After nearly ninety-five years and four attempts (legitimate) the Anguillians decided that they had had enough of external rule and it was time for them to act. As a consequence the Anguilla Revolution was born on the 30th of May, 1967 when the Police Constabulary was sent to St. Kitts some by plane and the remainder by boat.

Mr. Vivien Vanterpool

Prior to this, Anguilla declared its independence firstly by causing the Queen Show at the Valley Secondary School (now the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School) for the celebration of Statehood to be abandoned by cutting the wire which produced current for the delco to illuminate the building. The school was immediately plunged into darkness as the Police fired shots. In the confusion that followed one or two Anguillians received gun-shot wound including my brother Claudius.

Following this the Police Force was increased with more police officers from St. Kitts to assist the Anguilla Constabulary. I recall a number of times the police arrived in the East end area in search of our leaders, but were never able to find them. Next the Administrator of St. Kitts/Nevis made a visit to Anguilla to negotiate a return to the state. Of course this exercise did not succeed as Anguillians were determined to remain outside of the Tripartite State.

Then this was succeeded by the Wooding Commission which was also unsuccessful. Subsequently Britain sent out Lord Shepherd to try to persuade the delegates to the Barbados Conference to sign under duress a document to return Anguilla to the State of St. Kitts/Nevis and Anguilla. However our Revolutionary Leader, Mr Ronald Webster, and others refused to sign this document.
Since there was no decision on Anguilla’s return to the State, the British Government sent its United Nations Ambassador, Lord Caradon, to see if he could initiate a settlement. This also failed as there was much mistrust on both sides. We were told that the British Government would not put Anguillians under an administration that they did not want. I was the secretary of those Island Council meetings with Lord Caradon and there was one thing I learnt was to write TWO MINUTES of any such meetings so that I could have my own copy.

In 1972, as President of the Anguilla Teacher’s Union, I led the only strike of the Union since its official inception in 1961. There were a number of discussions with the then Commissioner – British Representative in Anguilla. Mr Webster and I held discussions at my home in the afternoons concerning the strike. He advised me to carry the strike to the hilt but, while he was advising me thus, he informed the Commissioner to prepare dismissal correspondences for the five Head Teachers. On the following morning of the third day, when things seemed to be heading against the Teacher’s Union, I produced the Unions Certificate of Registration. Her Majesty’s Commissioner asked me to hand to him. I informed him that this was the property of A.T.U. The late Teacher Albena advised me to deliver it to him which I did. The meeting therefore changed its course as we were legally within our rights to strike. It was alleged that the dismissal documents were rescinded.

During and shortly before the Anguilla Revolution a number of Commonwealth Fellowships were given by the British Council to Commonwealth countries. These fellowships were given to Head Teachers in order of seniority, thus the late Teacher Albena Lake-Hodge being the most senior, received her fellowship in 1967-68, followed by the late Morris Vanterpool in 1969-70. Then in order of seniority it would have been Mr Adrian Hazell 1971-72. I was approached by some members of the Island Council (Anguilla) that the Council would send me ahead of Mr Hazell. I informed them that Mr Hazell was my senior, and according to General Orders he should go before me. This was agreed, so Mr Hazell went off in 1971-72.

My turn came in 1972-73 when I attended the University of Newcastle –Upon-Tyne. By the end of the first term, the Professor informed me that because of my progress.he recommended that the University was prepared to offer me another academic year at the institution, that is, subject to my Government’s decision. Within weeks of the application from the University my government replied with a categorical NO. My professor asked me what kind of government do I have at home, which would refuse such an offer. I indicated to him that I am here and have no idea. I learnt, subsequently, that it was alleged that “everybody received one year and if I stayed for the additional year where would government find money to pay me with a degree in the Primary School.

I became the first headmaster of the Island Harbour Primary in 1971. What was interesting was that the furniture for the school arrived on Saturday evening two days before the opening of the 1971-72 academic year. The furniture had to be assembled before the Monday morning so after church the men in the community helped with assembling of the desks and chairs, while the women prepared the meals voluntarily. So by Monday everything was in place for the opening of school. The staff and I sincerely thanked the community for a job well done.

On my return from University I was placed at this same school. In 1977 I was placed at the Valley Primary School with a staff of twenty-nine teachers and a roll of eight hundred and twenty – eight. This was indeed a challenge as the late Teacher Albena had retired from the Public Service. Here I met a former teacher, Teacher Isa Lake, and a former senior teacher to me, the late Teacher Beryl, who also taught with me at the East End Primary, now the Morris Vanterpool Primary. I would want to believe that I stood up to this challenge admirably. This is not to say that I am full of self praise. The Valley community can attest to this fact.

While at the University in 1971-72, I had received a Diploma in Educational Studies, so I approached the Governor, who was responsible for the Civil Service, requesting him to initiate an increase in salaries for Civil Servants and in particular teachers who bore the burden of the youths. He informed me that he would increase my individual salary by making my salary Personal to Holder. Having had a number of years in the Civil Service, I knew that only expatriate officers were placed in this category. I immediately refused the offer and indicated to him that I would not betray my fellow colleagues in the Civil Service. Thereupon he advised me to go home and shut my mouth.

I subsequently thought nothing else about this conversation until in September of 1978. I was informed that I was given a second Fellowship to attend the said University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne which I attended in 1972-73. This could have been a blessing in disguise because no sooner that I reached at the University my Professor reminded me that if in 1972-73 my government had agreed to give me the second year then, I could have read for the Masters in Education degree. However, he again advised me that he would ask my government for an additional term. I reminded him what had happened earlier in 1972-73 so I would prefer if the University would request the summer extension, which it did. The late Teacher Albena was then Minister of Education and she readily agreed. I was therefore able to complete the Bachelor of Philosophy in Education by studying and completing four chapters of my thesis in September 1980 and the completion of the thesis at home and having it read for binding by April 15th of 1981. I was successful with my degree, as Teacher Hyacinth Hughes brought my certificate for me after completing her degree at the University of Newcastle –Upon-Tyne.

Between the years at the primary schools, and before my sojourn at the University of Newcastle, I was given the task of conducting classes for prospective Teachers during the summer vacations. I was given the task to assess them in order of merit after each course. I am satisfied that I played a significant role in their development and the education of the children they taught subsequently.

It was during the nineteen seventies also that the Anguilla Teacher’s Union approached the governments of those days to assist the Union to host the Canadian Teachers’ Federation to offer vacation courses for the Anguilla Teachers’ Union. The Government responded in thought and action. Because of this, many teachers were able to attend courses at the Nippissing University in Canada some leading to degrees including an honorary Doctorate. The courses offered to the teachers in Anguilla during the summer months were English, Mathematics, Science and I was asked to conduct classes in Environmental Studies, having specialised in this subject at the university.

On Friday the twenty-seventh day of March nineteen hundred and eighty seven, on my fifty-fifth anniversary, and after thirty six years two months and twenty seven days of teaching, I retired from the Public Service. Shortly before my retirement I had to privilege to attend the meeting of the Caribbean Union of Teachers in Barbados where the Anguilla Teacher’s Union became a member of this august body, the first of its kind. The other delegate who attended the meeting was the late Mrs Donice Hodge. I was again privileged attend the meeting of the World Organisation of the Confederations of the Teaching Profession in Regina, Canada, in August 1986 –(xxxi conference of this body).

At age of fifty five one finds it difficult to find jobs on par with the ones one leaves. This suited the colonial masters in England because the government would find jobs for these expatriate workers when they returned to the United Kingdom. In our case successive governments have discarded civil servants and particularly teachers as if they are floor rags/mats. One thing, I am certain that experience is essential if a community, island or country is to progress.

After retirement I worked with the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank as a Director for Anguilla and subsequently as the first local Resident Representative 1990-1996. I was complimented by the Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank for a job well done. The Central Bank was successfully established and I was called to act as Resident Representative on a number of occasions when the substantive holder of the post was on leave (vacation, illness) during the period 1997-2003. I became a member of the Board of Directors of NBA Ltd during the period of 1997-2003. While on the Board of Directors, I was named the first Chairman of the Vanier Hodge/James Baird Scholarship Committee of the Bank.

Subsequent to this I was nominated as a member of the Board of Directors of Anglec for a period of one year before the organisation became a Public Company. During the period I was a member of the Board of Directors for the National Investment Company of Anguilla (NICA). The entire board resigned some two years ago after certain shareholders served a writ on the Board of Directors. This writ was subsequently resolved and a new Executive was elected to power.
With the development of the tourism industry and women’s liberation, the Anguillian culture of yesteryear has been eroded. No longer our tradition (the men in particular) of owning a piece of the rock and a boat exists, but instead our young men are buying expensive vehicles without thought of having a shelter for their heads. This is indeed a travesty for generations yet unborn. In fact, soon Anguillians may not be able to buy a piece of the rock which they can call their own. Similarly, some young Anguillians have sold what their parents tied their bellies for, in order that they might have owned a piece of the rock, and sold it to buy an expensive car.

Again, because of women’s liberation and, more specifically, the cost of living in Anguilla has skyrocketed out of all proportions thus necessitating parents abandoning the home to seek lawful employment to help keep up with the constant skyrocketing of prices. One may say that this seeking of employment is necessary, but in doing this one has to balance the mother’s care of the children that God has given her, so that it does not imbalance her immediate duty of rearing a child in the way he/she grows, so that when he/she is old he/she will not depart from it.

Some parents have made the television the baby-sitter in the homes/houses. In fact there are televisions in almost every room in some homes/houses. No longer do we have the extended family in our villages or very little as in days of yore, when the grandmother ruled the children and in many cases with an iron fist. What we are now seeing is a generation of children who have no respect for God or man. Some children do not see their parents before they leave for school at mornings and when they do return home in the evenings they are holding down another job. What are the results of these situations? Children grow up without control, training in social behaviour and respect for law and order, thus creating the lawlessness now pervading this beloved Rock of ours. They look uncontrollably at the television and emulate the bad things they see (e.g) creating gangs, indiscriminate use of fire arms, unlawful weapons, improper attire, especially the boys.

In the schools, no longer do we have moral instruction/civics where these subjects were placed in the syllabus of the Primary School. There was also a place for RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION where the church played a significant role in the overall development of the children – social, cultural, educational and spiritual. These are now lacking and can be the likely reason for the present situation that exists among our youth.

Another subject of the curriculum that has been neglected is Phonics. It appears that as a pupil leaves class one of the Primary School this aspect of spelling is disregarded as the child moves up the school. Some educationists advocate the Look and Say method, but how would they manipulate the sounds adequately in order to look at the word and say it. The word has to be broken up in syllables in order that the child can say it correctly. It grates my ears at the Annual Spelling Bee Competition for the Primary Schools which is sponsored by Cable & Wireless Anguilla. In fact I was asked in the first five or six years to prepare the list of words for this competition in a graded exercise in order to test not only their spelling ability but to simultaneously test whether they read current national, regional and international news. These words formed part of the increasing harder words.

Finally in 1967, teachers formed the bulk of Civil Servants in the Public Service in Anguilla, thus had this Department of Government downed its tools, where would the Revolution been today? The majority of the teachers of the island were in complete agreement with the leaders for a number of reasons. Namely our teachers were rarely trained. If we received two teachers per year we were lucky. At least one Headmaster was trained, prior to the Revolution, over a number of years. Again school supplies were far and in between. I indicated the above because as teachers left the Public Service they are and were discarded as unusable rags. Not only during the time that Anguilla was part of the tripartite state of St Kitts/Nevis and Anguilla but successive Anguillian Governments since 1967.
Another point of significance is the absence of decorations from Her Majesty the Queen. There was one, the late Teacher Wilma Lake. As far as the Anguilla National Awards it took a former teacher to suggest that teachers should be honoured because they carried the burden in the early years of the Revolution. There are many more of these injustices but I have only listed the poignant issues. What is happening to those of us who have retired from the Public Service is that we are financially unable to properly exist in our present day Anguilla. I am therefore beseeching Government to assist these Civil Servants who retired and particularly those of us who retired in 1967 and 1990’s as well as all others. To achieve this I hereby suggest that increases in salaries should be based on the point in the scales from which the Public Servants left the service. I firmly believe that this would be an equitable way to ensure that retirees would be able to at least exist with the escalating high cost of living in Anguilla now and the future.

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