First, a memory from 1971, 45 years ago:
2016 was a year of quiet semi-retirement, and doing just the things we want to do. The year began for us by spending a much-anticipated 4-day weekend in the nearby Dutch territory of Statia with walking friends from Anguilla: Mary Ann, Kathy, Viviane, and Sally. Trans-Anguilla Airline provided a quick, efficient and inexpensive way to get there directly, and brought us back safely. While in Statia, we explored the little town where Gay, President of the local archaeological association, gave us a magnificent historical tour. We explored the fortress that guards the harbour, and looked out over the ruins of Admiral Rodney’s destruction of the island that had given the new US flag its first naval salute. The ladies in the group did a lot of walking. Don was housebound due to a crack in his forehead caused when he ran down a rocky hillside a couple of days before the trip and landed headfirst onto a boulder. The evidence is just visible in the photo.
Don keeps fit by having the ladies take him on an assortment of vigorous walks, one of which resulted in the January cracked head. On more normal walking trips, it is actually the dog which sets the pace, and we struggle to keep up with him, as is evident in the photo.
Our Monday walk starts at the Red Cross Building at the top of Crocus Hill which has this wonderful sign advertising opening hours. Don had to show it to you, just as he spends every moment of a first visit to a new restaurant proof-reading the menu looking for typos.
Maggie’s school shares the same building with the Red Cross. She continues to volunteer part-time at WISE (Workshop Initiative for Support in Education). This occasionally involves a celebratory meal in with teaching friends in a nearby restaurant such as in this one, taken at DaVida’s in Crocus Bay:
Welcome visitors to Anguilla during the early part of the year included Kathryn and Desmond Fosbery from Nevis and Maggie’s brother Mac and wife Erica from the UK. Don enjoyed the opportunities for doing the tour-guide thing again for them. He enjoys giving his personal explanation of why Anguilla is shaped like a slice of cake lying on its side, with the higher end to the north, and the lower end to the south. He asserts knowledgeably that for hundreds of years, the locals have been slipping into Anguilla from St Maarten late at night by boat, landing stoves, fridges and even cars on the beaches out of sight of the Customs Department. The constant pounding of this cargo being landed has caused the south coast to sink nearly to sea level.
While Mac and Erica were here, they got to observe the launch of the first edition of Don’s High School law textbooks. The Governor, the Judge and lots of dignitaries said kind things, and all agreed the occasion was more of a eulogy than a launch. Within twelve months he had completely revised the six texts, and earlier this month published a second edition. He says he is finished with it now, and that he can go on to the large law library in the sky, with no need for any further send off. We’ll see.
Maggie’s sister Bridget and her Harry came all the way from France to visit just after Mac and Erica departed. It was good to see them again, as we don’t know if the 30 tortoises, several peafowl, and four dogs will permit Maggie and Don to leave the house together again for any extended period of time. Don claims his travelling days are over, but he is not renowned for his consistency. Harry and Bridget got to join in one of the Anguilla National Trust walks as is evident below:
Don enjoys these walks as well, and tries to go to them monthly. He is always finding things to do to keep himself usefully occupied, now that he is fully retired.
Easter saw the end of Don’s teaching career. The High School now has a proper, full-time, law teacher, so he will only need to step in now and then when there is an emergency. Both Vailisia and her students now and in the years to come will have the use of the textbooks, which hopefully will not be soon out of date.
Don also retired from the Legal Aid Clinic (which he called the Anguilla Legal Aid Service and Anguilla Legal Aid Clinic because he liked the acronyms). He handed it over to a bright young lawyer who has willingly taken over the service, mainly the Wednesday visit to the prisoners in HMP. Some of these have proven to be successful law students as they have found the textbooks and are making use of them. The other twice-weekly legal aid clinic held at the Department of Social Development was mainly devoted to advising distraught mothers on how to bring up their delinquent young sons. There seems to be no one as experienced in that area of bringing up children as Don was to be able to carry on the service, so they have not got a suitable replacement as yetJ
April saw Don being appointed to the Board of the Anguilla Financial Services Commission. This is the body that licences professionals and companies that provide financial services, such as company managers, trust companies and offshore banks. The Board meets only once a quarter, as there is a full complement of professional staff who do all the work.
May opened with Don attending court for a last appearance before a judge. The occasion was the call to the bar of one of his first High School law students, Ojeda Vanterpool. She is a brilliant young person, as are so many of the students who have passed through his hands he says (no thanks to him).
May was also the month for the Anguilla Literary Festival, where Don took the opportunity once again to give his now familiar speech on Transparency, Integrity and Accountability. He must have been invited to participate as a speaker because of the book launch for the textbooks earlier in the year, but he did not speak about them. He finds constitutional issues much more interesting and relevant to discuss than High School textbooks.
June saw us both heading off to Cuba for our second visit in 18 months. The occasion was the annual conference of the Association of Caribbean Historians, which Don loves to attend. Twenty years ago it was an annual event for him. But in recent years he has had to miss them due to his work with the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. Now that those assignments are finished, he felt free to attend once again. Maggie came along to enjoy the sights.
The papers on West Indian history that were presented were as riveting as usual The only negative to the conference was the number of old acquaintances who have either passed on or become too frail to attend. The social events and day excursions were a joy.
Maggie spent August in Europe visiting her sister Bridget in France, and her brothers Mac in Wales and ‘Flurry’ in Birmingham.
She complained continuously about the cold, but enjoyed the break away from Don. Don, meanwhile, was treated in her absence by the walking gang and friends to his 70th birthday party at Kathy’s house at Cedar Village.
Don’s big trip in September was attending the OECS Bar Association’s 12th Annual Conference and Book Fair in St Lucia where he took advantage of important stuff he had learned about since he joined the Board of the Financial Services Commission. There, he gave a talk on Financial Regulation issues affecting the Commonwealth Caribbean.
In September 2015 the Anguilla Government asked Don once again to work with a committee to come up with revised proposals for a new Constitution for Anguilla and a new Elections Act. Throughout the year, a small drafting committee worked on trying to put the various proposals that emerged from public consultations and an array of previous drafting and research into a form that, in their view, reflected the views and desires of the majority of Anguillians. This exercise is now coming to an end, and early next year we hope to make our final presentation to government. After that, it is up to the Anguilla and the British Governments what they will make of it. Below is a shot of the drafting committee at work on the Elections Act:
October was significant for the launch of the three Grenadian High School Law textbooks, co-authored by Don and Jasmin Redhead. The real occasion was the Grenada Bar Association’s Law Week, which has become quite well-known throughout the region as one of the most dynamic and event-filled Law Weeks anywhere in the OECS.
Don and Jasmin piggy-backed the launch on the Grenada Bar Association’s Law Week. Interestingly, the most controversial topic throughout the week’s events, including a radio talk-show and a High School debate, was that of gay marriage. Apparently, some of pastors had been pontificating that the proposed amendments to the Grenada Constitution would encourage gay marriage. So, needless to say, Don had to wade in with his opinion. This resulted in a subsequent article he published in the local newspaper, much to the grief and annoyance of some. That article did not cause as much gratifying offence as his earlier one on homophobia in Anguilla which the Anguillian Newspaper published in full in September.
October was also lit up by a visit from an old Guyanese, Abbey School, Mt St Benedict, Old Boy whom Don had not seen in 50 years. Ronald Ferreira and his wife Carol together with two of their friends came to pay a visit to Anguilla and got in touch. Ron found Don by way of Ladislao’s weekly circulars which Don posts for him on a Blog every week for the past 15 years. We took them out to a couple of meals and gave them the guided tour. We believe they are only the second Old Mount Boy ever to have visited us in Anguilla. The first was Brian Goddard last year, and who returned again for a short business visit in November.
November saw Don’s sister Alix and her Brian, and their two kids and various friends and attachments spending a week in Anguilla. The plan on our part had been to use their IT skills to get Ron Ferreira’s gift of a monitoring camera for our two front doors to work. The partying was, however, so hectic that the camera still lies there inoperative. Sorry, Ron, we think we need to await the visit of a 14-year old great-nephew or great-niece to be able to tap into an expert who can master the set-up for the camera. We have found just the corner of the sitting room to place the camera from where it will monitor both the front sliding-door and the kitchen door, in the event of the inevitable home invasion for which all of us old people must prepare.
December saw Don making a new version of his by now quite probably boring speech on the need for Transparency, Integrity and Accountability in Government at a continuing legal education seminar in Anguilla. The main speaker was the ever gracious, charming and super-intelligent former UWI Lecturer and Minister of Finance of Trinidad and Tobago, Karen Nunez-Teshiera, with whom Don was proud to share the platform.
Besides our personal news, the major national news was the demise of the two indigenous banks, National Bank of Anguilla (of which we owned 5% of the equity) and the Caribbean Commercial Bank. Also gutted were their two offshore branches. It seems that the Central Bank was very naughty while the two local banks were in its custodianship over the past three years. In effect, the Central Bank extracted and removed all the US dollars from the local banks to NBA’s corresponding bank in New York, and hid them away from the US depositors. The money did not belong to the local banks which the Central Bank had taken over, but to the offshore banks and their customers. The receiver of the offshore branches is now mired in expensive litigation in New York and in Anguilla trying to retrieve the US$ depositors’ money. Anyway, the bottom line is that one of Maggie’s major investments underlying her pension plan has now completely disappeared. Explain to me again, how much is five percent of a billion dollar bank?
And, so, the year gradually plays itself out. Christmas dinner will be a quiet affair with a few friends and family. We hope that your year has not been too exciting, and that you are also, like us, contemplating how perfect it is to live in a place like the West Indies and not in some of the other less fortunate places that have made the news this year. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
18 December, 2016
