Book Description:
This book is about memories of a boarding school life, and is also a
tribute to the Grenada Boys’ Secondary School (GBSS) Hostel as a great
educational institution in a then emerging country. Academic disciplines were
taught at the GBSS.
The Hostel supplemented academics with lessons on personal interactions
and relationships, and on social living in general. The keys to life in the
Hostel were discipline and camaraderie - in study; in play; and in other
aspects of social life.
Hostel Boys were more confined than boys living outside, but such
confinement was without a baggage of written rules, and life therein provided
several opportunities for individual personal development.
In the words of one Hostel Boy: "So many of us came to the Hostel
as brash, crude, 'ignorant', unhewn base metals, and left as polished
gems." Though the book does not specifically deal with the issue, it
challenges the reader to ponder the issue of channeling the always roving human
spirit in positive directions at a young age.
Dr. Winston Phillips
The GBSS
Hostel (1946 -1973) was located between the GBSS and the Spout, in three
buildings – the Top Dormitory; the Middle Building and the Bottom Dormitory.
Physically, the Hostel enjoyed a panoramic view from Morne Jaloux through
Springs to the Carenage at the Library.
The site is
now occupied by the T.A. Marryshow Community College. The residents of the
Hostel were boys, ages ranging from 11 to 18 years, mostly from the rural
parishes and from Carriacou and Petite Martinique. The Hostel was run by a
Hostel Master and Matron, assisted by Prefects, usually senior boys.
In this
book –“The Grenada Boys’ Secondary School Hostel - Reminiscing on a boarding
school life in Grenada”, Dr. Winston Phillips, a Hostel Boy from 1953-1960
looks back at life in the Hostel.
Hostel Boys
have distinguished themselves in many phases of professional life in the
Caribbean and elsewhere. Among its many distinguished residents were Sir Paul
Scoon, Dr. Stan Friday, Osbert Benjamin (Permanent Secretary) and former
Commissioner of Police, Nestor Ogilvie.
About the
book, the author states: “My main reason for writing about the Hostel was
because the Hostel meant a lot to me and my personal development. And it also
has meant a lot to other Hostel Boys since, whenever we meet. we talk on and on
about our experiences in the Hostel – about Meals, the GBSS Headmaster (K.I.M.
Smith), Hostel Masters, boys’ escapades, relationships between senior and
junior boys, times of relaxation and of serious study, church-going, illnesses
and going to dances, discipline, responsibility, emulation, competitiveness,
friendship , punishments, and privileges.
In
addition, I wrote the book to pay tribute to the institution and its inner
workings which impacted on our young lives. I have with this book accomplished
what I wanted to do – to say THANKS!
But the
GBSS Hostel is also part of Grenada’s history. History in its right use is
always meant to be shared so that those today may have points of reference in
the past.”
The book
reminisces on the personal growth of young boys in a framework of freedom
within physical boundaries and other limitations, combined with
responsibilities in a daily regimen that resulted in the cultivation of ‘young
men of character’. Hostel Boys think they had two avenues for learning: the
GBSS provided mainly academic lessons, while the Hostel provided life and
community lessons.
The book
pays tribute to the Hostel and the resilience of its residents, and in the
spirit of the GBSS School Song specifically recognizes three recent ‘beacons
who marked the way” for Hostel Boys in particular, and for Grenadians in
general.
Appendices
include pieces by Rowley Jeffrey (Hostel Boy and author – ‘Gems in the
Cracks’); by Dr. John George (renowned gynecologist), and by George Griffith
(former Grenada Ambassador and now a J.P. in Toronto) – friends and admirers of
the Hostel.
This book
is well written with an easy style that does not weigh heavily on the mind, but
instead incites laughter at some of the stories. It is worth reading.
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Winston J. Phillips
ACADEMIC:
Dr. Winston
Phillips, aka ‘Papalee’ and ‘Bobby’ began his academic career at the Wesley
Hall Methodist School on Lucas Street, followed by two years at the St.
Michael’s R.C School, in Byelands, St. Andrew, where he won a scholarship to
the GBSS.
He attended
the GBSS and GBSS Hostel from 1953 to 1960. At the GBSS, Bobby was widely
known for his prowess in athletics, cricket and football. He was Victor Ludorum
for the 1960 GBSS School Sports and for the Inter-Island School Sports
held in 1960 in Grenada.
Other
achievements while at the GBSS were: Head Prefect of the GBSS and Head Prefect
of the GBSS Hostel; Company Quarter Master Sergeant (CQMS) in the GBSS Cadet
Corps; voted by the School as the boy who best epitomized the spirit of the
GBSS. He passed Senior Cambridge in 1957 and Higher School Certificate in 1959.
In 1960 he placed 3rd in the Island Scholarship Examinations.
In 1961
Bobby was a Teacher at GBSS, before entering UWI, Mona from which, in 1964, he
earned a B.SC (Econ) with Upper Second Class Honours.
In 1964, he
was one of two graduate students starting the Graduate Program in Agricultural
Economics at UWI, St. Augustine. His M.Sc Thesis on ” The Major Export Crops of
Grenada – Market Factors and their implications for Production”, was selected
as the best M.Sc thesis for 1966/67 winning two faculty prizes: the Texaco
Agricultural Research Prize, and the Currie Memorial Prize – as the
student with best personal and academic record. In 1971 Bobby earned a PhD
degree in Agricultural Economics from the Pennsylvania State University.
PROFESSIONAL:
Dr. Phillips became a Lecturer then; Senior Lecturer at University of Guyana
from 1971-1974 when he was seconded to Guyana National Service as Assistant Director
General (Planning) with a rank of Major. From 1977-1986, he was first a
Commonwealth Secretariat Consultant in Agricultural Economics to CARICOM
Secretariat, then Chief of the Agricultural Development Section, CARICOM
Secretariat. From 1971-1982, he was the External Examiner in Economics and
Agricultural Economics for the UWI campuses.
After being
Coordinator of the Grenada Agricultural Rehabilitation and Crop Diversification
Project from 1986-1991, Dr. Phillips worked as an FAO (UN) Consultant; and as a
Consultant, Projects, at the Caribbean Food Corporation in Trinidad.
During his stint in Grenada, he was President of the GBSS Old Boys’ Association
and responsible for its revival, and for the establishment of a GBSS Fire Fund.
From
1994-95 Dr. Phillips was a Consultant to Development Division, FAO, in Rome,
later becoming the FAO Representative to the Stare of Eritrea, East Africa from
1995-2000. In 2000, he returned to the Region as Senior Programme Officer, FAO
Sub-Regional Office in the Caribbean located in Barbados.
He retired
in 2003. His book: “The Grenada Boys Secondary School Hostel: Reminiscing on a
boarding school life in Grenada” was published in November, 2009.
