One of the current books about the history of Anguilla – Bless OurForebears – by Mr. Colville Petty, OBE, has been presented to the Education Department by LIME’s General Manager, Mr. Mark Romney, for distribution to the schools. The presentation was made on Tuesday, May 28, through Ms. Veda Harrigan, Education Officer for Pre and Primary Schools.
Mr. Petty, a historian, writer and political analyst, published the 96-page book in July, 2008. The book examines the 1840s, 1890s and 1900s. It provides the people of Anguilla with a deeper sense of their history; highlights the hardships and sufferings which their forebears endured to ensure their children and their off-spring had a place they could call home; it enables present and future generations to learn from the experiences of their forebears; and provides historical material which would be useful in better understanding socio-economic and political phenomena in Anguilla.
Bless Our Forebears is a precursor to Anguilla’s Battle For Freedom 1967-1969. Its presentation to the schools came as Anguilla celebrates the 46th Anniversary of its 1967 Revolution, a culmination of the island’s century-and-a-half struggle against its annexation with St. Kitts in 1825.
Mr. Mark Romney said LIME took great pleasurein making the presentation to the Department of Education, heralding the company’s commitment to education in Anguilla and inkeeping with its overall corporate responsibility. He observed that there were three significant chapters in the island’s history – the pre-revolution, revolution and post-revolution periods – and indicated his willingness to make additional books available to the schools later on.
Ms Harrigan was delighted to accept Bless Our Forebears on behalf of the Department of Education, Principals, Staff and Students of the Primary Schools. “Thank you for presenting these books to us on the 46th Anniversary of the Anguilla Revolution,” she told Mr. Romney. “They will go a very long way in the teaching and learning of Anguilla’s history. We realise there is not much information prior to the Anguilla Revolution. You can find some books written on the Revolution, but not much prior to that, so our children are not really knowledgeable of what took place in Anguilla before the Revolution. These books therefore go a very long way in educating our children as to what Anguilla was like prior to the Revolution.”
Mr. Petty, who had previously-scheduled appointments at his Heritage Collection Museum, was represented at the ceremony by Nat Hodge, co-author of Anguilla’s Battle For Freedom.Mr. Hodge commended Mr. Petty for recording the social and cultural history of the island in the early years and for his additional work in writing extensively about the Anguilla Revolution. He also conveyed Mr. Petty’s thanks to LIME for presenting Bless Our Forebears to the Education Department, thus supporting education and Anguilla’s history in the schools.
