Having had some additional works done to it recently, the symbolic Stickett in Long Look, Tortola, takes on a spanking new look. Photo: VINO

In addition to providing some historical information, The Stickett memory wall is now a location for recreation and relaxation. Photo: VINO

Speakers at the rededication ceremony of The Stickett held in Long Look last evening July 24, 2013 were (from left to right) Honourable Ralph T. O'Neal, Dr the Honourable Kedrick Pickering and Premier Dr. the Honourable D. Orlando Smith. Photo: VINO

A section of the audience at the rededication ceremony. Photo: VINO

Dr. the Honourable Kedrick D. Pickering stressed the need for youths of the Long Look community and the wider Virgin Islands to be taught the history of their beginnings. The wall, which bears the names of four significant persons in the community's history, provides a bit of information but tells a long story. Photo: VINO

Hon. Pickering, who is also the Seventh District Representative, made the call while delivering remarks at the rededication and reopening of The Stickett on July 24, 2013. 

According to the Deputy Premier, the historic site is symbolic of the freedom of the people of the Territory given the fact that the Long Look community/Nothingham Estate was the first free slave plantation in the Western Hemisphere. He said the official start of the festival season should be held there to bring out the true spirit of emancipation. He noted it should not take the form of a Carnival but one of remembrance. 

Meanwhile, Representative of the Ninth District, Hon Ralph T. O'Neal OBE was a key speaker at the event and also took the opportunity to make a call for a similar monument to be set up at Town Bay on Virgin Gorda. Hon O’Neal and the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) Government were credited as the initiators of The Stickett’s construction. Hon. O’Neal also commended the National Democratic Party (NDP) government for completing The Stickett project. “One Government starts and the other one finishes,” commented Hon. O’Neal. 

Losing customs; ‘substitute not the best!’ 

According to the Opposition Leader, The Stickett and the one he proposes for Virgin Gorda can contribute to keeping customs and values alive. “We are losing a lot of our customs in the Territory and the substitute is not the best in the world,” said Hon O’Neal. 

Meantime, Hon. Pickering was very passionate about the history of the Long Look community- the community that he calls home with embedded values more than “Skin Deep” and had a moment of silence for the two men who had lost their lives at The Stickett. He also stressed the importance for youths of the Long Look community and the wider Virgin Islands to be taught the history of their beginnings. 

The rededication ceremony came after some additional developmental works were done to The Stickett block, which included the memory wall that has the photographs of four men credited for being significant contributors to the history of the community; Mr Ivan Lettsome, Hon. Terrence B, Lettsome, Hon. Leslie F. Malone and Rev Moses Stevens. 

“Now that we have done the infrastructural part of the community and broader to this, it is now left for our younger students and our teachers who are involved in history to start writing that part of our history so that we could put it in different areas in the community for all those who visit to learn and understand a lot more about the community,” said Hon. Pickering. 

Another call that rang out loud in the speeches was for the care of the facility. “This is my home and my pride in my home is to see us have one of the cleanest and best communities in the BVI. I don’t have any reservations about that….. So this is just part of ensuring that we make Long Look the best of what Long Look could be,” said Hon. Pickering. 

He reflected on the days of old when there was a stigma attached to the community, which said that nothing good could have come out of the Long Look community. He spoke of the many fights they had to be engaged in especially in sports and other social activities simply because they were from Long Look. “The psychological impact of things like that is no different from those of us who continue to tell our children negative things. If you continue to tell your children that they would account to nothing they would never account to nothing because it scares them for life,” said Hon. Pickering. 

According to the Deputy Premier, the next phase of the project would be the mounting of a bust that has some significance to the history of the community and the sprucing up of one of the oldest Quakers’ cemeteries in the world found in Long Look. 

Among those present at the rededication ceremony were Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Honourable D. Orlando Smith, who during his brief remarks, said The Stickett is a sign of what the Territory has overcome as a people and charged that the facility be used as a place for meetings and other recreational purposes; Minister for Communications and Works, Hon. Mark H. Vanterpool; Minister for Education and Culture, Hon. Myron V. Walwyn; and At Large Representative Hon. Archibald C. Christian.