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“OUR MUSTARD SEED”
REMARKS BY
THE HON. DR. KENNY D. ANTHONY PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER FOR FINANCE, ECONOMIC
AFFAIRS, PLANNING & SOCIAL SECURITY
AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING
OF
WALCOTT HOUSE
15-17 CHAUSSÉE ROAD
CASTRIES, SAINT LUCIA
SUNDAY 24 JANUARY, 2016.
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<Protocol Acknowledgements>
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,
Friends of The Arts far and wide,
Friends of Saint Lucia,
Friends and family of Derek,
A PROUD DAY
This is a proud day.
A proud day for our country and its people.
This is a proud day for Saint Lucia.
This is a proud day for the Caribbean and its
civilisation.
This is a proud day no doubt for Derek.
This is a proud day for the memory of Roderick,
of Pam, of Warwick, of Alix.
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FOR THE ARTS GUILD
This is a proud day for the Arts Guild, and its
inheritors.
We might recall them as if a litany of actors:
“Jakes” and “Spa,” Sextus and Sonia, “Mackie”
and McDonald, the two Ruths, Harwick and
Hogarth, Ornan and Kenneth, George and
Keith, Egbert and Primrose, Pancrus and
Maurice, Connie and Marcellus, Lennie and
Martin, “Secra” and “Mockie,” Winston and
“Specie” the jester; the memories of the Turks
in the yard, the calypso melodies on steel pan,
and those who watched on from the flanks and
from the audience.
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In this house, their memories, whether living or
lost, can find a spiritual home. In this house,
our spirits can be heated and enlivened like the
heat under the midday sun.
This is a proud day for those who admire the
arts, and who have worked and produced with
Roderick and Derek. And those who follow in
their footsteps, who build on their foundations.
FOR GRASS STREET
This is a proud day for Grass Street and this
part of the Chaussée, the families of its past
and of its present, and the people who come
and go and frequenting these parts: The Jules’,
the Springers, the St. Villes, the Fletchers, the
Drysdales, and so many more.
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This is a day in which we can look forward and
imagine the things to come. With each new
phase, new hope, with each new hope, a life
saved or succoured. For all our lives are too
precious to be lost to the bullet or the needle or
the diseases of man.
CHALLENGE OF THE POET
Often times dreams are forgot within a short
time from their conception. We wake up and
they flee like chicks from the hawk. These
dreams are often whispers of the mind, so
softlyuttered that if not put to pen and paper,
they might be lost in translation, in utterance.
This is the challenge of the poet, the challenge
of the writer, the challenge of the actor: to find
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these words, and capture them and make them
real, if but only on paper, or in the echoes of a
hall.
Decades have past and we are still capturing
these dreams, condensing them and morphing
them into form and function.
RECLAMATION OF THE MEMORIES
This building behind us is just that. A home
long lost, long enveloped by a printery and then
by abandonment can find once more a rebirth.
It can sit and feast on its past, it can look into
the mirror on its past life, and form again a
love for itself.
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What is being unveiled today is the first step. It
is reclamation.
It is reclamation of the memories, the past, the
poetry, the plays, the words and the wax.
For while this house stood clear of a city’s
death by fire in 1948, it faced a city’s death of
neglect. The flight from the city to the suburbs,
the flight of children to foreign lands for career
and craft, meant the slow, steady decline, and
then the paralysis, the crucifixion by crime.
OUR AMNESIA IS NO MORE
Our amnesia is no more. We are reclaiming our
memories, and with them our hopes.
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And yes, there are many who say with
pessimism: how could you possibly put a
museum in Grass Street? There are those who
ask why spend money on building a house for
the Walcott’s when we need to improve our
health system. There are also some who do not
believe even in the need for museums.
And there are some who still view the Arts as
acts of hobby making.
We believe in the totality of the human spirit.
We believe in body, mind and spirit.
We believe that if a people do not know
themselves, cannot celebrate themselves – if
they cannot laugh and feel moved, then living
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itself is reduced to meagre value. And as Sir
Arthur Lewis recognised, we can ill-afford
a“cultural desert.”
For we want health bodies and healthy minds
and healthy spirits. And so, we can never
juxtapose these matters as we have sadly done
in the past.
WE CAN MOVE THE MOUNTAIN
We are not naïve. But yet, we must believe. We
must have faith that we can move the
mountain of poverty. We can move the
mountain of neo-colonialism. We can move the
mountain of crime.
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We must have faith that the poet’s word can
move the mountain of depression and doubt
and despair.
We must believe that our people, our stories,
our productions, our history, is as noble as any
other; and is to be cherished as any other.
We must believe that we can move the
mountain.
OUR MUSTARD SEED
Today – this proud house – this house is our
mustard seed.
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And around it and through it we will grow
feeding off its inspiration. For it has already
produced world renowned greatness in Derek
and Roderick.
To the people of Grass Street and the people of
Castries, we have the opportunity to look back
on what this city has produced in the past and
recreate a new economy around this.
Furthermore, those who doubt are often,
through no fault of their own, unaware of the
richness of history that can be unveiled and
captured within our tourism product.
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DRUMS AND COLOURS OF GREAT MEN
Today, we are opening the Walcott House. But
this area around us is a cluster of much Saint
Lucian human achievement, many a time by
working class families.
Down the Chaussée: the home of Sir Allen
Lewis, our first Chief Justice and also
Chancellor of the University of the West Indies.
And it is there that Arthur Lewis would spend
his vacations home from the London School of
Economics.
And across the Chaussée, the blue house to
your left was owned by Sir Darnley Alexander,
the Soufriere-born first chief justice of Nigeria.
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And the block behind me on Mary-Ann Street,
the home of Dr Karl La Corbiniere, who served
as Deputy Premier of the West Indian
Federation and founding member of the Saint
Lucia Labour Party – a home where the likes of
Bradshaw of St. Kitts would frequent as Saint
Lucia hosted the first meeting of the British
West Indies Labour Party.
And there are more.
And so, the drums and colours of these great
men can find another life in a reawakening of
this area of Castries. And so, this project,
Walcott Place, must be taken within the
context of a broader regeneration. We cannot
leave our treasures hidden and in decay.
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OPPORTUNITY IS COMING
But yet, I must say to the community, that
visitors and investment will not come and bring
economic activity to a place will not come to
that is unclean and unsightly.
They will not be drawn in and stay and buy if
they feel unsafe or harassed. Opportunity is
coming but you must prepare.
Opportunity is coming but you must know how
to approach it, for the dream is still but a
whisper.
Opportunity is coming, but it will take time and
careful planning. It is not instantaneous.
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You must respond positively to the opportunity
and seize the moments as they come.
A SMALL PART OF THE WHOLE
Today, we unveil a small part of a much larger
whole. Walcott House is part of the larger
complex of Walcott Place.
The next phase of Walcott Place, which is to
commence within months, will set the basis for
the viability of the project. Shortly, through the
help of the Caribbean Development Bank,
Grass Street will be extended and connected to
Leslie Land Rd. It will create a street of class
and character so that the area can become
more active and vibrant.
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And work will commence on the construction of
the larger museum block of the project before
mid-year. This will incorporate a three level
structure that will link to the Walcott House.
What is to be seen in this new phase? It will
include a ticketing and reception area, a café,
book and gift shop and courtyard with seating
at ground level.
As you would appreciate soon enough once you
enter the house, the proportions do not suffice
to provide the full interpretive experience for
the project. And so, on the first floor level of the
new structure, there will be an additional 2,700
square feet of space for the museum.
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This is about three times what is currently
available from the house. It will allow for
modern interactive, multimedia displays that
can better tell the story of the Walcotts and the
arts movement in Saint Lucia; and for a variety
of audiences.
The second floor will make allowance for a
small research library, a resident artist’s office,
administrative and curatorial space.
It will then importantly allow for disability
access to the upper levels with a lift in the
reception area.
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The third phase involves looking at the
development of a small black-box theatre with
audience seating for about 150 persons.
This is the dream which we have put to word,
and now must put to action. We all must work
towards it.
GRATITUDE AND ACCOLADES
I wish to express gratitude and provide
accolades to the many who have made this
possible.
In particular, the Government of Saint Lucia is
deeply grateful for the grant provided by the
Republic of China (Taiwan) which is making
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this possible. We say a sincere “thank you”
Your Excellency.
We say thank you to the Saint Lucia National
Trust, the custodians of this house.
We say thank you to the Ministry of Physical
Development, Housing & Urban Renewal under
the direction of Senator Stanley Felix for the
technical support in design and project
management.
And of course, a special word of thanks to the
Architectural Section of that ministry headed
by Mr Augustin Poyotte.
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We say thank you to all the partner agencies:
the Grass Street Development Association, the
Saint Lucia Social Development Fund, the
Royal Saint Lucia Police Force, the Castries
Constituencies Council, the Cultural
Development Foundation, and UWI Open
Campus.
We say thank you to the contractor, Mr.
Atlanta Henry, his team, and all those who
laboured on this phase of the project.
We say thank you to the work of the Nobel
Laureate Committee under the direction of Her
Excellency the Governor General.
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And thank you to the many other committees
which have worked to realise this project thus
far – and who must continue to labour in the
belief that we can create a world class product
here in Castries.
And of course we say thank you to Derek, and
the Walcott family here today who have
supported and guided this project.
THROUGH HER VOICE
And we confess our debt of gratitude to the
lady of the house, Teacher Alix – the mother
who, with her strength and discipline,
instructed and taught, who through her singing
voice and stitching hands moved and mended,
who single-handedly raised three children
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against great odds. We honour today, in a
special way, her memory.
LET THE HOUSE SPEAK
The poet seeks always to condense the scenes
of life, the emotions, the passions, the laments,
the verse as succinctly as possible. The
politician generally does not.
Today, I have sought to learn from the poet by
being brief, and so I shall proudly let the house
and all its memories speak now for itself –
speak to you, and for you, to the generations to
come.
Let us respect her and love her. And what she
says to our children, and our imaginations. Let
us respect her walls and her presence. Let us
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respect her memory, as she becomes a place of
pilgrimage for many seeking to discover
themselves through play and song and poem.
Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you and urge
you to believe that we can move mountains
with our mustard seed.
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