ANGUILLA NATIONAL TRUST– “Preservation for Generations” – Vol 8 #9, April – June, 2003 Moreover, let us ensure that clean water, sustainable use of natural resources, and environmental conservation remain a priority issue on our political agenda. Let us aim at building constructive partnership between government, Parliamentary Secretary’s Address for World th business, the environmentalist movement and the Environment Day, June 5 2003 - Part 1 general public. A partnership where we have some common aims, and an understanding of each other's needs and contribution to the sustainable use of natural resources, clean water and conservation of the environment. Undeniably there will be some areas of professional disagreement, and in some instances, difficult choices between Today, 5th June 2003 is celebrated ideals and realism. worldwide as World Environment Day under the theme Water-Two Billion People are Dying for It! The theme calls on each of us to help safeguard HERITAGE TOURS the most precious source of life on our planet “Water”. An Astronaut once said, “having seen the fragile blue ball suspended in space, the only The piloting of the Anguilla National Trust’s colour in the universe, the only place where the Heritage tours to Big Spring and East End Pond human species can survive; that he and his fellow Conservation area are continuing and word is astronauts became conscious of their stewardship spreading about the attractions at these two in caring for our world, and the responsibility that historical sites. In early April a group of 30 brings.” persons from the International Guide Movement visited Anguilla and included in their tour was a The issue of water- its quality, its quantity, visit to the Big Spring Heritage Site and the East and its guaranteed availability to all people End Pond Conservation area. regardless of income or social status is the most significant challenge facing Small Island Scheduled trips by Teachers and school children Developing States and the world today. This is from the Primary Schools around the island are why such a theme: Water-Two Billion People being carried out to make the students aware of are Dying For It! for this year’s World the historical and ecological sites while enhancing Environment Day celebrations is so appropriate. their studies on environmental issues. Other visits This theme emphasises the urgency of providing have been planned during the Summer period by an adequate supply of clean water to all the people the Tourist Board and other local groups. of the world.
ECO-CORNER
Water-Two Billion People are Dying for It!
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ANT SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING
A Special Meeting to select and elect Officers for the Anguilla National Trust’s Council was held on April 3, 2003 at the Teachers Resource Centre. Appointed Life Member Avon Carty was returned to the office of President for a final year. Two representatives of the Anguilla Archaeological and Historical Society, VicePresident Sir Emile Gumbs, who is also a Life Member, and Mr. Thomas Peabody were selected to serve on the ANT Council. The new Treasurer, Mr. James Harrigan, as well as Pastor Phillip Gumbs and Mr. Damien Hughes, were appointed while Mr. Karle Connor and Ms Ingrid Fullington were elected by the Annual General Meeting. At this Special Meeting, the services of our former Associate Executive Director, Karim Hodge, as well as former Council Members, Immediate Past President Kenn Banks, Life Member Ms Rhona Richardson, Bernice Lake, QC and Mr. Griffin Webster, were also acknowledged. Mr. Karim Hodge is now employed as the Environmental Officer in the Department of Physical Planning of the Government of Anguilla.
The Reptiles and Amphibians of Anguilla, British West Indies
The Anguilla National Trust has once again broken ground with its first publication on The Reptiles and Amphibians of Anguilla, British West Indies. The book is a product of a collaborative effort by its authors, Karim Hodge, former Associate Director of the Anguilla National Trust, Ellen J. Censky of the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and Robert Powell of the Avila University Department of Biology. The book uses attractive, high resolution, glossy photographs to feature faunal species and their habitats and focuses on Anguilla’s iguanas and other types of lizards including the endemic Sombrero black lizard, wood slaves, snakes sea turtles, tortoises or land turtles and frogs. The publication was funded by the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office Environmental Fund for Overseas Territories and is presently available at the office of the Anguilla National Trust at US$15.00 each for non-members and US$10 each for members. One hundred copies of this new book have already been sold mainly to University students in the USA. An additional publication entitled “Anguilla Sea Turtle Educators Guide” has been developed for Grades 5 at Primary level to Form 2 at the Secondary level. The lead author of this publication is Mr. Karim V.D. Hodge with coauthors Mr. Rhon Connor and Mrs Gina BrooksHodge. Funding for this publication was made available through a United Nations Development Programme, Global Environment Facility – Small Grants Programme.
NEW MEMBERS
During the months April to June 2003, we welcomed new members - 1 Ordinary Member – Nesta King, who signed up in May, 1 Life Member - Venis Carty (upgrading from Ordinary category) and 1 Family member - Ursula and Simon Hemans, who both signed up in June. A total of 9 members have joined the Anguilla National Trust for the year 2003. Members with outstanding fees, please remember to come in and make your payments before the next Annual General Meeting.
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ONCE UPON A TIME
ANGUILLA – A SENSE OF PLACE
(with special emphasis on East End and Island Harbour) – Part 3 [By Colville Petty, OBE – Lecture given during training session for Tour Guides for the Big Spring Heritage Site and the East End Pond Conservation Area.]
Anguilla’s smallness, in terms of geographical area and population size, contributed to the creation of a close-knit society where “everybody knows everybody.” In fact there is that feeling that “all ah we is family.” A cultural trait for which Anguilla is renowned is that its people usually greet others, whether they know them or not, with “good morning” or “good afternoon” and so on. Furthermore, they are generally kind and helpful. All the foregoing aspects of Anguillian culture account for the relatively low incidence of crime on the island. I want to make the point that living in Anguilla was not easy. It had its difficulties. Its people endured many hardships caused by hurricanes, droughts and famines. But those hardships have made them a very strong people who do not lie down and die. Anguilla is a nation of survivors. Listen to this excerpt from a report on conditions here in 1845, by Deputy Governor Cunningham. He wrote: “In one small settlement at the east end of the island ... there were 5 women whose united families consisted of 37 children, the eldest of which was 16 years of age. The husbands of two of these had been lately drowned, two had died in Demerara and one was missing. These women and their families were cultivating from 12 to 15 acres of land, and not only were receiving no relief from public funds, but were taxpayers to a considerable amount. Let me give you two further examples of situations when Anguillians refused to die. In the 1840s when the British Government drew up a plan to send all of them to British Guiana, because of the difficult times here, they refused to go. They stayed home and sucked salt. Then in the
1890s when prolonged droughts and starvation caused many deaths, they again refused to leave and stayed here and scratched the earth to eke out a living. They virtually breathed life into a dry soil and laid the foundation on which we are building today. I now turn my attention to East End (the eastern part of the island) where several Arawak Indians settled in areas such as Sandy Hill, Sile Bay, Indian Bottom Hill and Savannah Bay. East End was also the area where some of the English settlers established themselves from around the seventeenth century to the nineteenth century. Actually, East End was the site of at least three sugar plantations. The partial remains of some of their factory buildings could still be seen at the Copse, the Works and Sandy Hill. In addition, the tombstone marking the remains of Deputy Governor John Richardson, one of the leading planters, who died on Christmas Day 1742, is at the Sandy Hill cemetery. Perhaps, I should mention that it was at Sandy Hill where the Anguilla militia made its last stand against a French invasion in 1796. The French landed four hundred men, from two warships (Le Desius and La Vaillante), at Rendezvous Bay. They advanced eastwards and destroyed the main settlements at South Hill and at The Valley where they "burnt the little town, pulled down the church, stabbed men in their houses and stripped women of their clothes." They also destroyed the island's trading vessels. The Anguilla militia put up a brave fight but steadily lost ground to a strong and disciplined French force. They were eventually pushed eastward towards the Sandy Hill Fort where they halted the advance of the French. It has been claimed that when the Anguillians' ammunition ran out the fishermen cut off the lead balls from their sprat seines to load the cannons. It was only when the French saw the British frigate Lapwing sail down the channel between St. Martin and Anguilla that they hurriedly abandoned their siege of the Sandy Hill Fort and took to their ships. The naval battle which followed resulted in the loss of the two French ships. 3
Incidentally, during the 1800s Sandy Hill Bay was one of Anguilla’s two main seaports. An 1868 Act named it and Road Bay as “the only lawful Ports of Entry at which any vessel . . . arriving at Anguilla may be reported or entered.” Throughout the years, Sandy Hill became famous for boatbuilding. I recall seeing many boats being launched there and that in the first half of the 1900s it was the homeport of the Edith Amy, Perseverance, Rose Millicent and Linda Lake, along with several small sloops (like the Advent Herald, Comfort, Ocean Queen and Slipping Tiger).
MEETINGS MEETINGS
MEETINGS ATTENDED BY THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Apr. 8th Poverty Assessment Meeting at the Teachers Resource Centre Apr 9th Meeting of the SEED Scheme at the Teachers Resource Centre.
TRAINING/WORKSHOPS
A one-day Workshop was held for Members of the Big Spring Action Committee and the Council for the Conservation of East End Pond at the Roadwell Café, Sandy Ground on Sunday, April 27, 2003. This Workshop was held to complete the Memorandum of Understanding that will define the relationship, roles and functions of these groups, The Anguilla National Trust and the Government of Anguilla in the management of Protected Areas on Anguilla.
Apr. 10th Meeting on Human Rights at the Chief Minister’s Office. Apr. 11th Workshop on Occupational Health and Safety. Apr 17th Meeting at the Tourist Board. Apr. 23rd Anguilla National Trust Council Meeting at the MICU Conference room. Apr. 28th – 29th A CARICAD Meeting held at Cocoloba Hotel May 5th Meeting with Mr. Ali at the Anguilla Tourist Board. Adult Education Meeting with a U.K. Advisor at the Teachers Resource Centre. May 7th Delivered a lecture to Mr. Rhon Connor’s Social Studies class at the ALHCS. May 13th ANT Council meeting at the MICU conference room. May 15th Met with First Caribbean Internaional Bank Manager – Bernard Leonce. May 16th Public Meeting re: UN Committee at The Chandeliers Conference room. May 19th Follow-up UN Committee Meeting at the Chief Minister’s Office. May 22nd Adult Education Committee at the Teachers Resource Centre June 6th Mmeeting at the Teachers Resource centre to review the St. Georges’ Monitoring document.
VISITING ARCHAEOLOGISTS
Students of the University of Vermont paid their annual visit to Anguilla in June of this year. During their visit, they were engaged in archaeological work at Rendezvous Bay. The Anguilla National Trust provides storage space for the findings which are extracted from different sites on the island by the archaeologists and the University has been making annual monetary contributions to the National Trust for the services rendered to the students, materials and findings for future study by visiting students.
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FUND RAISING
A Moonlight Excursion with a sizzling grill, cash bar together with music by Smokey and the Uprising Stars was planned for Limestone Bay on May 17th but had to be postponed as a result of the rainy weather. A new date, June 14th was scheduled for this event but was threatened by rainy weather. The proceeds from this fundraising event amounted to US$57.00 and EC$42.40.
FOR SALE AT THE TRUST OFFICE:
TRUST SHOP
Bird Identification Cards Wetlands Field Guide of Anguilla West Indian Iguana Posters National Trust Caps Reptiles & Amphibians Book
US$ 5.00 US$10.00 US$ 2.00 US$ 8.00 US$15.00
T-Shirts
Turtle Big Spring I Am the Anguilla National Trust Sand Dune Sombrero (Special Print) US$20.00 US$12.00 US$12.00 US$20.00 US$25.00
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Anguilla National Trust
“Preservation for Generations”
P.O Box 1234, The Valley Anguilla, B.W.I. Tel: (264) 497-5297 Fax: (264) 497-5571 E-mail: axanat@anguillanet.com
Website:http://www.ant.ai/
Note: ALL MEMBERS ARE REMINDED TO PAY THEIR MEMBERSHIP FEES
Wish List: Volunteers Color Printer
Scanner
Council Members: Avon Carty……………….. President Allan Morson…………….. Secretary James Harrigan……..….. Treasurer Josephine Gumbs-Connor. Legal Advisor Thomas Peabody Sir Emile Gumbs Phillip Gumbs Rhon Connor Ingrid Fullington Karle Connor Damien Hughes
Staff: Ijahnya Christian…………. Executive Director Karlyn Liburd…………….. Office Manager Marlene Richardson …..…Cleaner
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