Here is a never before seen in the group, excerpt from my eBook, A Conchy-Joe Growing up in The Bahamas. It is in chapter two and is the early to mid 1950s. I would appreciate any purchase of the eBook very much. When only 4 ½ years old Hurricane Fox was approaching and it was quite a commotion it caused in battening down the hatches, as it was called. This meant boarding up the multiple windows and doors with plywood. There was a knothole in one of the boards covering a window facing the harbor and peeking out that peephole as the storm strengthens I could see things blowing by and the harbor water was violently crashing in every direction, right up to the house. Also observed was what looked like a massive ball of fire rolling down the harbor. At this time, the conclusion reached is that it must have been some kind of electrical effect from the storm. The house was relatively undamaged. The front coral wall was askew but put back in place by Uncle Jim, Emma, the maids, husband. The death of Little Grampy is in a recollection in 1952. I walked to his room on the left side of the house and shook him, telling him to wake up as he usually rose early. He never did. There were lots of crying and people coming and going for a couple of days. Swimming in the salty harbor, across the two-lane street was always a fun thing to do. There are vivid memories of father throwing me off The East Bay dock into deeper water to teach me to swim. The old sink or swim lesson. I didn’t know he would help me if it was needed. With not being sure how old I was when this occurred I think we will go with about five. I have been a fish in water ever since. Malcolm’s Park is just west of the White House on the seashore side of the road. My siblings and I played here frequently, but the most fun was skiing down the sand piles. The Nassau Harbour has to be constantly dredged of sand to keep the deep channel for the large cruise ships and other large ships, and it was piled here in what at my age seem to be like mountains. I would guess that, in reality, they were 25 feet tall. The sand was then sold for use in mostly concrete for constructing buildings. Our “skis” were made from wooden barrels, the kind that was held together by 2 or 3 steel bands. I am not sure why, but there were always these barrels we could disassemble and attach to our shoes in one creative manner or another with whatever materials were available. There was a store on Earnest Street called Milo B. Butler, which was owned by a gentleman who would eventually become Bahamian Governor-General, Milo B. Butler. He was honored by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in February 1975 during her visit to Nassau when he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. This was the store we always walked to to spend a few pence we had for Johnny Cake or Guava Jam or other Bahamian sweets. Emma and Netta were our maids and cooks, and they also took care of all the children. They had to be very busy people. I don’t have a lot of memories of them in the White House, but I do remember that everyone in our family adored them. Emma had a husband we called Uncle Jim and their house was on the back portion of the property. Emma and Uncle Jim had a daughter Lillian. Lillian worked for mum on and off for many more years at several more houses. The house and property were sold in 1953 to set up The East Bay Shopping Center. Big Granny de Glanville put in the contract that the servants had to have a new house built at the back of the shopping center. That house is still there as of when I went to check on them last, Netta and Lillian still lived there even though they were aged, they were apparently happy and healthy.
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 21:49:55 +0000
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