Organisers of both the ICC Cricket World Cup and the Trelawny Homecoming 2007 Committee look over documents pertaining to the events, following The Gleaner's Editors' Forum, held at the Glistening Waters Restaurant in Falmouth, Trelawny, last Thursday. From left are Custos of Trelawny Royland Barrett, Mayor of Falmouth, Jonathan Bartley, Omar Simpson, manager of the Trelawny Branch of the Social Development Commission, and Mrs. Florence Logan, co-chair of the Trelawny Homecoming Committee. - Photo by Noel Thompson

Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

MARCH 11 may be the last day of Cricket World Cup for Trelawny, but the parish is already positioning itself for the next few decades.

Trelawny's stakeholders told a Gleaner Editors' Forum last week that while they are well positioned to benefit big time from the seven days of World Cup events planned for the parish, the future of Trelawny as a leisure destination is being given critical attention.

Trelawny as a sporting capital, a destination for history and nature tourism as well as art, craft and cuisine, are the several ways parishioners are branding Jamaica's fifth-largest parish.

Its capital, Falmouth, hosts the opening ceremony of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup on March 11 and stakeholders have said they hope that visitors leave the parish with the conviction that it is the place to visit while in Jamaica.

A new beginning

Janet Silvera of Brand Trelawny has said that Cricket World Cup will be the start of a new beginning for the parish. "We were the 18th-century commercial capital; we are now the 21st century sporting arena and we are going to ensure that everybody that comes into this parish understands that this parish is the parish of the future," Ms. Silvera said.

Once a buzzing Town, Falmouth was known for its sea coast and thriving town centre. It was the first town to receive piped water, thanks to the 18th-century water-wheel that was placed in the Martha Brae River. The wheel, which has been restored, remains in Falmouth.

Custos Royland Barrett has said that this, along with the numerous other historic monuments of Falmouth, will be used in marketing the parish as an ideal tourism destination.

"The staging of this event (CWC) will mark but the beginning of the rebirth of the town of Falmouth and the parish of Trelawny," he told The Sunday Gleaner.

According to the custos, developers have been enquiring about lands on the waterfront - a sign that cruise ships will soon begin to dock in what was once the busiest port in the Caribbean. But while the arrival of the cruse ship is anticipated in some quarters, the Custos says he fears that the ordinary man may lose out in the business rush.

"This is why this is our best opportunity. We are going to be training people to take advantage of the development that is going to take place ... If it is craft, we will be producing above-average items," Barrett later told The Sunday Gleaner.

A vision for Falmouth

Dr. Patrick Harris, Member of Parliament for North Trelawny, the constituency in which the immaculate Trelawny multi-purpose stadium is located, has articulated a vision for Falmouth, which he says is universal to the parish which they expect to be booming from tourism-related development.

He said that within the next few decades, Watersquare in Falmouth will be closed off to vehicular traffic and the roadways repaved with cobble.

"World Cup Cricket is one event. It is the major event in our lifetime in this area, but we are seeking to maximise the effect of the community in this period of time and to go on into another 20-25 years of sustained development," Dr. Harris said.