By Trudy Simpson, Staff Reporter 
The Nexus Performing Arts Group, comprising members of the University of the West Indies and St. Catherine High School, performing a medley of folk songs to commemorate National Heroes Day. Their performance followed a ceremony to honour Jamaica's seven National Heroes at National Heroes Park in Kingston yesterday. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
FORMER MINISTER of Local Government, Arnold Bertram did not show up, but that did not stop scores of Jamaicans from having a good time at a National Heroes Day ceremony, 'A tribute to our National Heroes'.
The National Heroes Park in Kingston came alive as scores of Jamaicans sought to learn about their heroes and to take advantage of one of the few dry afternoons that the island has seen in weeks.
They were given a feast of music and history by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), which organised the event.
The lyrics of Land of My Birth and other national and traditional music floated through the air, presented by young Jamaican talent.
The highlights, however, began with school children reading citations about the lives of Jamaica's seven National Heroes, while representatives from the trade union movement, women's groups, the army, local government and the church laid floral tributes on the tombs of the heroes.
The Most Rev. Weeville Gordon represented Governor-General, Sir Howard Cooke, and led the way by putting his tribute on the tomb of Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Mayor of Kingston, Marie Atkins, laid a tribute to George William Gordon; Chief of Staff of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), Major-General (Rear Admiral) Hardley Lewin did Norman Washington Manley; that of Nanny of the Maroons was done by Dr. Glenda Simms, executive director of the Bureau of Women's Affairs; that of Samuel Sharpe was done by Rev. Karl Johnson, general secretary of the Jamaica Baptist Union; and Dwight Nelson, vice-president of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions and the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) paid a tribute to Sir Alexander Bustamante, who founded the BITU.
"I learned about the heroes and what they did to free Jamaica from slavery and the date on which they were born and when they died and how they died," said 13-year-old St. George's College student, Deano Robotham.
With him was his grandmother, Joyce Burgess, who shepherded her other 11 grandchildren through the Park. "I just decided today to take them here for them to witness what is taking place here. They are living in the country and they are school children and they should know a little about them," she said.
In the background, little bodies chased each other around, running from one giant cut-stone encasement to another, reading the epitaphs to find out which one bore the remains of each National Hero or former Jamaican Prime Minister.
