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[ Home ] [ Grand Opening Photos ] [ The Resource Centre ]
The Biodiversity
Resource Centre Opens!
April 22nd, 2009
On April 22nd, 2009 (International
Earth Day), The Nevis Historical & Conservation Society (NHCS) was pleased to
hold the Grand Opening of The Joan Robinson Biodiversity & Oral History Resource
Centre. The ceremony was held at the NHCS's BelleVue Facility which houses the
two new labs.
| Ms. Clara Walters,
NHCS President was the chairwoman for the ceremony and introduced the various guests
who helped make this special occasion possible.
John Guilbert, NHCS Executive Director gave the keynote address,
in which he dedicated the Resource Centre in memory of Mrs. Joan
Robinson, co-founder of the NHCS almost 30 years, who passed away
last year. A further dedication was made in memory of Sixth Form
Teacher, Mrs. Maureen Adams, who was instrumental in getting
local students involved in both projects, who unfortunately passed away
a week before the opening of the labs.
Mr. Danial Carruthers, 2nd Secretary to
the British High Commissioner, flew over to Nevis from Barbados to reiterate
his offices commitment to the Biodiversity Project and especially its goal of
providing technical training and skills transfer to local students; He also
pledged their continued support of the project in the future.
Video of these comments can be viewed on line at
http://www.youtube.com/user/NevisHistorical |
The dedication Plaque for the New Resource Centre
(click to enlarge) |
Mr. Halstead Byron, former member of the St.Kitts & Nevis National
Commission for UNESCO, represented that organization at the ceremony and
explained how and why the NHCS was awarded such a generous grant ($20,000 US) in
support of the Oral History Project.
Unfortunately a representative from the Canadian High Commission (Barbados),
who are the chief sponsor of the Biodiversity Project could not make it in time
to Nevis for the ceremony, who they send some remarks to the NHCS's Senior
technical Officer (and Canadian) Mr. Paul Diamond to read out on their
behalf.
Video of these comments can be viewed on line at
http://www.youtube.com/user/NevisHistorical
Representing the Nevis Island Administration was Deputy Premier, The Hon.
Hensley Daniel.
His speech praised the NHCS for providing this unique opportunity for local
students to learn high tech, high demand job skills, while also preserving both
the natural environment of Nevis and its cultural heritage.
He also pledged to increase the governments support for the NHCS's programmes in
the future, but "removing boulders and road blocks that might block your
way".
A pledge that we will certainly be following up on in the coming months.
The ceremony ended with a vote of thanks by two 6th Form students, Mr. Romel
Gaskin, on behalf of the Biodiversity Project, and Miss. Roann Eusebe
on behalf of the Oral History Project.
After the ceremony, a tour of the labs was organized, with students assigned to
give demonstrations of how the various pieces of equipment worked, in addition,
an area of the museum was setup as a "video interview area" where
students/interns were going to conduct interviews with the attendees, as part of
the Oral History Project.
Unfortunately, just as the tour and demonstrations were beginning, the power
went off due to a large truck downing the electrical lines outside of the museum, which left the labs in pitch
darkness.
Some video interviews where however conducted by students outside in the bright
sunshine.
The New Resource Centre is actually composed of two separate lab areas,
one dedicated to The Nevis Biodiversity Project and the other to
The Nevis Oral
History & Verbal Patrimony Project.
The Oral History Lab was funded by UNESCO, and contains state of
the art video recording, editing and production equipment, as well as equipment
to digitize old photos, slides, audio tapes and film stock.
Using this equipment, the computers and specialized software, NHCS
student/interns will be trained on many aspects of video production, editing and
related technical skills.
It is the goal of the Oral History Project to have students interview the oldest
members of our island, to learn about what life on Nevis was like in the
early-mid 20th century, and preserve these memories and observations for
posterity in the Nevis Archives. Production of companion DVD's and books for
the project are also under consideration.
The Biodiversity Lab's extensive high-tech equipment was funded by the
Canadian High Commission (Barbados) through the Canada Fund for Local
Initiatives, with additional funding specifically for student training being
provided by the British High Commission (Barbados), The Strabon
Project (French Embassy, St. Lucia) and The Nevis Peak Project
Initiative.
The Biodiversity Lab is now equipped with several brand new laptops, digital
microscopes, GPS units and GIS software, water testing kits, underwater cameras,
bird watching cameras, herbarium supplies and much, much more.
The Canada Fund also paid for a portable P.A. system and digital projector,
which will allow student/interns to give community lectures and presentations on
the work they are doing on behalf of both projects.
Now that both labs have been built and equipped, student training has already
commenced, with special emphasis on GPS/GIS training, as well as website design
and maintenance (for both projects), video production, interviewing skills,
still photography, and desktop publishing.
A
Complete Gallery of Photographs of the Ceremony can be found by clicking here.
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