The Sentinel
The Willie Redhead Foundation (tWRF) sends New Year Greetings to Mr Strachan and to say how delighted it was to read your article in the New Today of 15 January 2016, captioned “How approachable is the Willie Redhead Foundation?”
The short answer to your query is: the WRF is very approachable, as the (local) evidence over the past 21 years have shown; but your point is well taken, that the Foundation’s international reach to the Grenadian diaspora is not at the level that it should be in seeking assistance for the protection and preservation of our built heritage, the most valuable patrimony of our national assets.
At the launch of the Foundation in November 1994, the naysayers were predicting our early demise, but as we persisted in bringing to the fore the need to first understand and appreciate our history, our heritage and our patrimony, the latent consciousness of our evolving national and eventually our Caribbean identity were aroused as the bedrock necessary for nation building.
The great disappointment however is in the deliverables of our post independent political “leaders”, who by their action appear to be more concerned with party political power than with the advancement of their people, so as to be able to better cope with the vicissitudes and challenges of the 21st century in achieving prosperity for all.
The Foundation has not had any engagement with the UK Grenadian diaspora, as none of our members have any contact with relatives or personal friends in the United Kingdom. Your expressed interest in our work and your knowledge and commitment for the preservation and protection of our cultural heritage, have however opened the door, so to speak — and we would like to kindly solicit your assistance in working with us as our UK point person in implementing your suggestions and high level contacts which your mentioned in your article.
The constituency of the Foundation embraces all of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, and is not for a select few, as dictated by our common natural and cultural heritage, in this regard we invite you to visit our website at willieredheadfoundation.org, and you would be get a comprehensive overview of the Foundation’s work over the past 20 years.
In order to bridge the communication gap we would greatly appreciate if you would make direct contact with us by email (norrism1234@yahoo.com) at your earliest convenience. We sincerely look forward to working with you for the advancement of our native land.