Tales of Scarborough

JAMES PARK was the perfect setting for Scarborough’s heritage presentation, Tales of Scarborough, in Tobago, on Wednesday night.

A last-minute addition to the 2019 Tobago Heritage Festival line-up, the island’s capital gave attendees at the historic, uptown site more than a glimpse into its personalities and landmarks of yesteryear.

In fact, Tales of Scarborough proved to be one of the more interactive presentations of the festival, thus far, as residents were allowed to share anecdotes of their experiences in the capital city over the years.

The presentation, which got off to a slightly late start, began with a segment on Scarborough’s historic buildings and landmarks.

These were shown on a large screen on the northern end of the park and residents were invited to identify the structures.

Among the buildings on display were the old assembly legislature, court house, Edgar’s Bakery, Ideal Leather Store and Nicholas Habib and Co, situated alongside James Park.

The audience, which included Tobago House of Assembly presiding officer Dr Denise Tsoiafatt Angus, former independent senator Dr Eastlyn Mc Kenzie and Tobago Festivals Commission executive chairman George Leacock, laughed at the sight of the now defunct Rex Cinema (at the corner of Milford and Wilson Road), a donkey cart and a traffic-free Scarborough town centre.

Members of the Scarborough Community Council then got into the crux of their presentation, a conversational piece about the market in the pre-Independence era. The scene involved a time traveller and village “professor,” played by Eric Powder in a make-believe rum shop setting.

Aware that the old market was once located at the site of James Park, the traveller returns to the spot only to discover that things have modernised to the point of being barely recognisable.

He encounters the dapper-looking professor, who has exchanged the rum shop experience for James Park’s intellectually-charged ambience.

Wondering what became of the market he once knew, the traveller learnt from the professor the market shifted to several locations in Scarborough, over the years.

He revealed the market is currently located a short distance away from the Shaw Park Complex, the biggest cultural complex in the Caribbean, with a capacity to seat 5,000 patrons.

The professor recalled years before, a market was situated at Tamarind Square, north of James Park. It was also the site where slaves were bought and sold.

The professor also noted the Samaan tree at Tamarind Square was used to hang resisting slaves.

He referred to a lecture delivered by historian Dr Rita Pemberton at Scarborough Library, in March, in which she lamented the absence of a memorial at Tamarind Square in tribute to the island’s enslaved Africans.

The professor then urged the politicians in the gathering to take up the challenge.

Singling out a smiling Marslyn Melville-Jack, secretary for Community Development, Enterprise Development and Labour, he said a monument should be erected at the site, if they are serious about preserving Tobago’s heritage.

During the open forum, villagers remembered several of Scarborough’s quirky and upstanding personalities.

Of the latter, bakery owner “Didymoss” was named as one of the community’s stalwarts.

Regarded as a father figure to Scarborough’s young cricketers, a resident said the Baptist elder was a community leader in the fullest sense of the word.

He recalled whenever there was controversy on the playing field, Didymoss would have often told the boys: “Let love prevail. Respect yourselves and your elders. He was a great person.”

The presentation featured performances by former calypsonian Michael Baker and the Euphonics Steel Orchestra.