No more carat shed meetings

The Bunsee Trace, Penal Community.
The Bunsee Trace, Penal Community.

After 13 years of holding meetings in carat sheds and lobbying for a community centre, president of the Bunsee Trace Village Council Errol Vialva described the opening of a state-of-the-art facility in his community Tuesday as a dream come true.

On Tuesday, Culture Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly officially opened the centre, which boasts an auditorium, a computer room and other facilities, in Bunsee Trace. Penal.

Dressed in a full suit with a tie for the opening ceremony Vialva beamed with pride as he recounted cutting down trees in the nearby forests in 2008 to build a shed for council meetings.

“When we started the council in 2003, we had a little carat shed across from this building and it used to leak and whatever but we made it work,” he said.

“That break down completely in 2008 and I went in the forest myself, cut wood, tote it back here on a bison, dig hole and build back a shed myself.”

He said in 2010 construction began on the Bunsee Trace Community Centre. “They finished it up sometime in late 2013, almost into 2014 but it was never opened.”

He said despite his efforts, the council was never able to have the centre opened for the community’s use.

“We have all kind of classes for young and old people, a little bit of everything and for something like this to be opened in Bunsee Trace, in such a rural area, it is really something special to us.”

Gadsby-Dolly admitted that she did not know the cost of the facility, saying it had been built under the People’s Partnership administration. “We had a lot of paperwork to sort out in regards to this facility but the community has been crying out to be able to use it,” she said. She urged the community to take proper care of the facility and said a separate council would be appointed with residents to oversee the maintenance and rentals of the centre.

“This is also an opportunity for revenue as this centre can be rented out for weddings and other events.

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"No more carat shed meetings"

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