Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 21, 2017 (SKNIS): Restoration work on Charles Fort in Sandy Point and the Cotton Ginnery in Spooners is among two of the achievements of the St. Christopher National Trust (SCNT) in recent times.
Executive Director of the SCNT, Ryllis Percival, highlighted to members of the public on the government radio programme “Working For You” on April 19 that work on the Cotton Ginnery was significant and this forms a major part of the island’s heritage sites. “That was cleaned up to a point where persons can go and get a good view of the equipment, look at the surroundings, learn the history,” she said.
Miss Percival also listed work on Charles Fort in Sandy Point with the help of Parks and Beaches.
“We’ve just recently, along with the team from Parks and Beaches, cleaned up the Charles Fort in Sandy Point and that is one of our vested sites and eventually we have begun quiet discussions with UNESCO to make it also an attachment to Brimstone Hill as a World Heritage site,” she said.
However, Ms. Percival said that persons in St. Kitts limit the work of the SCNT only to managing the museum and are thus unaware of the extent of the work of the National Trust. The National Trust is working with the Ministries of Culture and Tourism in “branding” some of the heritage and tourism sites on the island, she disclosed. These include creating a foot trail at the Stone Fort petroglyphs with an exhibit area.
“It’s not about the built heritage but we also have the fauna, the flora, sea base heritage, protection of our coral reefs; those are really big things that we are looking at,” she explained. “People think that the National Trust just sits there and runs the museum, but we do a lot of work in protection and preservation of history of St. Kitts and Nevis.”
According to information from its website, the SCNT, formerly known as The St. Christopher Heritage Society (SCHS), is a national, non-governmental, voluntary organisation established in 2009 by an Act of the National Assembly.
Also affectionately known as the St. Kitts National Trust, its mission is to preserve and promote the natural, historical, ecological and cultural heritage of the island of St. Christopher (St. Kitts). Its objectives are to foster a deeper understanding of and appreciation for St. Christopher (St. Kitts); to promote the country’s heritage and to safeguard and preserve its natural environment; its traditions and customs; its music, visual and performing arts; its monuments, buildings and historic sites.
