at Daniel's Head to the newly renovated centre at Springfield in Somerset has surprised the Director of Youth and Sport.

Many members of the public will share his surprise as there has never been any secret that the group had agreed to occupy Daniel's Head until the new centre was ready.

For the group to now refuse the move is bad faith on their part and threatens the prospects for the proposed eco-tourism resort on the Daniel's Head site as well.

No-one questions the service that the youth centre and its head, Gerald Fubler, provides. The West End in particular desperately needs services of this kind to help young people to gain purpose on their lives.

But the proposed eco-tourism resort is also important for the West End and for Bermuda as a whole. It will provide an entirely new form of tourism for the Island and in the process should help to boost business and employment for Sandys, both directly through employment and indirectly through the support services the Sandys community can provide.

Many people supported the protests of the youth group when it first sought the use of the facilities at the old Canadian naval base and by all accounts the former base has become a popular recreation spot for area residents. That should not change when the resort is built as the developers intend to continue to allow public access to the area.

But the youth group made a deal which it should keep.

As Director of Youth and Sport Brenton Roberts says in today's paper: "We have met on numerous, numerous occasions. They have always understood that the developers would be taking possession for the eco-tourism development.'' Its members agreed that they would use the site until the new centre at Springfield was complete. That should be done by April and the centre should keep up its end of the bargain.

It may be true that the new centre will not have all the facilities available at Daniel's Head, notably access to the water. But the Springfield site can be as good or as bad as the youth group wants it to be; that is part of the process of maturing and development.

Another part of the process of growing up is learning to keep your word and to meet your commitments. The Government made a commitment to the group which it has kept. Now it is the turn of the youth group to keep its side of the bargain.

SCHOOL SHOCK EDT School shock Students, staff and parents at Harrington Sound Primary School have had a tremendous shock as a result of the fire at the school last weekend.

The fire has left the main block of the school unusable and it probably will not be ready for occupation until September. This means that the school will be divided on two sites and this will cause great difficulties for all involved.

But it is worth taking a moment to praise all those who have pitched in to help, from the Premier to the principal, from the retired teachers who came out to assist to the current teachers who have had to sift through the remains of their classrooms to salvage what they can, to the children themselves who have had to adapt to a major change.

The next few months will not be easy for what has long been one of Bermuda's best primary schools and the whole community should do what it can to help the school through this difficult period.