water was able to leak through and the tentest roof wasn’t able to sustain that kind of pressure. so we’ve lost both ceilings in those areas. So there’s quite a bit of damage to files and documents and computer equipment.”
All around the Garrison historic area was littered with fallen trees, many on the compound of the BTC.
“We lost what was known as the ‘jockey’ liming tree, over by the saddling enclosure directly in front of the corporate boxes,” Peirce added. “That was a massive tree and it was completely uprooted.”
“On the opposite side of the street where we house the Gordon Lewis Paddock, there was another massive tree that was uprooted there and that fell in front of some of the stables.”
Peirce revealed that none of the horses housed at the Garrison was harmed during the storm conditions.
“The trainers were down very early this morning taking care of the animals and relocating those who needed to be. We haven’t lost any of the animals and [there are] no injuries.”
The next race day is scheduled for November 14, but that is unlikely given the extent of the ruin.
“We are having an emergency meeting [this] morning with the directors and after assessing the full extent of the damage, I guess we’ll have to decide where we’re going to go because the devastation at the Garrison really is not minor,” Peirce added.