The History of
Jalgos
by Stephen Poleon
How many of you know the Journey Jalgos have taken to get to where they are today? Come with me my friends and let us take a journey of discovery.
To some of you reading this Jalgos is just a building on Rose Street Preston, a small back street in a non descript area. To others reading this Jalgos is a vibrant part of the West Indian community. Home to organisations such as the jamaincan National, Montserrat and Barbados Associations. It is also home to Luncheon club on a Tuesdays. Jalgos is also home to twice Preston Carnival winners Isles of Harmony carnival troupe. They also hold Jamaican Idenpendence weekend and montserrat and Barbados reunion dances. Each Christmas it plays host to the Senior Citizens Christmas Lunch and in years gone by it played host to plays written by Mr Lewis Walker. these plays formed part of the Jamaican Independence weekend celebrations.
When you pay a visit to Jalgos you will notice a plaque in honour of when the building was officially opened in 1976. What the plaque fails to tell us is that the club itself was founded in 1962. by a group of Jamaican lads who came together out of their love of cricket. Various names were discussed at this time as to what to name the club. One of the names was Ajax in honour of Ajax Amsterdam however it was Mr Morlees who came up with the name Jalgos.
Jalgos came from Nalgos which was a local government ageny at the time. Nalgos stood for National and Local Government Officers Association, which was a predominatly white collar trade union. Mr Morlees said "We are all Jamaicans so why not change the N in Nalgos to a J for Jamaica". and the name has stuck ever since.
Myths surrounding the founding members of Jalgos being all Jamaican has also stuck since then but the truth of the matter is that there was one Dominican amongst the Jamaican majority and his name was Ian St Louis, who at the time was in Preston a few days when he met Gladstone Afflick in Cunningham's Sports Shop on Church Street. Although Ian StLouis only played for the cricket team for a year he is recognised ad one of the clubs founding members.
Read on
copyright SJ Poleon
