[dropcap]V[/dropcap]intage recordings and stories about a once-upon-a-time Saint Lucia can be haunting. Last week Friday, before a cheque presentation related to Walcott Place, organisers aired the documentary The Walcott Brothers. A portion of the film shows the always-thoughtful future Nobel laureate reminiscing about his childhood compound at Chaussee Road in Castries. At one point, as the house where he was born, now in ruins, fills the screen, Sir Derek Walcott says, “I don’t want to remember it like that. It was a beautiful place.”
The poet and playwright’s words might also be applied to the current surroundings, also no longer as they were when Walcott was a boy. Today, a walk along the Chaussee Road would reveal, like a budding dandelion in a bed of rubble, Walcott Place, freshly painted in yellow and white amidst a drab and depressing backdrop of dilapidated buildings. Work to restore and repurpose the structure and some of its surrounding acres was officially begun in 2015 by the Saint Lucian government, through the Saint Lucia National Trust (SLNT).
While at Walcott Place on Friday, I spoke with SLNT Director Bishnu Tulsie while on the almost vacant second floor of the building. He indicated the locations that had been the bedrooms of the brothers Roderick and Derek, their older sister Pamela and their mother Alix. I was struck by the smallness of the area that had housed a family destined to be legendary. How inspiring for today’s Saint Lucians, convinced their own humble circumstances could deny them their dreams. Ironically, as uplifting as is the documented story of the Walcotts, there can be no escaping the harsh reality outside the building dedicated to Roddy and Derek. Even as I marvelled at their never fully appreciated (anyway, not while they were still with us) genius, it occurred to me that the twins died dreaming about a home for the arts that was never to be.
Nevertheless, consider this from the SLNT’s website: “Walcott Place proposes to create a physical space to celebrate Roderick and Derek Walcott’s achievements.” Along with adjoining lands owned by the Saint Lucian government, “the space was to be converted into a museum of the boys’ work, with studio space for art and writing workshops and a theatre.”
Hearts were reportedly set on seeing the area transformed during a Walcott Place and Grass Street Urban Enhancement Project. Several people in the area were to be employed. Sadly, as often happens here, the reconstruction project ended prematurely.
“About four years ago, ” Tulsie recalled for my benefit, “our government was in talks with the government of Taiwan, and funds made available to do phases one and two of the project. Phase one is complete but we have lost the funds for phase two. It’s with government.”
The Taiwanese government had awarded a grant of EC$7.53million which saw the completion of the project’s first phase, and the opening of Walcott Place in January 2016 in the presence of an emotional Derek Walcott. In the 2017-2018 fiscal year the government zeroed the Saint Lucia National Trust’s subvention. In June 2017 the Trust shut down Walcott Place.
Revisiting meetings with the prime minister, Tulsie recollected: “We were told, ‘It’s not a priority at this time.’ It’s important to add ‘at this time’. There is a suggestion there that at some future date it could become a priority. We look forward to that. There are other priorities, mainly around tourism and the Castries Waterfront. The problem we have is that we cannot see how a re-development of Castries could take place without Walcott Place.”
In February this year, for the Nobel Laureate Festival, the doors of Walcott Place were reopened, thanks in part to the Castries City Council and FLOW. Contributions, big or small, the SLNT says, go a long way. For instance, the group Beyond Iyanola, a UK-based faction of mainly culture and art-conscious Saint Lucians, presented a cheque to the Trust on Friday last week. Beyond Iyanola raised a total of $1,050 via events and social gatherings held solely to spread the word on the SLNT’s needs.
For Mandy Preville-Findlay, who had flown in from the UK to represent the group, the SLNT holds special meaning. “I grew up on their summer programmes. I have seen virtually all of Saint Lucia through the different programmes that they did over the summer and I find their work invaluable.”
Said Preville-Findlay of Derek Walcott, “He may have passed, but he is still here. He did so much in terms of representing Saint Lucia in a fantastic way. We need to do all we can to ensure his legacy lives on.”
Moving forward, Tulsie explained that despair has not completely set in as many, like the Castries City Council, see the value of keeping the facility open and completing the Urban Enhancement Project.
He said: “We are working with them to develop the walking tour of Castries, which will include Walcott Place. We are hoping that this will roll out for the next cruise season. The idea is to create a walk from the habour, through to Derek Walcott Square and to come over to Walcott Place.”
