Reminiscing on a boarding school life in Grenada

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.