Today it is mainly a fishing village, but apart from it scenic coastline there are numerous attractions to fascinate visitors.

Grand Riviere can boast of having the largest population of leatherback turtles in the country, and during the breeding season from April to July it is recorded that as many as 200 turtles come ashore nightly.

This spectacle event creates employment for villagers in the tour-guide and hotel industry.

It is also a place for birdwatchers and one of the few places to see the endemic pawi or piping– guan.

This large turkey-like bird from the chachalaca family is hunted to almost extinction, and the population has now decreased to around 200. High up in the treetops another distinguished bird, the channel-billed toucan, can be recognised by its large bill and high-pitched call that sounds like a yelping dog.

The river’s mouth with its calm, soothing waters is a favourite spot for river limes, and on weekends the place is buzzing with activity.

Secluded in the mountains, on the western outskirts of the town there are several magnificent waterfalls.

The first is called Homad Falls and to get there takes an hour on a wide-open path.

Further upstream, there are refreshing pools to swim in, and another cascade along the stony riverbed is Lacatang Falls, which has 20 feet, drop into a deep plunge pool.

Grand Rivière is a destination where there is always something adventurous to do, and there is the option to discover the beach, river and mountains.

Tomorrow Island Hikers explores Grand Rivière.

Assembly 1: 6am Eric Williams Medical Complex.

Assembly 2: 6.30am at the intersection of O’Meara Road and Churchill Roosevelt Highway, Arima.(next to F T Farfan) Rated: 4 moderate Finish time: 2pm Hiking time one-way: 1 hour Registration on the morning of the hike Maxi transport provided.

For more info: www.islandhikers.

com

Among the 25 players are eight players who were on the roster for the two previous World Cup qualifiers against United States and Costa Rica. Those players include Carlos Edwards, Curtis Gonzales,Hashim Arcia, Leston Paul, Marvin Phillip, Hughtun Hector, Nathan Lewis, Alvin Jones and Triston Hodge.

Forward Keron Clarke of TT Super League club FC Santa Rosa is a first timer while Carlyle Mitchell and Willis Plaza are also included. And there has been a recall for midfielder Keon Daniel who has not been in a national team selection since 2013, his last appearance coming in a 2013 Gold Cup quarter final clash with Mexico in Atlanta.

“We’ve invited 25 players to be part of the training squad and we’ll work with them from this coming Monday before finalising the team to travel to Ecuador.

We’ll get in a few days of preparation at home for the match,” Lawrence told TT FA Media.

“We have available to us some of the players who were involved for the two previous games against the US and Costa Rica and we’ve invited a few others to have a look at and see how they respond to what we are requiring of them,” Lawrence added.

TT will face Honduras in a 2018 World Cup Qualifier at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva from 8pm on Friday September 1 and will travel to Panama City to square off with Panama four days later in another qualifier for Russia 2018.

Provisional 25-man squad: Hashim Arcia (Defence Force), Sean De Silva (Central FC), Keron Clarke (FC Santa Rosa), Carlos Edwards (Central FC),Maurice Ford (W Connection) Isaiah Hudson (W Connection), Nathaniel Garcia (Central FC), Leston Paul (North East Stars) Curtis Gonzales (Defence Force), Hughtun Hector (W Connection),Triston Hodge (W Connection), Alvin Jones (W Connection),Nathan Lewis (San Juan Jabloteh), Jared London (Club Sando), Andre Marchan (Defence Force), Carlyle Mitchell (East Bengal FC), Willis Plaza (East Bengal FC),Taryk Sampson (Central FC), Shane Sandy (MIC IT St Ann’s Rangers),Jomal Williams (Murcielagos FC),Rundell Winchester (North East Stars), Tyrone Charles (Club Sando), Akeem Benjamin (San Juan Jabloteh), Marvin Phillip (Point Fortin Civic Centre) and Keon Daniel (unattached)

Davis summed up the business of The Bahamas over the last year with one word, hope.

She said the entire world now appears to be in turmoil, with us taking things and people for granted, losing respect for law and order, and losing the values which mould, guide and grow nations, because we want to get there fast, wherever there is, and we do not want to stop and take the time to develop our skills, personalities and potential for sustainability.

Davis then stated that with hope, all this can change.

She explained Hope as Helping Our People Evolve then said the “h” is for helping, in ways that do not necessarily rely on funding, but rather to renew a faith in themselves and in the world, and to regain hope. O – opportunities are available to everyone. We just need to figure out a way to encourage people to decide what they would like to do, and find a way to get it done. P – people, She said we need to tap into personal God-given and God-driven resources, and E – every day is a new beginning.

Expect something good to happen every day, and it will. She said: “We need to let people in difficult circumstances know this.

It is imperative for them to believe that nothing lasts forever.” Before toasting to TT Davis raised a toast to Bahamas’s new Prime Minister Dr Hubert Alexander Minnis who took office just two months ago.

In her own response, Jennifer Daniel, permanent secretary, Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs, first congratulated Davis, on her appointment as the new Dean of the Consular Corps and also congratulated Minnison his election.

Daniel then said TT endorses Minnis’ call for the region’s leaders to act together to harness the region’s tremendous mutual potential, while facing shared challenges.

“It is indeed very appropriate that this year’s independence celebrations shall be based on the theme Toward the Rising Sun: One CELEBRATES from page 4B God, One People, One Bahamas, for it poses a clear reminder that as a united front, all challenges can be faced and overcome.” She then affirmed TT ’s readiness to continue to pursue initiatives that will be of mutual benefit to the two countries, and reaffirmed the Govt’s commitment to strengthen the ties of friendship between our countries.

And even if she decides to stay home and write her memoirs there is no guarantee any of her aspiring successors could replicate her popularity within the UNC.

She is the only queen. There are no other females in the party with her charisma. Not a single one.

The males of the old brigade, all of them bar none, are past their sell-by date for various reasons.

The new young and upcoming UNC men with more than average IQ are stuck on the senatorial benches for the time being.

They could jump high, they could jump low. They could say this, they could say that. Until the queen gets around to deciding her next move in an interesting life, all who vex could stay vex.

With these few words I will remove myself from UNC people business. But in the long run, she may really have to go.

LYNETTE JOSEPH Diego Martin

The card was renewed this month for one year at the same $165 cost.

Based on my SE A-level of education in “sums,” this is effectively a 100 per cent increase.

Over to RBC and BATT regarding exorbitant increases in bank charges.

CK BOODOOSINGH Couva

He is seeking the public’s help in finding her.

At about 9.20 pm on Thursday, Ramsundar of Waterloo Road in Carapichaima went to Freeport Police Station and reported the woman missing.

According to the report, the worried husband said he last saw her at 4.25 pm on Thursday at their home in Carapichima.

He described her as being of East Indian descent, five feet six inches tall, slim built, of brown complexion with long black hair.

Anisha was last seen wearing a green polo shirt, a pair of three quarter pants and a pair of gold earrings.

The search is also continuing for Merlena James, a 13-yearold student of Holy Name Convent, Point Fortin.

James of Industry Road, La Brea went missing from her home last Saturday.

She is of African descent and relatives said she was last seen wearing a white sun dress and a pair of pink and gold sandals. She is five feet seven inches tall, thick built, dark brown in complexion with long black hair., Anyone with information on the whereabouts of these missing persons can call 800-TIPS or contact the police at 555, 999, 911 or any police station

Almost one year ago, I discovered that one no longer has access to basic information regarding one’s fixed-line accounts. For example, whereas one could have had full details on calls made — destinations, times made, durations etc — this is no longer so.

One cannot now monitor one’s usage of international or mobile calls via daily updates on the website.

With the change, whenever one clicks on TSTT ’s “View Bill” link now, one just gets scant basic information on one page with no real details, unlike the kind of material one would access online from the banks, TTE C etc.

Another sore point is that TSTT ’s online telephone directory has not been available on its website for several months as well. Upon enquiry more than two months ago, I was told that some of the relevant personnel within TSTT were not even aware that this service had failed.

Without access to the online directory, I dialled the TSTT directory enquiries operator around that time to get a particular telephone number. There was a strange sound at the other end and my calls were not being completed. I then called the international operator for help, only to be told that, while there was a problem with the directory enquiries service, she could not assist since she did not deal with local numbers.

I am left to wonder what kind of telephone service TSTT is providing to the public. I guess it has no idea still why it is losing so many customers.

VERNON A ALLICK Diego Martin

Their bodies were found at Mohammed’s home at Ajim Baksh Street, Malabar on June 28. The throats of the 13-year-old boy and the 56-year-old woman were slit and they were bound and gagged.

Videsh, who was a student of Ward’s Living Learning Institute, was awaiting results of the Secondary Entrance Examination which he wrote in May. Days after he was killed, it was revealed that he was assigned to the Arima North Secondary School.

Mohammed was the driver of a school bus and also a care giver who regularly had Videsh at her house whenever his parents were out working or running errands.

Several people were taken into custody including the 24-year-old man and a 54-year-old relative of Mohammed.

There was no word up to late yesterday on the status of Mohammed’s relative.

The Government has been in office for 21 months, which means the Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs, Senator Dennis Moses, has become familiar with the committee which falls under his ministry.

The TT NCR was established by Cabinet Minute 363 of February 6, 2014, following the Caricom Heads of Government Meeting in Port of Spain in July 2013, which unanimously supported a proposal tabled by the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, to engage the UK, France and Holland on the issue of reparations to the nations and peoples of the Caribbean for the crimes against humanity of native genocide, the transatlantic slave trade and a racialised system of chattel slavery.

The conference had agreed that each Caricom member State should establish a national committee on reparations.

The original TT NCR was a large one. It comprised myself as chairman, Sir Edwin Carrington (ambassador to Caricom), Khafra Kambon (Emancipation Support Committee), Ricardo Bharat Hernandez (Santa Rosa First Peoples Community), Clyde Noel (All Mansions of Rastafari), One Piankhi (Council of Orisha Elders of TT ), Avril Belfon (national archivist), Theresa Neblett-Skinner (Ministry of Education), Lucia Phillip (Nalis), Dr Heather Cateau (UWI), Dr Sharon Legall (UWI), Dr Anthony Birchwood (UWI), Andy Johnson (GISL), and a representative each of the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of the Attorney General, the Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism, and the UTT .

From the time of our inaugural meeting on April 15, 2014, the TT NCR worked assiduously.

We were pleased that during our tenure then prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar included the matter of reparations and reparatory justice in her address to the 69th Session of United Nations General Assembly on September 26, 2014. Persad-Bissessar said: “In a context of limited exports and a narrow resource base the focus is on nurturing and developing our human resources through an emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship.

It is an approach which focuses the full realisation of human right to development and a life of dignity.

“Consistent with this approach, the region continues to advance the global cause of truth, justice, and reconciliation, within the context of reparatory justice for the victims and the descendants of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

“As a region we are determined to engage in reparatory dialogue with the former slave-owning European nations in order to address the living legacies of these crimes.” Unfortunately, the present régime has not shown a similar concern.

On September 8, 2015, following the change in the Government, I wrote to the then Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs, regarding the status of the TT NCR.

I had to write several more letters before the new minister met with members of the TT NCR, one year later, on September 12, 2016.

I wrote to the minister again on January 18 to remind him of promises which he made and only on March 21, the current acting permanent secretary wrote that she had noted my previous letters and stated inter alia, “Your expression of interest in contributing in the area of reparations is noted and appreciated.

As the need arises, it is hoped that your support can be counted upon in the area of reparations.” I have heard nothing since.

Clearly that is not satisfactory.

Emancipation Day is approaching, the First Peoples will soon be having their one day, and we are now into the third year of the UN International Decade for People of African Descent. Respect must be given to the matter of reparations for native genocide and the transatlantic slave trade, which are recognised as crimes against humanity.

AIYEGORO OME Mt Lambert

The TTS L was founded on January 2017 and the member clubs appointed an interim Board of Directors to oversee its operations until an election could be called.

The interim Board of Directors includes Keith Look Loy (FC Santa Rosa) – interim president, Ryan Ottley (Defence Force Super League FC) – Interim vice-president, George Joseph (Bethel United FC) – interim board member and Quincy Jones (Siparia Spurs) – interim board member.

Candidates will be vying for the positions of president, vice-president and three ordinary board members and will be elected at the General Meeting. The Election shall be conducted in compliance with the TTS L By-Laws and the TTS L Electoral Committee.