Kitch to be exhumed?

The body of calypso icon, the late Aldwin “Lord Kitchener” Roberts, might be exhumed from his grave in the Santa Rosa RC Church cemetery at Arima.

That’s the word from his common-law widow Val Green, speaking to Sunday Newsday on Friday. She said that exhumation may be the only way for her to get to erect a memorial monument to the Grandmaster. Green explained that uncertainty over the ownership and the allocation of the burial plot holding Kitch has so far prevented her from obtaining permission to erect a permanent tombstone to him. She recalled that when Kitch died three years ago, the plot had been assigned to bury him by the then parish priest who has since left Trinidad and Tobago.  Former parish priest, Fr Leo Donovan, is now reportedly in Ireland.

Green said: “The plot belongs to the St Vincent de Paul organisation, which now is seeking another spot from the Santa Rosa Church in exchange. But now there is a problem. We have been asked whether the plot was given to us ‘legally’ or just by word of mouth. What arrangement was made? We have been told that until we find out that, we can only put up a temporary memorial. We said no! “If we cannot get the spot where Kitch is buried, we will exhume him and bury him in Tacarigua. Mr Belgrove told us he is getting his own cemetery. So far we are getting a runaround to find out anything. Meanwhile people are calling me on the phone and quarelling with me, that the grave is in a mess. The Lord Kitchener Memorial Committee decided to let the newspapers and the public know what’s going on. We already have the headstone and the money to do the tombstone, but are getting a runaround, so we might just exhume the body.” Green said: “We had wanted to install the memorial for the April 18 which is Kitch’s 80th birthday, or even for Glorious Sunday or Easter, but now this seems very  unlikely.”

She said that Keith Belgrove (of Cemetery Management Company) is helping her to settle the issue by having met the RC Church and St Vincent de Paul. Contacted yesterday, Belgrove confirmed: “I feel this matter should be resolved.” He confirmed that he is currently applying to establish a cemetery in Tacarigua, although acknowledging that this could be a lengthy procedure. Green said: “The design of the tomb has already been done by Mr Belgrove and the headstone has been engraved and is just sittting at Belgrove’s in South.” Belgrove noted that the tombstone would take just two days to install.