Jonathon Hopkins, Senior Markets Reporter with Reuters News inLondon, may not have been visiting Anguilla this week had it not been for his father, Dennis Hopkins.
His father was a member of the first wave of Metropolitan Police, part of the British invasion force, which arrived on the island in March 1969. He told stories of that event to his family which, after more than 40 years, stirred the curiosity of his son to see the island of which he had heard so much.
“I came to Anguilla because my father was a Police Officer here after the paratroopers arrived,” Jonathon told The Anguillian on Tuesday. “He spent three months here and it is something he always talked about, and it made me come to see the island where he stayed. He passed on 18 months ago. He was just a Police Constable then, with ten years in the Metropolitan Police Service when he came to Anguilla, and was working in the Special Patrol Group – hence the reason they were sent here. He was firearm trained and why he came in the first wave.”
Mr. Hopkins, a guest at Arawak Beach Inn, atIslandHarbour, said he spent the first few days relaxing and enjoying the sun, sand and gorgeous beaches of Anguilla and later set out to travel across the island. Before driving around, he stopped by Heritage Collection Museum at East End, where the Curator is Mr. Colville Petty.
“I think the museum is very good,” he commented. “Mr. Petty was very kind and very informative. The museum put the revolution in perspective to the whole island’s history and how hard the people of the island had it. That was very interesting. Of course the information about the revolution is what interested me. I wanted to see whether there were any photos of my father… I have seen photos on the internet and occasionally in newspapers of British Police enjoying themselves on beaches…
“My father’s memories were always of interesting and happy things. Whether that was what he wanted to put across to us, I don’t know, but certainly there must have been some conflict at the time and I am sure that they absolved it. He always said that the first wave of Police Officers had a hard job…but those who came after and stayed on…had a party time.I found, as I said,Heritage Collection Museum to be very interesting.”
Mr. Hopkins said Anguilla was a very beautiful place. He was only in the Caribbean once before when he visited Antigua. “Anguillais very different; a lot smaller and less developed; but with lots of very nice resorts and gorgeous beaches and very friendly people,” he added. “I am only half-way in my holiday which is brilliant, but I am going back to London on Friday.”
