THERE’S BEEN A CALL to arms for the National Trust to step up and provide whatever expertise is necessary to save Roland Edwards’ house in Speightstown, St Peter.
It comes from the trust’s president, Peter Stevens, who says the entity should stand ready to provide volunteers or even structural engineers.
He has even suggested the trust could “plaque” the house of the man who composed the music for Barbados’ National Anthem since, despite its current state, it still fulfilled all the criteria of a building of architectural or historic interest.
Speaking in the wake of the civil matter last week which granted a one-month reprieve to the building that is slated for demolition, Stevens told Heather-Lynn’s Habitat he was glad to see an atmosphere of reasoning had settled in after what he called a rush to demolish the building.
But there was no time to become complacent, he warned.
“What we need to do is mobilise whatever forces we can and this should be a national effort. So the National Trust needs to step up to the plate and provide whatever assistance it can, through volunteers, expertise and structural engineers, etcetera, that we can send up and help in helping the court to come to the right decision in the end,” he said.
Some of the debris pulled from Roland Edwards’ house after the court last Friday ordered the property be cleaned.
Stevens noted there needed to be a highly visible national effort to save the home.
“So as long as people see there is national interest, then we have an opportunity. As long as people are complacent, then we will not win these arguments.”
He said the idea of putting a plaque on the house had been suggested by a member of the Sentinel Committee of the National Trust.
However, the organisation, which fights for the preservation of the island’s natural and built heritage, would need the permission of the owner to do so.
Stevens added that the building need not be “in pristine condition”.
Roland Edwards’ house, built in the 1800s, has been on the Ministry of Health’s list of derelict buildings to be demolished since 2003. It came within days of being torn down in 2008 when a last-minute injunction saved it from destruction.
The parties in the civil matter return to court on April 25.