$30 Million Raised, $60 Million Needed: The Anglican Church Breaks Ground on a New Clifton Boys’ Home

• The Anglican Church broke ground in March 2019 to rebuild Clifton Boys’ Home in Darliston, Westmoreland
• A fire had destroyed the home in January 2017
• The new two-storey, 4,000-square-foot building was estimated at $60 million, with about $30 million raised
• Capacity would rise from 28 to 40 boys aged six to 17

More than two years after fire destroyed it, the Anglican Church began rebuilding one of its children’s homes. In March 2019 the Jamaica Observer reported on the ground-breaking for the new Clifton Boys’ Home in Darliston, Westmoreland, which had burned down in January 2017.

The money was only partly in place. About $30 million had been raised towards an estimated $60 million construction cost, a figure that did not include fixtures and furnishings.

The plan was for a two-storey building of 4,000 square feet, designed by architect Ray McIntyre and built by Neville Daley and Associates Construction Company of Savanna-la-Mar, with Neville Mills Associates Limited as quantity surveyors. It would include dormitories, quarters for house parents, a multi-purpose room and homework centre, a sick bay, a common lounge, a kitchen, a storeroom and a laundry. Capacity would rise from 28 boys to 40, aged six to 17.

The Rev Canon Hartley Perrin, chairman, said the church wanted to ensure that “these boys who are placed under our care get the tools that will fit and equip them for a better standard of living.” Bishop Howard Gregory said “institutions such as Clifton Boys’ Home have a critical role to play” in helping at-risk boys. Established in 1961, Clifton is one of three Anglican children’s homes in Jamaica, alongside the Wortley Home for Girls and St Monica’s Home.

Rebuilding a residential home after a fire is one of the hardest property challenges a church can face: the children still need somewhere to live, insurance may not cover everything, and fundraising takes years. For Anglicans and Westmoreland natives in the diaspora, the project was a direct way to support children in state care through bricks and mortar. For other churches that run homes, it is a reminder to review fire safety and insurance before disaster strikes.

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