TMC says no to removing Falmouth’s fountain

Western Bureau:

The Trelawny Municipal Corporation (TMC) has rejected a recommendation by Deputy Prime Minister Dr Horace Chang for the removal of the fountain in Water Square, Falmouth, where a statue is to be mounted to immortalise track and field icon Usain Bolt in the parish of his birth. Speaking against the background of poor maintenance of fountains across the island, which is undermining the aesthetics of many towns, Chang had called for the removal of the fountain in Falmouth. “No fountain in Jamaica is properly maintained. They have, in the main, been receptacles for garbage and bathrooms for people of unsound mind,” said Chang, in calling for the removal of the fountain. At Thursday’s monthly meeting of the TMC, Falmouth Mayor Colin Gager said the fountain, which has been an integral part of the landscape of the Georgian town dating back more than 100 years, will remain that way. “The fountain will not be removed. It will be modernised to fit into the Georgian architecture of the town, but not removed,” declared Gager, who thinks the fountain fits perfectly into the town’s 1996 designation as a national monument. Like the mayor and other stakeholders who have been batting for the fountain to stay in place and intact, Trelawny Custos Paul Muschett thinks it would be a big mistake to remove the fountain based on its historical significance to the town.

‘Too much history’

“There is too much relevant history surrounding the fountain. It should be refurbished and the replica of the waterwheel (which was part of the original fountain) be once again placed at the top,” said Muschett.

“They can adjust the recent landscaping to install the statue rather than destroy the town’s history with the removal of the fountain.” The custos is also recommending that storyboard be erected in proximity to the fountain, detailing its colourful history dating back to when the reservoir, which made way for the fountain, got its water directly from the Martha Brae River, another of the parish’s attraction. Last week, businessman Dennis Seivwright, a former president of the Trelawny Chamber of Commerce, made it clear that he is totally against any initiative which will involve removing the fountain. “I am totally opposed to that (removing the fountain). I want to see both monuments (the fountain and the Bolt statue),” said Seivwright. “That fountain is a part of our heritage and should stay right where it is.”