Mayor of New Amsterdam Waynewright McIntosh.
Kaieteur Sports – The New Amsterdam Mayor and Town Council (NAMTC) is this year celebrating its 133rd year in existence and a hoard of activities including sports have been planned to observe the occasion.
New Amsterdam, which got township status on 1st September, 1891, is the oldest town in Guyana. Its first Mayor was British, Neil Ross McKinnon a Barrister of Law. The present Mayor is, Wainwright McIntosh, an Education Officer.
This year’s activity was launched on the 22nd of August. The town week is expected to run from October 17th to November 3rd. The theme this year is ‘Embrace History and Unity”.
To start things off, a church service was held at the Bethel Prayer and Praise Ministries. At the end of the service members of the church gifted the staff of the NAMTC an anniversary cake.
A number of sporting activities are slated to highlight the Town’s 133rd anniversary celebrations.
These includes street football, basketball, bird whistling competition, cricket, drama festival, Mayor’s Cycling road race, steel band competition, bingo, spelling B, domino Competition, debate, impromptu speech, singing competition, mathematics Olympiad, dancing competition, walk race and concerts.
A variety of other activities are also on the agenda including River tours, business exhibition and job fair, all back and all blue affairs, market day, cooler fete, breakfast morning.
The celebrations are expected to culminate with a fair and sound clash on Friday 1st November at the Bermine Ground. The usual street fair and Lime is slated for Saturday 2nd November along Main Street while a family fun day is slated for Sunday 3rd November at the Esplanade Park.
New Amsterdam, which is located about five miles on the Eastern Bank of the Berbice River, is situated at the confluence of the Berbice and Canje Rivers. It became a town exactly 100 years before it became a Municipality.
About 1733, the name New Amsterdam was given to a little village that sprang up around Fort Nassau about 56 miles up the Berbice River.
In 1785 it was decided to abandon Fort Nassau and move to the neighbourhood of Fort St. Andries lower down the river at the confluence of the Berbice River and its tributary the Canje River, the site of the present day New Amsterdam. It was built by the Dutch in 1740 before being taken over by the British in 1803.
New Amsterdam covers about 13.7 square kilometers and has an estimated population of approximately 50,000 persons.
New Amsterdam was established as the seat of Government for Berbice Between 1785 to 1790.
In 1812 a special Department of Works, the Winkel Department, was set up to deal with all repair works required by the residents. The workmen were originally slaves who were given their freedom in 1831. The Town Hall of the Tudor architecture was built with a tower approximately 75 feet. This tower was dismantled in 2012. (Samuel Whyte)
