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Edward Margetson
Edward Margetson Edward Margetson was born in Parsons on the 31st December 1892. Music was in his blood, in fact it had brought his parents together. His father Henry Francis Margetson was a choral director and his mother, Marie (nee Thomas) was considered the finest pianist of her time. It was therefore no surprise that young Edward showed signs of musical talent at a very early age. At age five, when his feet could barely reach...
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Dr. Lenore Harney
Jean Lenore Harney was born in St. Kitts on April 14th, 1925 to Mr. John Leonard Harney, a local businessman, and his wife, Mae. She was the youngest of their five daughters. She was educated, both at the primary and secondary levels, in St. Kitts. As a student at the Girls High School, Lenore (the name she was better known by) competed for the Leeward Islands Scholarship against other outstanding students, male and female, from all...
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Isa A. E. Bradley
Isa A. E. Bradley Isa A. E. Bradley the daughter of Thomas Bradley and his wife, Blanche Wattley was born in New Town on the 19th May 1877. The family lived in Salt Pond Alley, then also known as Sugar Loaf Alley, in a house that has belonged to John Thomas Bradley a stevedore. Unmarried and with no children of her own, Bradley was devoted to the teaching profession. Her career started at as a pupil teacher...
Read moreOur Places
The Bungalow - Newton Ground
In 1920, Charles Wilton Wood Greenidge who had come from Barbados to serve as a magistrate tried again. A young man of 31, he must have found St. Kitts a quiet place with lots of potential for enterprise. Soon after his arrival, he had acquired Brotherson’s estate and he envisioned the estate becoming the location of a second sugar factory with shipping to take place in the vicinity as well. The Bungalow at Newton Ground...
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College Street
When the tiny settlement of Basseterre was founded in 1627 College Street was very likely its western boundary but with the growth of the population and the construction work undertaken by Governor De Poincy, the settlement gradually grew into a small town. College Street got its name from the Jesuit College which was erected north of the town (now Douglas Estate). The Jesuits had replaced the Capuchins in 1642 after De Poincy expelled them for what...
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Salt Pond
Salt Pond, St. Kitts English and French settlers started setting up colonies on St. Kitts from 1624. They share the island and agreed to keep the peace unless war was declared by their sovereign nations. The area now called the Salt Ponds was to be used in common. The very narrow isthmus that connects the Salt Pond area to the main part of St. Kitts was very hilly and heavily wooded making it easier to access the...
Read moreOur Events
Labour Day - first Monday in May
Labour Day March, 1955 The afternoon events at the park were well attended. The Union’s Entertainment Committee organised a Steel Band Competition. Esso, Wilberforce, Amstel, Boston Braves, Battalion and Invaders competed with the last emerging as the winners. Lord Croft sang a special Labour Day Calypso. The bands then played on the streets of Basseterre. Looking to the future, the Messenger’s editorial declared, “The idea is not yet as firmly rooted as it might have been, but...
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The Arts Festival - 18 Aug 1964
Arts Festival - String Band, St. Kitts On the 18th August 1964, the Education Centre, now the Basseterre High School, was the venue of “an evening of One Act Plays”. The plays were The Doctor in spite of Himself, by Moliere produced by Eustace John and Sunday Costs twenty-five dollars produced by Aimee Dinzey. This was the beginning of the first Arts Festival in St. Kitts that was to last for 15 days. The idea of an...
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Buckley's Strike - 28 Jan 1935 (a time line)
Estate Workers 1934, December: The Wade Estates paid their workers a Christmas bonus of 8d per ton of cane cut. Other estates paid only 3d per ton cut. Some estates refused to pay any bonus to their workers. 1935, January: There were cane fires on several sugar estates near Basseterre. 1935, 20 Jan: Estate workers from all over the island attended a Universal Benevolent Association meeting called by its Secretary, Joseph Nathan. He advised them that since there...
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