Mr Harold Hoyte – Ah Carry-Beyond Nay-Shun Man

On ah very touching note, we at Searchlight celebrate de passing of Harold Hoyte, ah great citizen from de Carry-Beyond Village of Bar-bathe-us! Mr Hoyte’s commitment to Carry-Beyond Unity thru Journal-is-him goes beyond Editorials, News, Breaking News or what-ever it is today. And Searchlight Newspaper in particular, owes ah depth, oops debt of gratitude to Harold Hoyte for his encouragement, personal input and influence as President, Manager, Director, Editor-in Chief or whatever position he held at de Nation Newspaper. Twenty-five years ago, we were clueless, when ah group of us went to Bar-bathe-us to explore de possibility of starting de Searchlight Newspaper. It was Mr Hoyte who literally held our hands in his office at Nation House in Fontabelle. In his humble and soft spoken manner, he told us we were on to a good thing, dat if it was of any consolation, we were exactly where he was 45 years ago, financially and otherwise, and any help dat we needed, feel free to contact him. Ah wonder if he did not regret making such ah commitment to us. But Mr Hoyte was selfless and trustworthy, and proved he was ah man to his word. He provided us Searchlight wid training in every aspect of de production of ah good Newspaper, from reporting, staff, publishing, marketing and shipping. And when we decided dat it was very challenging to print de Searchlight in Bar-bathe-us, we thought of our own printery, but felt dat our friends at de Nay-shun would not think kindly to our plans, and we might lose our close ties wid Mr Hoyte. Non-cents! We were relieved when Mr. Hoyte said it was ah brilliant step and de Nay-shun would be willing to be ah part of any such venture… dey became shareholder. Such was de nature of de great man Harold Hoyte. De Love Vine wishes comforting Love to his dear wife, immediate family, and de Nay-shun as well!.

STRONG AT THREE SCORE AND TEN

Talking everything in one. Ah was pleasantly greeted by joyful Praise and Worship singing, children voices actually, as ah drove past de Met-dis church on Back Street on Wednesday morning. Den about an hour later on my way back; de eastern side-walk along Back Street was blocked, ram-jam wid close to ah 1,000 students in uniform, marching from de same Met-dis Church back to school on de other side of town. Dat had to be important. So ah stopped to asked way going on, then a Teacher, full of excitement in her voice, shouted: “Don’t you know we are celebrating our 70th Anniversary?” Hurray foh Prep School! De Teacher is right, me of all people should remember dat. Back in 1949, ah was ah student of Wesley Hall Met-dis, and four times ah day, ah had to walk past dis new school dat suddenly appeared from no-where! Ah small, one-storey timber building resting on concrete pillars. De walls were painted immaculately white with red roof. What was different was de kids. Dey colour, accent and dress code. De school was actually built foh de children of de Colonial bosses, de Ex-patriots wuking here; folks like de Administrator, Chief of Police, Crown Attorney, Colonial Post Master et al. But among de lickle white kids were ah select number of local (black) kids; children of de top local Public Servants. Katie Wilson was de Head-mistress and she was sent to England foh training in English culture. Grammar wid dick-shun, etiquette, manners and behaviour. Whereas we went to Met-dis, Roman Chalk-lit and Anglican church schools, dat school was specifically called Prep-School, keeping de kids prepared foh entry to English schools, when de time came foh dey parents’ return to Colonial Office. But Prep School has come all de way from so long ago, dat ah had to be reminded by ah Teacher dat it’s dey 70th Anniversary. De Institution is one of our leading Primary Schools; among de Top 3 in Academics and even Sports. Nuff Respect and Thanks to some Great Teachers and Principals who have delivered and nurtured some of SVG’s better citizens. Congrats Prep!

HALF FOH HE…HALF FOH ME

Before ah forget, ah checked out de Fishermens’ Day Committee lunch at Lickle TOE-K-YO last Fry-dey. Ah was late foh de boil-up, but while ah was eating some Black Fish and ground provision, Fisheries Officer Jennifer Howard and Francis introduced me to ah bit of Smoked Whale! Ah have had Doved Whale, corned Whale, ah heard bout Grilled Whale, but never had ah taste. But dis Smoke Whale fellah is something else. So ah asked to meet de master Smoker Man himself, Ferique Shortte. After congratulating him ah had to asked him if is Smoke Whale got him looking so Whale-ish. Ah warned him to cut his portions in half, one foh he amd one foh me. He gets ah 10-out-ah-10! And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy