Mr. Christopher Richardson (Chris) is the latest author to launch a book in Anguilla. It is entitled Looking Back through the eyes of a Teacher’s Son and the person it refers to, most affectionately, is his mother, Mrs. Enid Richardson, of the Water Swamp. She has taught at the Stoney Ground, Valley and West End Primary Schools in Anguilla.
For the purposes of the book, Mrs. Enid Richardson, who wrote the foreward, is a former Headmistress of the Primary School in Sandy Point, a proud town in St. Kitts, where the stories, written by her son, in his 224-page book, evolved. Her own children, including Chris, were among those she taught. Chris’ stories capture the cultural and social lives, in particular of, the town’s peasant inhabitants as well as some aspects of the lives of the Richardson family itself. The family is linked to Anguilla through its head, Mr. Morgan Richardson, an Anguillian and former Corporal of Police in St. Kitts, who became a Sergeant in Anguilla when he, his wife and children, took up residence on the island in 1978.
Chris, who lived for some time with his uncle (his mother’s brother) in the Turks and Caicos Islands, was surrounded there by a mass of books owned by his uncle who was studying law. While Chris, then a very young boy, read some of the complicated legal texts, his mind lingered on the lighter side of real life involving the Sandy Point village stories he had come to love and wished to write about some day. He also had the opportunity to read stories and to admire the literary works of authors in the Caribbean and beyond.
He praised his mother for the interest in reading and education she had instilled in him, and his siblings, and took the opportunity to read a special message she had written to him in poetic form. It included the phrase: “You will be a man, my son” – words that have eventually been fulfilled. Not only does Chris have his own family – (a wife, Sandra, and three children), but among other things he is the Assistant Manager at CuisinArt Golf Resort and Spa, and holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration. He serves as Music Minister in the Christian Fellowship Church and has now emerged as a storyteller and book author.
Chris feels that though set in Sandy Point, St. Kitts, his book is a Caribbean narrative reflecting life, culture and customs of common interest among the people of the region. In Sandy Point, his family was regarded as middle class but the village life of the ordinary and poorer folk greatly appealed to him – and so he would found himself mingling with them, seeing how they lived and indelibly recording in his mind the community stories that so often cropped up. It is some of these stories that have colourfully made their way in his literary work.
Chris’ sister, Mrs. Grace Richardson-Carty, who gave the feature address, said that he was always a different family member – often described as having been “fast” in terms of being nosey, “showing off” and “a talker” in terms of being in adult company and portraying his knowledge on various matters. It is perhaps those traits that made him a keen observer, a thinker, and enabled him to bring out the characteristics and players of his village life experience so eloquently, passionately and vividly.
She recalled that the people of Sandy Point had long been a proud people – doing everything opposite to their fellow nationals in the other villages. For example, if seven Labour Party politicians were elected in the other constituencies, the other politician – a candidate of the Peoples’ Action Movement – was elected in Sandy Point.
Grace said that Chris had come to know all the business in the village. He was always in the centre of everything and therefore knew the stories first hand. “Sandy Point is an interesting village, and Chris is a good storyteller. His book is worth reading. It is a keepsake and a good laugh,” she concluded.
The launch of the book was at Shannon House, site of a car rental company operated by Chris and his family at Lower South Hill. The ceremony, chaired by his daughter, Deleon, was well attended by a number of people including persons from Sandy Point, St. Kitts, residing in Anguilla. The Vote of Thanks was delivered by Chris’ wife, Mrs. Sandra Richardson.
Copies of the Looking Back Through the Eyes of a Teacher’s Son is available at US $30 per copy.
