For Thursday April 10, 2014 I had umpteen critical engagements but I made time to attend ‘An Evening of Nostalgia’: the work of Godfrey Chin’ staged by Moray House Trust.

I was not disappointed. All the challenges (of unfinished businesses) faded away as I became embroiled in the proceeding. From the word go, it promised to be an engaging and entertaining evening with Master of Ceremonies, Mr Vic Insanally, effortlessly wooing the audience with his clear, crisp and scintillating voice. Insanally knew Chin very well and the anecdotes kept coming fast and fleeting, sending us back down the alleyways and byways, down the tenement yards and seawalls, down the cinemas and the bookstores, down the schools and playgrounds of history.
Before we could recover, Dr Ian McDonald, another contemporary of Chin, threw the book at us. This doctor of letters knows the value of recording our stories and he was high in praise for Chin’s magnum opus, ‘Nostalgias: Golden Memories of Guyana 1940 to 1980.’ McDonald previously described the book thus: ‘It is truly a classic of its kind – a recapturing of vivid memories, bringing the past astonishingly to life again in a way which will delight those who knew those days, instruct future generations and also enlighten serious scholars of social history and preserve forever the wonderful days and exploits and fun and excitement and humour and games and more of a whole era in a country’s life.’
Then the book was fleshed out to us through the eager voices of students from Marian Academy, Queens’ College and Richard Ishmael Secondary School who read extracts namely ‘The romance of the seawall’, ‘Travelling around Georgetown’ and ‘The best of everything: mauby, black pudding, sweet delights.’
Yes, the students were intrigued by the work of Godfrey Chin and their performance portrayed this. And what a performance it was, a performance conducted by the indomitable litterateur, Dr Joyce Jonas.
After that performance, there was no letting up in edifying and entertainment us as Al Creighton did ‘Remembering Theatre Guild’, Allan Fenty ‘Growing up in Kitty’ and Joe Singh ‘Growing up in Tenement Yards.’ These three presentations were preceded by the presenters’ personal accounts of engagement with the man and his work.
The printed programme of the event described Godrey Chin as unique among Guyana’s social historians and raconteurs. His anecdotes are a seamless blend of what he called “titbits, old talk, gaff, picong”, stuffed with detail and spiced with that particular brand of self-deprecating humour so beloved of Guyanese, something between a ‘steups’ and a ‘tantalise.’
Godfrey Chin made an impression wherever he went, sometimes, healthy, sometimes, plain impish; all, how be it, refreshing, entertaining and educating.
Proud school boy, naughty school boy, victorious athlete, haughty ballroom dancer, peeved businessman, prize-winning costume designer, consummate actor, writer, quasi-historian, ‘cook shop fly,’ Winfield Godfrey Chin was born in the late 1930s in the heart of the Garden City, Georgetown. He grew up in the best of times, in the worst of times, witnessing the changing fortunes of his homeland.
Chin recalled vividly his school days. He started out at a private kindergarten crèche on ‘Regent Street, between Yong Hing’s Grocery and Coppin’s two cents cherry drink parlour, west of Bourda Market.’ He graduated to Smith Church Congregational School in Hadfield Street where his kind teacher ruled his slate with a nail. Here he was initiated into the three R’s – Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmetic and is still proud of the lessons he learnt scoffing ‘at current generation of sales clerks who must rely on calculators’. At that early age, he was reading avidly the daily comic strips including ‘Phantom’, ‘Mandrake’, ‘Orphan Annie’, ‘Tarzan’ and ‘Prince Valiant.’ Chin recalled how ‘the free Public Library encouraged our literary yearning with the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Biggles, and Billy Bunter’. Busy-body as Chin was, the devil still found mischief for him where he couldn’t face a certain teacher and forced to play hockey for almost a term.
It was during his days at Central High School (1948 – 1955) that Godfrey Chin made quite an impression on our history book. It was here he surmounted his greatest challenges and savoured his greatest victories. It was here he wallowed in his favourite subjects ‘Girlometry’ and ‘Boyology’ and where his ‘assured ‘A’ grade each term was for being Talkative, Troublesome and Terrible.’ But his moments of glory came in school sports.
This distinction in the sport arena he carried over into his adulthood, going on to represent Guyana in hockey on 54 occasions including two Panam Games.
Chin died in 2012 but his legacy will live on in our hearts and in our memories. On Thursday April 10, 2014 Moray House ensured his legacy was passed on to a new generation.

Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com

What’s Happening!

•The 2013-2014 issue of The Guyana Annual magazine is now going into production. This issue is dedicated to A. J. Seymour and will focus on the increase interest in photography, the expanding arenas for cultural activities, what’s happening in the Diaspora (Guy-Aspora) and will continue its role championing the cause of locally based emerging writers and of Guyanese writers in general, offering space and encouragement for their work.
•World Book & Copyright Day will be commemorated by the National Library on Wednesday, April 23, in the Conference Room, starting 5 pm.
•Standby to restart THE JOURNEY, an evening of literature.
By Petamber Persaud