History is being made every day in all sorts of ways; the normal routine things we do, the regular occurrences that range anywhere from a political speech to a vehicular accident. Or something more pleasant, like a wedding or the birth of a baby. Or something that evokes a sense of loss, like the death of a national hero.

But rarely do these events stand as milestones in a nation’s biography. It takes something huge; an overarching action of social, economical, political and cultural impact, with immediate and long-term consequences that are considered equally important at that instance, to be called a truly historical moment on a national scale. The men and women who initiate such actions are instantly given hero status by the people because their actions generate masses of beneficiaries. It is therefore not a fiction of the imagination that the people of the Positive Action Movement BVI regarded Noel Lloyd as a hero. Maybe they didn’t know how to treat heroes back then. But he was/is a hero nonetheless. And I can bet that his funeral at the Park on Wickham’s Cay to be named in his honour, will be full of mourners on Friday morning when we gather to say good-bye.

 In 1999 the BVI lost one of its prominent PAM activists, the late Walter “Lindy” deCastro (Ras Uhuru). Noel Lloyd, the surviving hero was observed as a man who had sacrificed so much for his country and yet seemed to be constantly struggling to maintain his dignity. His story was worth telling and I sat down with him for many hours to get the three-part newspaper article entitled …The Wickham’s Cay Story, which was published by the BVI PennySaver. Stirred by the passion that sparked the Positive Action Movement to recognize and say thank you to its hero and founders, the PennySaver team including myself, (and other supporters) formed a committee to publicly pronounce Noel Lloyd’s national hero status, and marked the occasion with an Awards Dinner at Treasure Isle Hotel.

Noel Lloyd was again hailed as a national hero by others in the community, but it was not until as recently as last year that he was officially awarded the BVI Badge of Honour by the current government administration. Sometimes it’s better late than never. The ancient Greek Philosopher Polybius is quoted as saying: “The knowledge gained from history is the truest education and training for political action”. It is sometimes disappointing to hear some people suggesting that the public should wait for government to do certain things that need doing because they (politicians) are elected by the people. I imagine if Noel Lloyd and company had waited for the Administrator and the Chief Minister in 1968 to change their minds when the Bates-Hill deal was already signed, sealed and delivered, things would have been quite different today.

What makes the BVI unique and different from most other Caribbean countries is not the fact that the people are a different species somehow possessing an attribute that no other Caribbean species possess. What makes BVI different is that the people own a significant portion of the land, and land or real estate represents wealth. If holdings currently in the hands of BVIslanders were owned and controlled by others, the whole social, economic and political climate would have been a different story. What Noel Lloyd and the Positive Action Movement did was to preserve and protect the privilege of BVIslanders, and that’s a legacy to be grateful for, and to continue in the tradition of preserving BVI culture.

I am honoured to have known such a person as Noel Lloyd and to have had discourse from which my own knowledge and understanding have been enhanced. It is somewhat gratifying to know that we, the ordinary people of this community, didn’t wait for the officialdom of politics to give Noel his flowers while he was still able to smell them. It was only a small act of kindness on our part, which pales in significance of the big act of bravery and vigilance on his part.

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