Photo-Meeting-Oct-2011

 

 

 

Please help us to keep Winnifred Beach a FREE public beach and prevent non-sustainable development that will prevent Jamaicans and visitors from using the beach by signing our petition
and supporting us as much as you can.
Please follow the link below. Thank you.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/wbp/

 

Turtles

16 September 2012
Last Sunday there was a special event at Winnifred Beach
130 new born turtles were running free and undisturbed to the sea
It means that our attempt to protect them it is working.
Welcome to the little ones and please remember
that they need to be protected by everybody!

 

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Winnifred Beach is one of the last remaining FREE public beaches in Jamaica.
The beach is well known and has been used for generations by the immediate local community as well as by Jamaican citizens and  international tourists who come there to spend a leisurely day at sea.

Families, seniors, church's groups and tourists visit the beach regularly especially as a result of  having free entry and also for the authentic, pleasant and colourful atmosphere around.

Some residents have planted small stalls for the sale of corn, hot soups and other  Jamaican well-known dishes. During holidays there is music and activities on the beach.
It is a vital gathering place for socializing and refreshment for all Jamaicans and is also the beach preferred by many tourists because of its unique features.

Four years ago we started to set a trial against UDC after finding that in the National Beaches Act is stated the if a beach is public without any interruption for 20 years it cannot be made private.

Using this law we collected 12 statements from senior people living in the area which testify their  regular presence on the beach.

We need to raise some funds in order to pay the two lawyers and to improve the water system at the beach Plus we are planning to improve the road to the beach which at the moment is quite dreadful.

If you want donate some funds this si our bank account:

Winnifred Defense Fund at Scotia Bank
Port Antonio Branch
account N°807657
Routing from Europe NOSCJMKNA
USA CHASUS33
Swift code 021-000-021
Transit 70235

Any small contribution is going to be a blessing and I'll keep you updated on what's happening

Winnifred is a place we all love ,so let's fight for its freedom.

One love
Maria Carla Gullotta 

WINIFRED-Beach


WINNIFRED UPDATE ( 24 October 2007)

Dear Friends

to the all of you support WInnifred Beach, first of all a big thanks for your help and for all the strength we got from you and from your messages. c We got plenty from all over the world so we do not fee lonely in such a struggle

But probably most of you are looking for some updates.

Winnifred case went to Buff Bay Courthouse in July and the case has been set for trial on November 19 in the same Courthouse.

Also Nepa has filed its statement to the Court .

We solictated NEPA for more than a year but until we decided to do without their  help we did not get any support Now, something must have happened to convince them to follow us, but honestly we prefer to be in court by ourselves to avoid any further delay.

 The issue presented is court mention prescriptive rights,which means that, according of the National Beache Act, if a beach has been public for 20 years without any interruption, the same beach cannot be made private.

In the meantime we are still looking at the way how the beach has been sold and we hope  to have some more reasons to counteract UDC.

We also wrote a petition to the new Prime Minister, Mr Golding, hoping to get some attention and we have included the petition with all your signatures.

In the meantime we try to keep the beach going at our best Luckily we got very small damages by hurricane Dean and so the beach looks lovely same as before

Actually we are trying to improve the road to the beach and the water system so that visitors can use bathroom facilities and even have a shower.

We, the Winnifred people, thanks again one more time all the friends we have found in this adventure and we will let

WINNIFRED UPDATE ( 04 October 2011)

The Committee of Winnifred Beach  Benevolent Society would like to express their thoughts in reference to the article published on the Sunday's Observer about the dispute between UDC and our association.
(click here for the article)

Dear Sirs

We, the Free Winifred Benevolent Society, were disturbed by the article we read in the Sunday Observer (October 2nd) concerning the negotiations between the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and our Society. Mediation is still ongoing and both UDC and the Society signed a confidentiality agreement which requires us not to disclose the terms proposed during negotiation until a final settlement has been reached. We consider the article quoting Mrs Joy Douglas, Executive Director of the UDC, to be in violation of that confidentiality agreement.

As we still regard ourselves as constrained by this agreement, we will not respond to specific comments raised by Mrs Douglas relating to terms proposed during mediation. We do, however, wish to respond to what we see as an attack on the efforts of the community to ensure that the public will always have the right to access Winnifred Beach WITHOUT CHARGE.

Mrs Douglas questioned the motives of the Society.  Our only motive is to ensure that Winnifred Beach is a place where rich and poor alike can enjoy one of Jamaica's most beautiful natural assets free of cost and where we would love to promote sustainable tourism and environmentally friendly development.

Winnifred Beach has been traditionally used by the community, visitors and Jamaicans for over 50 years.  It was originally owned by Frederick Barnet Brown, a Baptist missionary. By his will dated May 14, 1918, Mr. Brown established The Winnifred Rest Home trust. In his will Mr. Brown bequeathed ownership of the beach and surrounding land to his wife, Annie Brown, for the remainder of her life and on her death the property together with houses, furniture, fixtures, live and dead stock would be converted into and called “The Winnifred Rest Home”. According to clause 17 of the will, the purpose of the trust was to:-  “be used and kept up and maintained for the purpose of a Rest Home for Missionary Workers, Teachers and respectable poor persons, where they can come for a limited time to rest, such time to be in each case decided on by the Board of Trustees of the “The Winnifred Rest Home”.

The beach and most of the surrounding land were sold to UDC in the 1970s. In the firm belief that Jamaicans need accessible community spaces, the community has over the years trained lifeguards, vendors on proper environmental management and maintenance of the beach and has also implemented garbage disposal and plastic recycling initiatives on the beach without assistance from UDC.  These efforts are to ensure that Winnifred Beach is a clean, safe place for everybody to enjoy for free.  As a result, Winnifred Beach is one of the few free public beaches left in Portland and remains a source of livelihood for members of the community.

Yours sincerely,

Carla Gullotta, Chairman
Free Winnifred Benevolent Society

committee@free-winnifred.com

 

WINNIFRED UPDATE ( 5 April 2009)

Dear Friends and Supporters of the Free-Winnifred Beach Society,   finally Winnifred is a formal benevolent society.

We are now a formal entity able to represent itself and its instances and we continue to be grateful for your support and concern.

The efforts continue to keep beautiful Winnifred Beach as a public beach. In order to apply to the courts and to be recognized as a formal entity a Free-Winnifred Beach Benevolent Society has been formed and is structured to include a Chairperson, Treasurer, Secretary and various committees including Audit, Fundraising and Projects, Environmental and Discipline.


The Society is comprised of members of the beach vendors, the surrounding community, and representatives in the Portland area from health, business and service communities.

 
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