The recently held ‘Families at Play’ event which was hosted by the Virgin Islands Recreation Trust at the A.O. Shirley Grounds and the Multi-Purpose Sports Complex was deemed a success after attracting nearly 500 patrons throughout the day.
This is according to Director of the Recreation Trust Eustace ‘Boss’ Freeman who made the disclosure during a recent interview with 284News.
The family themed event was held on Monday October 18 – Heroes’ and Forefathers’ Day holiday and commenced from 9am to 6pm with lots of activities on the card throughout the day.
Director Freeman spoke on some of these activities and to the success of the event.
“Definitely we had somewhere close to 500 people out during that event. We had lots of activities so we had activities that happened in the center of the A.O. Shirley Ground which included some football action, the waterslide, different games – Bouncy Castle and so forth – and inside the Multi-Purpose Sports Complex we had netball, we had some badminton and basketball going on inside, so people were engaged throughout for all ages. So it was a wonderful day in my opinion and we look forward to doing something again really soon again in the near future,” he explained.
Plans to have one event each month
Freeman also revealed some of the plans by the Recreation Trust to hold more similar events on a monthly basis and also on the sister islands.
He said the intention is to ensure the Trust activities also reach those persons on the sister islands so that no one feels left out.
“Definitely you can look out for some other events coming up but to speak directly towards this type of event, our goal is to have one of these events every month, at least one time throughout the month, not at a set location but to move from different venues. Even going over to the sister islands and make sure that they are able to commute just like everybody else,” he stated.
Event held to raise funds for the Trust
Director Freeman also explained the purpose behind the Trust hosting the event, stating that it was held to raise funds for operational needs and also provide an avenue where residents could become more physically active.
He said every cent collected will go towards maintaining the 26 facilities of the Trust which are located across the territory.
“The Recreation Trust decided that we are going to embark on an initiative to raise funds throughout the territory and in doing so bringing sports together with just regular daily recreational activities. So we came up with the fun day to bring families together while having fun and at the same time promote a healthy active lifestyle. So that is the whole basis behind the activities this past holiday,” Freeman stated.
He added, “The event was in effort to raise funds so that we could properly maintain our 26 facilities throughout the BVI and as you could imagine it would take finances to make sure that we keep the upkeep the way the general public would want it. The event took some time to set up, as you mentioned you saw us out there for couple days, but it was a one-day event, from 9am to 6pm that evening. So we basically got out there early and we engaged in the community, everybody came out and had a good time.”