Street named after former slave woman

A STREET in San Fernando has been named after a former slave Mary Belgrove, who first established a funeral parlour in the city in 1888.
The former Henry Street, which stands on the side of Belgrove’s Funeral Home and Crematorium on Coffee Street, was renamed Belgrove Lane recently in honour of the family’s long contribution to the commerce of the city
This is the sixth street named after individuals who have contributed to the development of San Fernando in the past year, through the initiative of San Fernando mayor Junia Regrello.
At the street naming ceremony Regrello noted that many of the streets in the city were named after past governors, mayors and politicians.
He said there were other individual worthy of such a gesture and established a committee to research and make recommendations.
CEO of the Belgroves Group of Companies Keith Belgrove welcomed the renaming of the street to honour his family’s legacy,
As the ceremony, Belgrove proposed that the University of the West Indies, (UWI) St Augustine campus take the first step in starting an associate degree programme in funeral services in an attempt to raise the bar.
“We cannot truly become a professional service unless we raise the education bar. I am going to talk to the UWI to put an associate degree together to raise the bar in funeral service.
“It is already in Jamaica,” Belgrove said at a street naming ceremony in San Fernando yesterday.
Belgrove also used the opportunity to call on Attorney General Faris Al Rawi and Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein to fulfil his dream and regulate the funeral industry. “I dream of the day in my lifetime when funeral directors can grow from being an industry to truly being a profession.
“We will not get there unless regulations for the funeral industry is enacted.”
Before an audience which included Regrello and deputy mayor Vidya Mungal- Bissessar, Belgrove said he has been clamouring for regulations since the 1990’s.
He said Patrick Manning first took the proposal to Cabinet when he was alive and was prime minister but since then he has had promises from successive governments but no results.
“The AG gave me promises. The Minister of Local Government gave me promises. I know you have a lot on your plate as you point out constantly but push it. This is a good time to make it happen.”
Belgrove also issued a call for the reduction in the “punitive” tariff rates funeral homes are subjected to in the importation of hearses which he said has led to a high cost to the consumer.
He said three months ago he wrote to the Comptroller of Customs and Excise to consider its application for the correction for the rate of import duty on funeral hearses.
“It is now three months and we have not had any productive response. How can we grow our business under such punitive import duty rates of 65.5 per cent?” he asked.
Belgrove said his company has professionally pointed out that funeral hearses are considered special purpose goods vehicle.
“To the motor vehicle taxes, it is so considered, but for duty it is considered a luxury vehicle.
“There are so many funeral homes who cannot afford to bring professional vehicles in this country.
“How then can we stand up as truly world class?” Source:  Newsday, June 27, 2019

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