Barbados’ centenarians are up for national recognition via a special Centennial Wall in their honour.
The wall forms part of a Ministry of Transport and Works, Future Centre Trust and Barbados Museum & Historical Society project to preserve the memory of the centenarians as well as of the more than 100-year-old silk-cotton tree, which was felled as part of the Warrens Traffic Safety Improvement Project in the area.
“It is generally known that our environment often comes into conflict with infrastructural development; but while some might refer to the loss of some of our natural environment as the price of progress, we have a responsibility to ensure that, as much as possible, this conflict is managed so that the natural environment is left as we encountered it or enhanced.
“The infrastructural changes to this section of the Jackson area . . . necessitated the removal of a huge silk-cotton tree of some renown, which was more than 174 years of age. The silk-cotton tree was located obliquely opposite the even more famous baobab tree from which the nearby building derived its name of the Baobab Towers,” said Minister of Works John Boyce, adding that it had come down to deciding which tree had to be cut down. (CA)
