History
The ground was named after Windsor, England and is situated on the eastern side of Roseau. It was levelled out of a rubbish dump previously known as Cow Town. It was a popular venue for sports of all kinds, carnival activities, horse and donkey racing, State parades and played a central role in island life. In 1999 a national stadium was planned for the site, but after demolishing all of the existing stands and adjoining buildings, including a former school that had once been wards of the Roseau Hospital, the project was abandoned and the site was deserted until 2005.
New work on the stadium started on 23 March 2005, on the first anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the People's Republic of China and Dominica. The stadium is one of the 'Four Pillar Projects' promised by the People's Republic of China to Dominica as a result of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) during the establishment of ties between Dominica and China. The stadium is viewed as a gift at a cost of EC$33 million, (US$17 million, €12 million), from the government of the People's Republic of China to the government and people of the Commonwealth of Dominica.
On 7 February 2007, work on the Windsor Park Stadium was completed. Work on the facilities to accompany the stadium resulted in the stadium not being used before May 2007, therefore missing any activities relating to Cricket World Cup 2007, held in the Caribbean. The handing-over ceremony of the stadium from Chinese officials to Dominica took place on 23 March, marking the third year of diplomatic ties with the People's Republic. On 24 October 2007 the Windsor Park National Sport Stadium was official opened with a grand ceremony. The 11th Annual World Creole Music Festival (WCMF) was held on 25–27 Oct. as the stadium's first official activity.
Read more about this topic: Windsor Park (Dominica)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We are told that men protect us; that they are generous, even chivalric in their protection. Gentlemen, if your protectors were women, and they took all your property and your children, and paid you half as much for your work, though as well or better done than your own, would you think much of the chivalry which permitted you to sit in street-cars and picked up your pocket- handkerchief?”
—Mary B. Clay, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 3, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“A man acquainted with history may, in some respect, be said to have lived from the beginning of the world, and to have been making continual additions to his stock of knowledge in every century.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“The history of all previous societies has been the history of class struggles.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)