The finishing touches have been done and all is ready for today’s state funeral of Barbados’ longest serving Prime Minister, Professor Owen Seymour Arthur.
Yesterday, Minister of Labour and St Peter Member of Parliament Colin Jordan, overseeing Arthur’s final arrangements, revealed that with two dress rehearsals and contingencies in the event of rain, all was set to give Arthur the send-off befitting a man of his stature.
“We did two rehearsals; we did one on Sunday and that went very well. That rehearsal took in movement in Speightstown, we went into the church and rehearsed much of what would happen in the church, including the various entrances and those performing. On Tuesday, we had another rehearsal and, in that rehearsal, almost everything that needed to be tweaked was tweaked at the time,” said Jordan.
“If it rains before we get to Speightstown, then the gun carriage will not be used, but instead continue with the hearse. If the rain starts to fall after [the initial transfer to the gun carriage], then there is provision for the troops to move to the side and allow the hearse to move through so that the casket could be transferred from the gun carriage into the back of the hearse,” he added. (CLM)
Subscribe now to our eNATION edition for the full story.
For the latest stories and breaking news updates download the Nationnews apps for iOS and Android.
