Tombstone

By Llewelyn Pritchard

Tombstone
[The British Government’s Cover-Up]
Port Hope Simpson, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada [Part 1/3]
Series Title: Port Hope Simpson Mysteries [Vol 5a]
Copyright 2012 by Llewelyn Pritchard
Smashwords Edition
What was really going on behind the scenes?
For the first time, declassified official British Government papers shine new light on amongst other things, Government mismanagement as knowledge hidden by an incongruous granite tombstone in Port Hope Simpson, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada marked the starting point for this unique history of development of a logging settlement in southern Labrador.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Llewelyn Pritchard
• Release date: Oct 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301956289

Llewelyn Pritchard

Llewelyn's collection of books include the Series: UK Travel and Tourism Travel Handbooks Photo Albums Illustrated Diaries about European Budget Short-Break Holidays The Port Hope Simpson Diaries 1969-70 Port Hope Simpson Mysteries The Voluntary Service Overseas in Labrador and "Hidden Gem" written in honour of the staff of an Oncology Unit within a General Hospital in the National Health Service (N.H.S) in the United Kingdom (U.K.) Llewelyn has worked with The Honourable Canadian Senator William (Bill) Rompkey, on writing the history of the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) in Labrador. This is what Bill wrote in his letter to the first get- together of the VSO teachers at Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire 1-3 August 2003, "...Labrador called to you and we are calling you now. I hope you will do what you can during these few days to fill in the Labrador record with your recollections and reflections. This too will be an important contribution to Labrador history. But mainly I hope you enjoy your time together. Llewelyn Pritchard has done a remarkable job in bringing you together. He is as shrewd as Holmes and as persistent as Poirot. He could even be a great Canadian! We owe him more than we can say. It's his event and I know it will be successful. All good wishes. Bill Rompkey"

Book preview

Introduction

Well Mr Pritchard, what would you say to a reporter who greeted you on your arrival at the start of your year of voluntary service overseas, Labrador with a question about why you had come out to Canada? said the interviewer in the Hanover Square office, London, in June 1969.

Well, I said, I would politely ask him to come back in a week's time when I would have a carefully prepared statement ready for him.

So after all these years I guess nobody is any the wiser why I wanted to do in the first place. Looking back, I can think of at least three reasons. I was highly driven to help people. I wanted to have a break between school and university and lastly I needed experience of teaching to help me decide if it was to be my future career.

I did not express any particular preference about where I wanted to go and I can remember the chair of the interview panel informing me that it would be no bad reflection on me if I was not selected because four out of every five candidates were turned down. I thought how strange it was that people who came wanting to do good should ever be turned away. Did that mean four out of every five people who came to them could not help others? I thought it absolute nonsense at the time and have done ever since.

So there I was in Port Hope Simpson on 30th August 1969, appointed as a paid probationary teacher with my very own handy, pocket-sized probationary licence card working for the Newfoundland and Labrador School Board at the Anglican School. One of the first things I did was start a daily journal (Summit Special Port Hope Simpson journal and photographs of Ernie Pritchard 1969 – 1970) to help me deal with my own thoughts and feelings as I quickly had to adjust to the way of life in the community. I also took a large number of photographs which I later had developed into slides in the belief that sometime in the future they may be of interest to other people.

As things turned out, I found myself relying more and more on my journal in helping me come to terms with my situation. However, it wasn't until 32 years later that I was able to present it to the people at the town’s Coming Home celebrations from 19 to 25 July 2002, along with my selection of correspondence (Appendix 1) about a Labrador Development Company based in Port Hope Simpson. To cap it all 19 July was my birthday.

By the time I came out to the celebrations, I had finished word processing my journal and had arranged for colour photographs to be made from my slides. Another effect of Margaret Burden’s most generous offer was to motivate me to find out more about the history of Port Hope Simpson from 1934 to 1949 to satisfy my own curiosity and to hopefully take out with me anything I might