It was quite by coincidence that we ended up in Kent Village for Independence Day 2015, since that Village is somewhat synonymous with Jamaican Independence. This is because that is where the singer Eric Donaldson who is famous for winning festival songs, hails from.
Donaldson first made his name with the monster hit winner "Cherry Oh Baby" and in other festival competitions followed up other hits such as "This is the Land of My Birth". In fact, he won four festival song competitions and when I asked two ladies in a shop at Kent Village why he no longer entered the festival song competition, they told me JCDC stopped him as he was winning too often. One then added "Festival nuh nice since im stap enter". I think I concur with that sentiment.
When Donaldson became famous, he named his commercial building in his home town Cherry Oh Baby and still resides there, I am told.
Sheriff arranged this ride apparently for sentimental reasons as on her first ride with us she had "discovered" there as a cable car spanning the Rio Cobre River right there.
At the time we had stopped there to buy snacks and on seeing the cable car, Heather, one of our founding members, had jumped on it and got a ride over the river.
Sheriff returned to the area a few weeks ago and arranged for breakfast to be cooked on the property on the other side of the river. This meant finding a good cook and introducing herself to the owners, two brothers surnamed Rutty. They operate the farm across the river and the property has many huge hundred year old trees that provide great comfort for picnickers.
On an exploratory trip with the Sheriff the Sunday before Independence, I learnt that the Ruttys operated a 152 acre orange farm right there and the back of their farm joins the train line. It is above the train line that the new highway from Inswood to Linstead is being built and we saw obvious signs of the construction on the hillside to the south. All the material the Rutty's needed to build their home and set up the farm was brought in by rail years ago.
However to get over to Kent Village required them having to cross the river, so according to one brother, they had to use a bamboo raft when the river got swollen. Soon when they started to sell oranges to higglers, because of the huge rocks in the river they had to come up with a better strategy to transport the goods, so some 25 years ago they set up the cable car.
Richie who is the operator told me he has been operating the cable car for 15 years and made a good living transporting higglers but now that a disease had devastated the orange grove, his income has dwindled to almost nothing.
He was therefore very happy to have Sheriff sweeten up his holiday with the 40 odd adventurers who rode and walked to the area on independence day.
Everyone had a ball and Alrick re-lived his childhood and got a learner's permit to operate the cable car. Fortunately for Richie, he did not have the stamina to take everyone across so soon ran out of steam and Richie was able to reclaim his livelihood!
A few people were "fraidy pus" though and did not want to use that mode of transportation until they discovered that if they didn't, they wouldn't be getting any breakfast..
It was an absolutely wonderful day as the water was nice and fresh due to the fact that it had rained for a couple days in the gorge. The food too was delicious, ready on time and plenty and Sheriff had even organised a "security chief" to tend to our bicycles while we picnicked and frolicked in the river.
Of course in making the arrangements, she had the assistance of the Ayatollah who ensured that transportation was adequate and available when we wanted it. Thanks to them, we had a ball and only had to get there by foot or bicycles, eat, pay our dues and have a wonderful time. That is true independence indeed!
Some photos compliments of Julian Dadag
Donaldson first made his name with the monster hit winner "Cherry Oh Baby" and in other festival competitions followed up other hits such as "This is the Land of My Birth". In fact, he won four festival song competitions and when I asked two ladies in a shop at Kent Village why he no longer entered the festival song competition, they told me JCDC stopped him as he was winning too often. One then added "Festival nuh nice since im stap enter". I think I concur with that sentiment.
When Donaldson became famous, he named his commercial building in his home town Cherry Oh Baby and still resides there, I am told.
 |
| Simpson poses in front of Eric Donaldson's building |
At the time we had stopped there to buy snacks and on seeing the cable car, Heather, one of our founding members, had jumped on it and got a ride over the river.
Sheriff returned to the area a few weeks ago and arranged for breakfast to be cooked on the property on the other side of the river. This meant finding a good cook and introducing herself to the owners, two brothers surnamed Rutty. They operate the farm across the river and the property has many huge hundred year old trees that provide great comfort for picnickers.
 |
| Huge hundred year old trees made it great for picnics |
However to get over to Kent Village required them having to cross the river, so according to one brother, they had to use a bamboo raft when the river got swollen. Soon when they started to sell oranges to higglers, because of the huge rocks in the river they had to come up with a better strategy to transport the goods, so some 25 years ago they set up the cable car.
 |
| Richie in red shirt is the cable operator |
He was therefore very happy to have Sheriff sweeten up his holiday with the 40 odd adventurers who rode and walked to the area on independence day.
 |
| Alrick at the controls |
Everyone had a ball and Alrick re-lived his childhood and got a learner's permit to operate the cable car. Fortunately for Richie, he did not have the stamina to take everyone across so soon ran out of steam and Richie was able to reclaim his livelihood!
A few people were "fraidy pus" though and did not want to use that mode of transportation until they discovered that if they didn't, they wouldn't be getting any breakfast..
It was an absolutely wonderful day as the water was nice and fresh due to the fact that it had rained for a couple days in the gorge. The food too was delicious, ready on time and plenty and Sheriff had even organised a "security chief" to tend to our bicycles while we picnicked and frolicked in the river.Of course in making the arrangements, she had the assistance of the Ayatollah who ensured that transportation was adequate and available when we wanted it. Thanks to them, we had a ball and only had to get there by foot or bicycles, eat, pay our dues and have a wonderful time. That is true independence indeed!
Some photos compliments of Julian Dadag
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