The Nor'wester Days: Issue 1, Oct/Nov 1971
IN RESPONSE TO POPULAR DEMAND, CAYMAN NET NEWS WILL BE REAWAKENING MEMORIES OF OLD WITH EXCERPTS FROM EVERYONE'S FAVOURITE MAGAZINE: THE NOR'WESTER.
The cover of the very first issue of Nor'wester
magazine, originally known as Northwester
Monday, January 12, 2004
The Northwester's first cover is divided to show different aspects of life in our islands today. The peace of a beautiful schooner on the ocean and an energetic young sportsman contrast with the strength of our fast-growing police force and the upsurge of new development
If you are one of the many who work in the new Royal Bank Building shown on our cover, you have one man to thank for your cool and comfortable surroundings and that's Captain Eldon Kirkconnell.
Captain Eldon, seemingly shy and unassuming has a terrific business acumen. He foresaw the expansion of the Royal Bank of Canada, so when he bought their previous building (soon to be Kirk Freeport Plaza) he also bought the adjoining land.
The new four-storey Royal Bank Building is built on this adjoining piece of land, which is occupied on the ground floor by The Royal Bank of Canada. The first and part of the second floor is occupied by The Royal Bank Trust (Cayman) Ltd. Also located on the second floor is Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. The third floor is leased to Pannell-Fitzpatrick & Co, who have sub-let part of it.
Although born in Grand Cayman, he spent most of his childhood days at Cayman Brac. He attended Munro College in Jamaica, and after leaving school joined R. B Kirkconnell & Bro. Ltd. (the family shipping business) which owns and operates five ships. He holds a Master Mariner's Certificate, and is a director of the company.
After his father's death in November 1961, he returned to Cayman Brac to take over the management of the business there. In 1964 the decision was made to expand the business to Grand Cayman, and in 1965 Kirk Plaza was opened.
Captain Eldon is married to Patricia (nee Rutty) and they have two children, Gerry 13, and Debbie 11.
As the Cayman Islands develop and become more sophisticated, there is bound to be a proportionate rise in criminal offences. This is a sad fact of life but one which the Cayman Islands Government is facing up to with a rapidly increasing Police Force (some of whom are seen on the cover) led by the Commissioner of Police, Mr. R.F. Pocock, J.P.
The Cayman Islands Police Force came into being in 1907 G.S.S. Hirst in his Notes on the History of the Cayman Islands, originally published in 1910, says. 'There being no regular Police Force a law was passed creating one under the direction of an Inspector of Police.'
The first inspector was J.H. O'Sullivan. A new jail and police quarters were erected on Elgin Avenue where they still stand. (New Police headquarters and station have been planned however, incorporating all branches of the Service, including Immigration - and should be completed within a year. Designed by Rutkowski-Bradford & Partners (Cayman), they will run down the contours of Elgin Avenue and promise to be an exciting addition to Cayman's crop of modern buildings.)
Since Mr. Pocock took up the position of Chief of Police three years ago, the Force has more than trebled and is now over 70 strong. Superintendent R. Archer is Deputy to Commissioner and Chief Immigration Officer and acts for the Commissioner in his absence.
Then there are various heads of sections: Assistant Superintendent D Tricker in charge of CID; Inspector V. Ebanks, who is the longest serving member of the Force with 23 years to his credit, is Staff Officer; Assistant Inspector R. Evans is in charge of George Town Police Station; Assistant Inspector A. Sommerville heads the Traffic and Marine Section and Mr. J. Bostock, one of the ten people working in the Force who are non-police, is Deputy Chief Immigration Officer.
There are stations now in all areas of the island and one on the Brac, and policemen are on hand all round the clock. The job is not the easiest one to do - but rewarding and fulfilling. One of Mr. Pocock's regrets is that there are not more Caymanians in the Force and he will even lower the educational requirements to enable a Caymanian to join. So if you are fit, eager and, above all, law-abiding, how about it?
The reason Ernest Foster adorns our cover cannot be put down to any single outstanding accomplishment - it is just he is the perfect example of the young Caymanian who does everything, and does it well. You see him in his role as goalkeeper for the Nova Scotia football team; he also plays rugby, table tennis, hockey and volleyball, to name but a few. He swims, fishes and has still found time to marry (His wife Carolyn is a secretary for a local attorney.) And it is not only in sport that he is a success.
He came from the Brac this year to take up the position of Auditor for Cayman's branch of the First National City Bank and has recently become the Accountant - terrific progress for a young man of 25 who started his working life as his father's helper.
Like most Caymanians, he did a stint at sea as a ship's electrician and then left sea in 1969, returning to manage his father's store on the Brac. His father, Taylor Foster, died this summer and now Ernest's brother Raymond manages the store.
Ernest also audited for the Cayman Islands Government on the Brac for nearly two years - a job which his father before him did for nearly 40 years.
"People think perhaps I have come up too quickly," says Ernest, "but all my life has been in the business world and I was doing business with banks even before I left school." (He went to Knox College, Spaldings, Jamaica, where in 1964 he won the John Beat tie Award for the most outstanding student of the year.)
Describing George Town as a Boom Town, this very ambitious Caymanian sets his sights high and would like, one day, to manage one of the First National City Bank's numerous branches which are situated in 84 countries.
However, in the distant future Ernest would like to go back into business in the Brac. He feels his childhood there was instrumental in building up his character. "To have grown up in the Brac you need a certain amount of push and determination, which the average person can live without, because it's a tough life on the Brac."
The elegant yacht on our cover is the schooner Joseph W. Russel, 38 feet long and an exact replica of an earlier model down to the last fitting. It is owned by a group of young Americans from Boston.
For many generations now, Caymanians themselves have been famous for their sea-going prowess and recognised as amongst the best sailors in the world. Nowadays, of course, sail has given way to power on the majority of shipping routes, but this does not mean that interest in sailing or rowing has faded in Cayman.
The popularity of sailing on our Islands is increasing steadily. The Cayman Islands Sailing Club was formed in 1965 by a number of keen seafarers, including Neil Cruickshank and the late John E. Edwards. The sailing in those early days was confined to Sunfish and Dolphin -single-sail dinghies normally carrying a single crew, but known to take up to 4 or 5 when not racing.
Early in 1970, it was decided that Flying Dutchmen should be the class boat of the Sailing Club, since these International Olympic standard yachts call for far greater skill on behalf of their crew than the smaller Sunfish and Dolphin. Dutchmen measure 19' 10" overall and usually weigh approximately 380 Ibs. They carry a crew of two when racing and have been timed doing 15 knots in a 20 knot breeze.
Dolphins and Sunfish still remain popular with the Island's many sailing enthusiasts - but more and more new classes of boat can be seen taking part in the Sailing Club's regular week-end races. The latest additions to the Club's fleet, which already includes Finns, a Kestrel, a Catamaran and a Windmill, are a kit-built Fireball and, more recently, a '470' which has been sailed by young Gerry Kirkconnell with notable success.
Not participants in the Sailing Club's races, but very much part of Cayman's sailing history are the Island-built cat-boats.
These 3-man yachts are designed principally for fishing, but with their unique adjustable weather board they can produce a fair turn of speed although not comparable with Flying Dutchmen.
Rowing as a sport is still in its infancy in the islands but the presence of Douglas Calder, a former Cambridge rowing blue, with his 28'6"
Leander single sculls should help ensure the sports' growth.
Plans are afoot for Mr. Calder to scull for Cayman in next year's Olympic Games and upon his subsequent (hopefully successful) return to the island, it is intended that he will be able to provide coaching for any Caymanians interested in this demanding sport. Despite these Islands' relatively late arrival on the international water sports scene, notable success was achieved by Cayman's Sea Scouts in the Inaugural Caribbean Sea Scouts Regatta held in Grenada earlier this year. A team of eight scouts, consisting of Gerry Kirkconnell, Timmy Adams, Carson, Kenneth and Roger Ebanks, Arden and Donald Mclean and John Bodden succeeded in winning the sailing and the rowing trophy against opposition from throughout the Caribbean - and coming third overall in the Regatta.
A strong team will be entered in the 2nd International Regatta to be held in Barbados in July 1972 and it is hoped that Cayman's seafaring achievements will then be further enhanced. A sailing regatta which will feature all the yachts mentioned is scheduled to be held at the Sailing Club headquarters near the Galleon Beach Hotel over the Bank Holiday week-end of November 14/15. Full details will be published in due course.
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