From bush to ‘stush’
P.J. Patterson recalls Calabar’s ‘cattle trap’ frontage as school christens grand gateway
Published:Wednesday | March 30, 2022 | 12:12 AM
“This is one of the happiest and proudest days in my entire life.”
Those were the words of former prime minister of Jamaica, P.J. Patterson, shortly before the unveiling of entrance and exit signs bearing his name at Calabar High School on Tuesday.
The institution’s state-of-the-art gateway was constructed at a cost of $17 million.
After ground was broken in June 2019, he said he often stopped by unannounced to check on the progress of the gateway.
Patterson, who was Jamaica’s sixth and longest-serving prime minister from 1992 to 2006, enrolled at Calabar in 1948 when the school was located at Studley Park Road.
The old boy said he had the unique privilege of being the first student to enter the 60-acre premises at 61 Red Hills Road when it was procured by the Jamaica Baptist Union.
Seeking to obtain his last badge to qualify as a Queen’s Scout, he was assigned to take his patrol group into an uncharted area and keep them there for two nights.
“When we came, the place was full of thickets. We barely found a place to clear to pitch a tent for the night. None of us could sleep. We saw rats, there were snakes, and early morning the mongooses appeared and the mosquitoes nearly ate us raw. That was the first time I entered these precincts,” the old boy recounted.
In 1952, the school moved to the current location. Some of the land has since been sold.
“All along, I felt it was entirely inappropriate that those who enter this great school should be coming on the premises through what was a cattle trap and I was determined that at some point, we should have a gate, not just for its architectural impressiveness but as a symbol, to paraphrase the words written about Lord Nelson – those who enter these premises shall never forget our glory,” Patterson said.
Meanwhile, principal Albert Corcho expressed gratitude to the old boys who have made it their point of duty to contribute to the institution.
“We believe that the monument we have erected and officially opened this morning will continue to be a beacon for all the young men who are currently at Calabar and all the young men who will pass through our gates,” Corcho remarked.
In his remarks, St Andrew North Central Member of Parliament Karl Samuda said Patterson gave him the opportunity to dare to dream very early in his political career.
Samuda pledged to provide a scholarship to a sixth-form student who exemplifies good values and attitudes and is excelling academically.
As prime minister, Patterson had launched a grand values and attitude transformation campaign in 1994 aimed at addressing societal ills.
Calabar also honoured the contributions of another celebrated old boy, the late Rev Dr Horace O. Russell, who died in April 2021.
A plaque in his memory was unveiled at the school’s chapel in the presence of his family members.
Russell was a 1947 graduate who blazed an impressive trail in the fields of theology and history.
He was the first Jamaican to be engaged in full-time theological education and the first black and Caribbean person to head the United Theological College.
He was also Calabar’s first chaplain and mentored several students over many years.