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So let’s get to the promised fish broth story.
I am an All Stars sailor. I became a Carnival Tuesday sailor when mas completely surrendered to the big truck phenomenon. Both before and after returning to sailor mas, which I had loved as child, I repeatedly advocated for the sustainability of the steelband movement and for Trinidad and Tobago as its mecca.
Photo: Pan Trinbago
The fish broth story is connected to Invaders, which had a legendary musical rivalry with All Stars in the 1950s and 1960s.
Invaders have been present at their Tragarete Road location since 1941. There were disputes between the owner of the land and Invaders, which focused on Vernon Mannette—a member the famous Mannette family who occupied an apartment on the land. Francis Wickham and Kelvin Dove, also lived with their parents in apartments on the land.
I was asked by the late Terrence Malcolm Milne, a veteran of pro bono causes, to appear in the High Court in an action in which Vernon Mannette was the defendant.
It is difficult to recollect precisely the years I was directly involved in these disputes but there was a removal of the band’s instruments when a default judgment was obtained in 1979.
In order to fight this in Court, Dr Ashton Parris collated the background information. The members of the band, including Vernon Mannette, occupied 500 square feet of the southern portion of the land.
There, with Ellie Mannette as the tuner, they developed their instrumentation and practised their music. A breadfruit tree, which stood near the centre of the land, and a shed helped to demarcate the area where the band operated.
On the basis of affidavit evidence, principally from Vernon Mannette, there was success in raising before the Court that Invaders could put forward a solid counterclaim for a prescriptive title to that southern portion of the land and there was no basis to restrain the defendant Vernon Mannette from being on the land.
The default judgment was set aside and permission was given to re-occupy the southern portion of the land.
Photo: Invaders Steel Orchestra
I no longer have all the papers relating to the case, but the 1979 Court order also permitted the relevant southern portion of the land to be filled with top soil and the re-erection of a covered shed without walls.
What I recollect clearly is that the evening of the day of success in the Court a huge pot of fish broth was cooked on a wood fire in the yard and served in celebration. I have always regretted not having a tape recorder at that time to capture the reminiscences that were stimulated by the fish broth and other liquids.
In the course of that evening, I became acquainted with “Dasheen”, a stalwart who laboured for Invaders. For more than 30 years after, we never passed each other without a lusty greeting until I stopped seeing him around town.
Photo: Invaders Steel Orchestra
Dr Jeannine Remy is the official Invaders’ historian. In addition to her book on Invaders, she authored with Ray Funk a must-read piece entitled Invaders; the pan yard under the breadfruit tree in Caribbean Beat magazine (issue 101, January/February 2010).
The panyard was small and could not accommodate all of Invaders’ activities. For many of those activities the car park of the Oval on the Elizabeth Street side was used.
The precise address of Invaders yard is 147 Tragarete Road. It was declared a heritage site but their occupation only finally settled down when Invaders were able to obtain a lease of that land last month.
Photo: Invaders Steel Orchestra
It was also reported that Shell Trinidad and Tobago Limited (Shell) has been instrumental in assisting with obtaining the land next door to number 147, (numbers 149-151), for Invaders’ use and expansion.
Early in the 1960s when corporate sponsorship of steelbands began, Shell had been Invaders’ sponsor. They have reunited after a long break.
Shell’s assistance with the additional land reopens the possibility of a sustainable and relatively safe theatre district, reviving the historic link between the Little Carib theatre, located around the corner from Invaders.
Image: Invaders Steel Orchestra
I have my own blueprint for that, which can be shared. Perhaps Shell could take Little Carib under its wing.
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