Garvin Nicholas, Trinidad and Tobago's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK) has launched a stout defence of his London staff and their organisation of the Cultural Village to coincide with the Olympic Games currently underway in England. He was responding yesterday in an e-mail to claims by Nadia Ward, a Trinidadian living in London, who described the Cultural Village as poorly organised and charged that the embassy's staff are rude and often unavailable to answer phone calls. Her e-mail sent to the T&T Guardian, Ward claimed the Cultural Village is located in a deprived and rundown area of London. "You have to be lucky to get through to the High Commission since they routinely don't answer their phones at all. If you do get through, the staff are uninformed and rude," she said.
But Nicholas pointed out that the Cultural Village is located at the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn, London which is described by The Independent newspaper as an area known for its high crime rate but which is also reputed to have "superlative public transportation." Nicholas said the launch of the village occurred last week and so far many people have been impressed by it. The village, he said, was conceptualised to increase awareness of T&T during the Olympic Games, currently underway. However, Ward said programmes for the village events were only distributed the day before it opened. "Tickets for the village have to be booked online, on a website that was not working properly until the day before the village was launched. If you have no internet access, you simply are not welcome at the village," Ward said. But this was denied by High Commissioner Nicholas in his response. "The full programme was published on the official Web site as soon it was finalised about a week before the official launch. "The launch took place on Wednesday last and was attended by some 250 people including the Minister of Trade and Industry, the Regional President of BPTT, the Mayor of Brent, the chairman of Tourism Development Company, the president of the T&T Olympic Committee and many members of the media."
Nicholas also said the actual outline project has been advertised for a few weeks before the launch and the concept had been public knowledge for months. When asked about the actual Web site and its usefulness, Nicholas said the technology was not perfect but all concerts, plays and workshops had been fully subscribed to date. He also responded to queries about tickets for the free concerts starring Machel Montano at the village to be held from August 7 to 11, which Ward said had been "sold out" prior to bookings being available on the Web site. "There are designated officers to answer calls but the aim was to have most requests handled by the Web site or e-mail. Staff were made aware of the booking system early so that they could book their tickets. Many of them are working as volunteers as well," Nicholas said. Questions posed to Nicholas about a cultural attaché who Ward claims is the High Commissioner's best friend and who was hired to take charge of the village did not elicit a response. Nicholas said hundreds of people visit the village daily comprising many members of the T&T diaspora.