Hanover scales down Heroes Day celebrations

THE CUSTOMARY pomp and pageantry will be missing from this year’s National Heroes Day celebrations in Hanover due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In fact, the Hanover Municipal Corporation ( HMC), said the celebrations, which is set for Monday, is poised to play second fiddle to the COVID-19 health protocols, which will take priority over any celebration that will take place.

Councillor Andria DehaneyGrant, who chairs t he civic committee at the HMC, told The Gleaner that the scaled-down Heroes weekend celebrations will kick off on Sunday with a church service.

“As you know, COVID-19 has put a damper on a lot of the things that we normally do, so for this year, we will be having a church service at the Mount Moriah Baptist Church, starting at 10 a.m. and a flag-raising ceremony on Heroes Day, Monday, October 19. We are just hoping to have about 15 persons present (at the flagraising ceremony), considering the Government’s health protocols,” said Dehaney-Grant.

She said that in keeping with the health protocols and social-distancing requirements, only a limited number of persons will be invited to the flag-raising ceremony, which will be held on the outside of the HMC’s building, following which persons present will move to the inside of the building for a shortened ceremony.

“We will also be saluting the heroes, as usual, so we will get individuals to volunteer to read the salutes to the national heroes (while on the inside of the building). We are hoping to have the councillors volunteering to read as well,”stated Dehaney-Grant.