Growing Up in Nevis

By Lynell Nolan

Lynell Nolan was born in the village of Mt. Lily on the island of Nevis, West Indies, in 1947. After his formal education in 1965, he joined the St. Christopher, Nevis & Anguilla Police Force. In 1972 he immigrated to Canada and served as a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Force prior to his return to Nevis in 1998.

Mr. Nolan has set out to give readers a glimpse of what life was like in his community during the period of his birth and his migrating to Canada in 1972. He was inspired by a temporary museum with artifacts that were displayed at the 75th anniversary of his first school, the Combermere Elementary School, reunion in 2015. It was recognized that the items that were displayed were now outdated and in most cases non-existent. At this juncture Mr. Nolan realized that not only were Nevisians losing their identity, but those of the younger generation were oblivious of the challenges faced by previous generations.

This book relates to the upbringing of Mr. Nolan, while at the same time giving an historic view of the community in which he lived at the time. Although he concentrated on the community in which he was raised, the book also addresses what life was like in other communities in Nevis.

Mr. Nolan also hopes that this book will inspire other history students to take on the challenge to be involved in similar projects to teach the present and future generations of the legacy that our fore parents have contributed to the island of Nevis.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Jun 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9780228890690

Lynell Nolan

Mr. Nolan has worked as a police officer for 32 years and a Director of Safety & Security with DeVry University for 9 years. He also served as a senator in the Nevis Island Assembly for 2 years. Mr. Nolan continues to be involved in community activities and presently serves as the president in 2 organizations.While in Canada, in 1992 Mr. Nolan was a co-founder of the Association of Black Law Enforcers and was one of the seven founders recognized for their contributions during the association's awards ball in 2022.Mr. Nolan has previously authored a book, "Being Black in Scarlet," speaking of his experiences as a Black officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.He is now retired and spends his spare time in animal husbandry and vegetables and fruits farming.

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Copyright © 2023 by Lynell Nolan

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www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-0-2288-9068-3 (Hardcover)

978-0-2288-9067-6 (Paperback)

978-0-2288-9069-0 (eBook)

About the Author

Lynell Nolan was born in the village of Mount Lily, on the island of Nevis, in the West Indies on April 21, 1947. He lived in that community until the age of eighteen. Mr. Nolan’s aspiration while growing up on Nevis was to become a police officer, a dream he realized when he joined the St. Christopher-Nevis and Anguilla Police Force. His six-month, police recruitment training took place in Barbados from June 1965 to January 1966. He spent the next five years living and working on St. Kitts before transferring to Nevis where he served for a further two years.

In October of 1972, Mr. Nolan left the police force having attained the position of Acting Sergeant and immigrated to Canada. While in Canada, he worked in private security prior to joining the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), one of the most prestigious police forces in the world. While with the RCMP, he attained the rank of Acting Sergeant, and worked in various sections of the organization including airport policing in Ottawa and Toronto; general patrol duties in Richmond, British Columbia; security services, drug enforcement, commercial crime, federal enforcement, proceeds of crime, and protective diplomatic services in Toronto. He was a founding member of the Association of Black Law Enforcers (A.B.L.E.) in Canada and together with six other officers was recognized in October of 2022 for their contributions as founding members. He served with the RCMP for twenty-five years before returning to Nevis in 1998. Mr. Nolan authored Being Black in Scarlet describing his experiences as a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Upon his return to Nevis, Mr. Nolan spent the next two years working as a businessman before becoming the Director of Security at the Nisbet Beach Plantation resort, where he worked for three years. He then became the Director of Safety and Security with DeVry University with postings at the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in St. Kitts, the Medical University of the Americas in St. Maarten, and the Ross University School of Medicine in Dominica. He retired from active duty in July of 2013.

Mr. Nolan spent two years serving as a Senator in the Nevis Island Assembly between 2002 and 2004. He continued to be involved with many other community groups and organizations. Currently, he is serving as a member of the Federal Criminal Justice Strategic Committee, and on the Defence Force Promotion Board.

Mr. Nolan has witnessed the many changes that have taken place on Nevis over the decades. As there is little documentary evidence to teach the present youth about the rich history that had taken place during his own early years on the island, mostly between the 1950s and the 1970s, he has written this book. His recollection of those years, especially in St. James Parish on Nevis, serves as a reflection of the other communities on Nevis and it should not be lost with the passing of time. Instead, it should serve as a testimony to the good times before the advent of the advanced technology. In doing so, he has set out to document some, a minor portion, of his experiences. So that those who also lived through that period can reflect on the past, and those who come after can learn of their fore parents’ experiences.

The author, although having lived in both Nevis and Canada, and having travelled to many other countries is still of the belief that life on Nevis is the best. Even if there might be a lack of certain amenities. Being on Nevis provides Mr. Nolan with the opportunity to be involved with his gardening and his animal husbandry, while still maintaining his community activities.

Preface

I began writing this book in 2015 after the seventy-fifth reunion of the Combermere All Age Elementary School. My wife, Omel Roberts-Nolan organized a museum for the occasion and had many artifacts arranged in the main hall of the school. The interest showed over these items was overwhelming and inspired me to write a book. My book would address both my experiences and some of the objects used during my early years living on Nevis.

Since I wished to address several of the artifacts that had been displayed during the reunion along with my personal experiences, I decided to focus on the period between 1950 and the early seventies. It was the timeframe that I was most familiar with. I felt that it would serve as a reflection for those who had lived through that period, while also serving as a testimony to those born after that period.

Rather than just profiling the exhibits that had been displayed, I wished to dive deeper and address the period that they were related to and give a more detailed description of what the living conditions had been like. The book not only provides researched material, but also details my own personal experiences.

There have been many changes in the living conditions on Nevis, but I have made every effort to limit my focus on the years between 1950 and the mid-seventies. Most of the information I provide took place in the St. James Parish community, but the experiences were somewhat similar throughout the island of Nevis, and even the Caribbean.

I was further inspired to write this book when I witnessed many structures and buildings being torn down. The historical aspects of the communities were disappearing without any attempt to record or preserve a picture of the past. It felt like it was a loss of our identity, without any acknowledgement of where we had come from.

It was therefore important that someone take on the task of recording a portion of our history, despite it being somewhat late. It might not be much, but this contribution can be supplemented through the contributions of others.

When I speak about my past experiences with younger people, I am always questioned about our past traditions. Today, with the changes in technology, the processes we utilize in our lives now, and the ease in which our jobs are accomplished, I am usually asked how we survived without the present-day technologies. I look back and realize that we used the past skills and technologies that existed at that time and thought that they were the best available. To us at the time, it was a normal existence.

The experiences and hard work we endured created a level of discipline and work ethic that is difficult to duplicate today. Things that were done then were based on a collective experience, unlike today where it has become more of an individualistic interest.

My life achievements currently have far exceeded my expectations while growing up. I did not foresee the many opportunities and experiences that would be afforded to me and the way I would embrace the various challenges. I did not envisage that I would travel, nor did I foresee the responsibilities that would be entrusted to me. I would never have imagined that I would become a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, an organization that I did not even know existed growing up. An organization that did not cater to Blacks when I joined the force. When I was part of one of the most respectable police organizations in the world, I did not foresee my becoming an advocate for visible minorities and women rights. Nor did I ever imagine becoming one the founding members of the Association of Black Law Enforcers (A.B.L.E.) in Canada, an association created to bridge the gap between law enforcement and the Black community.

Having dropped out of high school at the age of eighteen, I would not have expected that my scholastic achievements would have advanced to include college and university. Further, I never imagined that I would have the opportunity of being on the faculty and being an executive at three medical universities: Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in St. Kitts, the Medical University of the Americas in St. Maarten, and the Ross University School of Medicine in Dominica.

I had no idea that I would serve as the head of several organizations, both in Canada and on Nevis. Neither did I expect that I would act as a representative of the people of Nevis as a Senator in the Nevis Island Assembly. These achievements were not envisioned as I grew up in Mount Lily and lived through the hardships that existed at the time. Despite the hardships that existed throughout those years, when I reflect on that period in my life, I must say that lifestyle was more enjoyable.

Table of Contents

About the Author

Preface

Chapter 1 - My Early Years on Nevis

Chapter 2 - Daily Activities in the Early Years

Chapter 3 - General Discipline, Schooling, and Dreams

Chapter 4 - Agriculture on Nevis

Chapter 5 - Medical Services on Nevis

Chapter 6 - Commerce on Nevis

Chapter 7 - Recreation on Nevis

Chapter 8 - Community Activities on Nevis

Chapter 9 - Transportation on Nevis

Chapter 10 - Politics on Nevis

Chapter 11 - Holidays on Nevis

Chapter 12 - The Legal System on Nevis

Chapter 13 - Disasters on Nevis

Chapter 14 - Technology on Nevis

Chapter 15 - Tourism on Nevis

Chapter 16 - A Comparison of the Past and Present

Acknowledgements

Source Notes

Chapter One

My Early Years on Nevis

Growing up today is not like it used to be in the old days. This was a statement I heard constantly from my mother and the older residents in the village of Mount Lily. But I happen to believe I was blessed to have experienced the decades of the fifties, sixties, and seventies on the island of Nevis.

It happened sometime during the daylight hours. I cannot remember if it was in the morning or during the afternoon. Whether it was sunny or a cloudy day, or how many of the village men were involved in the operation. What I do remember is walking behind a truck on which my parents’ small two-room house (it was one room but had a cloth screen separating the bedroom from the other area) was being transported. The truck was moving it from the location where I had been born in the upper Mount Lily Village, a mere three years before, to the place where I was to spend the balance of my childhood years. It was in the middle of Mount Lily, an area where the ghaut is, or where the water crosses from the east to the west side of the roadway and travels on its way to the sea.

My mother was married at the age of eighteen, to the dislike of her parents. My father was a little more mature at the age of twenty-four when they married. Even though they were still in their twenties at the time when the house was moved, they seemed to me to be more mature than people of the same age today. Although they sought to make an independent stand in life, neither of them had much to start family life with. But because of the love they had for each other, they decided to strike out on their own. I can still hear my mother saying they had decided that if they only had one grain of salt to share, at least each of them would get a suck of it until it was finished.

This was the love I knew and was exhibited between my mother and father during the years they shared together. Until his passing on September 18, 1985, at the age of sixty-seven. Ironically, September 18th was forty years after the day that their second child, Carmen, was born. I learned that my mother’s parents were not happy with their union, as they had admonished my mother that she was linking up with someone who had nothing. As she was told, my dad did not even have a pot to piss in.

Before their marriage, my father seemed to have been a womanizer. He already had two children with two other women in the community. My mother, being a born-again Christian since the age of twelve did not want to be in a relationship with someone unless she was married. So, she went against the wishes of her parents and entered the union of marriage with my father. There were hardships that followed, but through hard work and determination their marriage lasted.

This is the type of pot my grandmother referred to when admonishing my mother for marrying my father. It was kept in the bedroom and used to urinate in during the night, rather than going outside in the dark. In the morning it was emptied some distance away from the house.

Prior to their marriage, my dad spoke with a lady in the village and was able to rent the one room house from her. They eventually turned it into a two-room residence by placing a cloth screen as a divider down the middle of the room. One room was now used as the bedroom, while the other was used as a living and dining room. The space was limited but served its purpose.

A year or two passed before my father managed to build his own little house on the property that he was renting. This was no modern-day house. He went into the mountains and made sills, or lumber for the house from large trees that he had chosen as suitable. He built their house from the lumber and pieces of wood that he had managed to collect from salt fish boxes. Later it was covered by locally made wooden shingles.

My father was a fisherman and travelled to St. Kitts, sometimes three times a week to sell his catch. While there he made every effort to collect as many of those salt fish boxes as possible. He used those boxes for the siding on the house. Shingles were made of wood from the mountain and were placed over the wood from the salt fish boxes on the sides and roof of the house. This was the house that I remembered walking behind and was the first experience of my life etched into my memory.

I also remember the house being taken off the truck where it was making its final stop. I remember the men singing a song and when they would push in unison at certain points during the move. They also used a saying to ensure their movements were made in unison. One of the men would say, The ram, the ewe, and the weddar. At the mention of weddar, everyone would push or lift.

Moving small houses was something that these men had done many times before and were pros at. The community worked together and whenever a job such as this was required, the men from Mount Lily along with the neighbouring villages of Fountain, Camps and Newcastle would show up and assist. This community style of living did not permit them to charge for their work, so the only payment required was for the truck hired to do the transport.

However, the ladies would put together a noticeably big meal of potatoes, yams, dumplings, and fresh pot fish or salt fish. It would be ready for the men once the house was resting in its final spot. It was not unusual to have a bottle or two of the locally brewed Hammond, an alcoholic drink preferred by the men.

They usually chose some special stones to place at the corners of the house and midway between the corners of the house. At some later date the house would be reinforced with some larger posts that were strategically placed to better support the structure and prevent the house from shifting in the event of tropical storms or hurricanes.

Some of the houses in the villages were elevated so there would be storage space under the house. This storage space was ideal for storing coal or other items not appropriate to be stored inside the house or in the open environment. I can remember crawling from one side of the house to the other in the lower space under our house.

The following houses are an example of the houses that many families owned and felt comfortable living in.

Although our initial house only had the two rooms, my parents at this time had four children. Their eldest was a son whom they called Oville. Their second child was a girl who they gave the name of Carmen. I was the third child and was followed by my sister, Hyacinth. In the space of six years, they had been blessed with their first four children and my mom was once again pregnant with their fifth child.

(LEFT) My four sisters. Carmen, Hyacinth, Doldria, and Eulita. The photo was taken in the late 1950s. (RIGHT) The Nolan family in 1968. Left to right–Hyacinth, my mom (Eulalie), Carmen, my dad (Jonathan), Eulita, Lynell, and Doldria. Missing was Oville who was living and working in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.

I look back today and wonder how we all lived in that house; and found ourselves so comfortable. It was normal in many of the homes in the village to live in those cramped quarters. So, I think my parents were somewhat satisfied with their accommodation.

What I remember most was that my mom and dad slept in a bed that we referred to as the bedstead. It was made of an iron frame and had boards across the frame on which there was a mattress stuffed with grass. Under this bed a few of the children slept on some old clothes and it was referred to as the lodging. The younger ones would be in the bedroom sleeping under the bed or next to the bed, while the older two had their bedding or lodgings made up each night when it was time to sleep.

The older children slept in the outer room that we called the sitting or living room. Their beds were made up of old clothing that was spread on top of a crocus bag, the bags that the sugar and rice were imported in. Their initial contents weighed 50 pounds. The crocus bags were also used by the farmers to pack their sea island cotton for sale. In the morning, the lodgings were taken outside, so that they could be aired and dried. This was required because the younger children usually wet their lodgings while sleeping. So, airing