FOR THOSE who were absent or unborn, efforts are being undertaken to recapture the moment of the birth of Barbados as a nation November 30, 1966 by the Garrison Consortium.
This is being done through the use of ground penetrating scanning equipment to find any remains of the foundation of the grandstand to locate the positioning of the flagpole.
Peter Stevens vice president of the Garrison Consortium, who is behind the project to recreate the physical layout of the parade square, said the group was trying to locate the precise spot where the Barbados flagpole was when it was raised on November 30, 1966.
“Unfortunately, there was no record of the parade layout for that ceremony, so we don’t have any hard information saying on this particular spot that’s where the flag was raised. We still have the original flag but we don’t have the location and there are very few photographs on that particular night and the period of time,” he said.
Stevens said the flagpole was positioned in a central perpendicular line from the grand stand, somewhere around 50 to 70 feet away.
“So once we can identify where the grandstand was we can pretty much guess where the pole was and using the same equipment we should be able to find the scar under the ground where the pole was located,” he said.
Stevens said the Barbados Defence Force and with those who provided the back hoe equipment were also involved in the project. (JS)