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2026-10-20T21:58:28+00:00 Zend_Feed_Writer https://www.ramblebahamas.org/ Ramble Bahamas https://www.ramblebahamas.org 2021-10-03T08:05:38+00:00 2021-10-10T09:00:41+00:00 https://www.ramblebahamas.org/items/show/27 Tracey L. Thompson and Lonnie Morris Jr. The Oral History Methodology Resources Guide lends a helping hand to anyone who wants to practise oral history. For more (including 1 video), view the original article. 2021-09-13T06:24:25+00:00 2021-09-26T08:38:51+00:00 https://www.ramblebahamas.org/items/show/26 Marlon Miller and Tracey Thompson For men of all ages, races, and creeds, making the journey to a barbershop is a cherished rite of passage. Those establishments hold a venerable place in the everyday lives of men, who entrust their physical appearance to their barbers’ hands and also find within those precincts fellowship and camaraderie. Situated on the southern side of Wulff Road between Palm Beach Street and East Street stood a small pink wood structure, trimmed in red and white and boasting two windows, affectionately known as Walkine's Barbershop. For over four decades its premises were an institution where men from several “Over The Hill” communities polished their public image and enriched their social life. Wielding the barber’s instruments in Walkine's Barbershop was Mr. Philip Johnson. Born Ilerdieu Raymond Thelusma on 23 January 1931 in the agricultural town of St. Louis du Nord in Haiti, Mr. Johnson eventually changed his legal name after coming to The Bahamas during the 1950s. Already familiar with carpentry before coming to his new home, he worked in a number of islands of the archipelago as well as in agricultural industry in the United States under a programme known as the Contract before he found his calling as a barber. His first barbershop stood on East Street and Fritz Lane within walking distance of his home. A growing clientele led him to relocate to the iconic wood structure on Wulff Road. The anchor and principal of Walkine’s Barbershop, he brought to his barber’s chair a spirit of friendship and made the barbershop setting a welcoming space for all. During its fifty-year heyday from the 1960s through the first decade of the twenty-first century, Walkine’s Barbershop drew a steady stream of patrons through its doors. The establishment stood only a stone’s throw away from a bus stop used by men and women who worked in the tourism sector. Some of those workers chose to wait for their bus in the shop rather than at the bus stop. Likewise, some patrons used the barbershop as a place to unwind after a long day's work and share a drink with friends of kindred spirit. Unbeknownst to most, Walkine's Barbershop also served as a venue for moulding young minds. V. Alfred Gray, a former Member of Parliament for Acklins and Crooked Island, found the shop to be a forum for political discourse. He believes that being privy to conversations there deepened his understanding of Bahamian politics. Additionally, some clients assumed roles as mentors for young people who frequented the barbershop. Notwithstanding how much it gave to the community, Walkine’s Barbershop will always be remembered for its barbering. Former clients remarked that Mr. Johnson was a barber of the highest skill who always ensured that his customers were satisfied. Walkine's Barbershop’s delivery of quality service went beyond providing fancy haircuts, moreover. Through relationships developed with their barbers, clients could get haircuts with the understanding that compensation would come at a later date. As a result, there were long lines of patrons waiting to get haircuts on weekends. The new century brought technological innovations to the barbering industry. Unfortunately Walkine's Barbershop struggled to keep pace with those changes. Consequently it was unable to attract patrons of a younger generation. Still, until the institution closed its doors, clients of yesteryear continued to patronize Walkine’s Barbershop. For more (including 3 images and 3 sound clips), view the original article. 2020-08-18T20:38:21+00:00 2021-09-30T04:59:45+00:00 https://www.ramblebahamas.org/items/show/25 Andrea Moultrie and Francine Russell of The Heritage Partners The College of The Bahamas was birthed long before its doors opened, in the aspirations of successive generations of young Bahamians who were striving for social and economic mobility. Prior to the mid-twentieth century, there was little opportunity for the people of The Bahamas to gain an education beyond the secondary school level. From the 1940s onward, the small group of educated Bahamians who could actually access a secondary school education, and who wished to be further educated, were obliged to pursue their studies abroad, in colleges and universities either in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, or at the University of the West Indies. Significant efforts were made in the 1950s and 1960s to provide a local post-secondary education for those who wanted to improve their circumstances and better their professional prospects. In 1961 the Bahamas Teachers’ College re-opened in New Providence, after having shut in 1957, following just seven years of operation. A second teachers’ college, the San Salvador Teachers’ College, was opened in 1968 to provide training for the growing number of prospective and uncertified teachers who could not be accommodated in Nassau, and to prepare them for the prospect of teaching in rural Family Island settings. Technical and vocational education was being provided in the country by a number of institutions from the 1940s, and in 1971 two of these institutions merged to form the C. R. Walker Technical College. Finally, the renowned Government High School, which was the first fully government-sponsored high school in The  Bahamas, offered a highly-regarded sixth form programme.[1] (Sixth form was the phase of education that took place after secondary school typically ended. Students in the programme would study for advanced school-level qualifications.) The desire for a national tertiary-level institution became more pronounced in the period leading up to Bahamian Independence, when a number of significant political and social changes were taking place. Internal self-government was granted to The Bahamas by Great Britain in 1964, and the year 1967 ushered in Majority Rule. One of the most widely touted policies of the newly elected government was that of “Bahamianization”, an immigration policy that was, at its core, based on the principle that Bahamians should be allowed to participate fully in the workforce as skilled labourers and professionals, rather than having to perform in limiting roles while choice jobs went to expatriates. It was believed that Bahamians who were being groomed to fill certain positions because of the policy could and should be educated in The Bahamas, at a national college. In 1972 the Government first publicly stated their intention to establish a College of The Bahamas, in a White Paper entitled Focus on the Future that provided that “the apex of the systems of primary and secondary education for the nation will be the College of The Bahamas. This essentially and intentionally flexible, though integrated, institution is intended to meet the special needs of The Bahamas in education, training, and cultural development.”[2] This statement served as the blueprint for the Independence-era institution, which was formally established in 1974 by an Act of Parliament, through the amalgamation of the four post-secondary institutions: the two teachers’ colleges, the technical college, and the sixth form programme. The College was initially housed in two locations, one being the site of the former Government High School building in Oakes Field, and the other being on Soldier Road, where the C. R. Walker Technical College was located. Dr. John Knowles, a Bahamian professor at a Canadian university, was brought on to lead the College as its first principal, and Dr. Dennis Meakin, a Canadian, was appointed Registrar. The College was governed by its newly formed Council, which was directly answerable to the Bahamian government. Initial tuition fees were minimal, and the institution’s expenses were fully financed from the public purse.[3] There were skeptics in its early days. The institution, seen by some as an “impossible dream” and the haphazard fulfilment of a wild political promise, faced considerable derision from the Bahamian public. Though it struggled at first, the College survived, and went on to thrive, becoming, some 40 years later, what we now know to be the University of The Bahamas. [1] Bethel, K. (1997). Educational Reform in The Bahamas - Part II: Pre Independence Perspectives (1958-1973). International Journal of Bahamian Studies 9, 35-45. http://dx.doi.org/10.15362/ijbs.v9i0.29   [2] The Ministry of Education & Culture (1972) Focus on the Future: White Paper on Education. http://bahamaslibraries.org/images/nlis/PDF/History/white%20paper%20on%20education.pdf [3] Brown, R. G. (2014). The Impossible Dream: The Early Years of the College of The Bahamas. International Journal of Bahamian Studies 20 (2), II 1-11.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15362/ijbs.v20i2.215 For more (including 6 images and 2 videos), view the original article. 2018-09-12T07:04:24+00:00 2020-08-22T20:19:52+00:00 https://www.ramblebahamas.org/items/show/24 Andrea Moultrie and Francine Russell of The Heritage Partners No Content Available For more, view the original article. 2018-09-12T06:17:27+00:00 2020-08-22T20:20:26+00:00 https://www.ramblebahamas.org/items/show/23 Andrea Moultrie and Francine Russell of The Heritage Partners No Content Available For more, view the original article. 2018-09-12T06:09:04+00:00 2020-08-22T20:20:40+00:00 https://www.ramblebahamas.org/items/show/22 Andrea Moultrie and Francine Russell of The Heritage Partners No Content Available For more, view the original article. 2018-09-12T04:04:41+00:00 2020-08-22T20:22:51+00:00 https://www.ramblebahamas.org/items/show/21 Andrea Moultrie and Francine Russell of The Heritage Partners No Content Available For more, view the original article. 2018-09-12T03:58:26+00:00 2020-08-22T20:20:59+00:00 https://www.ramblebahamas.org/items/show/20 Andrea Moultrie and Francine Russell of The Heritage Partners No Content Available For more, view the original article. 2018-09-12T03:31:01+00:00 2020-08-22T20:21:26+00:00 https://www.ramblebahamas.org/items/show/19 Andrea Moultrie and Francine Russell of The Heritage Partners No Content Available For more, view the original article. 2018-09-12T03:12:44+00:00 2021-09-22T08:06:27+00:00 https://www.ramblebahamas.org/items/show/18 Andrea Moultrie and Francine Russell of The Heritage Partners Mr. Havard Samuel Cooper Sr. was born in 1932 in Smith Point, Grand Bahama. He grew up during a time when the Freeport area was underdeveloped. As a way to make money, Mr. Cooper worked as a carpenter, fisherman, lumber and sawmills worker, and a chauffeur at the Grand Bahama Port Authority, and also spent 15 months working on “the contract” in Florida. Mr. Cooper and his wife wisely invested the capital earned from his trades into starting their own business, called the Island Market, where they sold chicken and produce from their home. Mr. Cooper next set his eyes on opening a KFC franchise in Grand Bahama. The first KFC was split between him and a business partner. Mr. Cooper got the store that was located on Pioneers Way and the Mall. He then raised the required 1 million dollars to become a qualified candidate to buy into the KFC franchise. After building his first KFC, it was bombed. He rebuilt it and it was bombed again. Despite the obstacles, he had the drive to succeed and to build a legacy for himself and for his children and their children. He believes that God guided him through the entire process and owes it all to him. For more (including 6 images and 2 sound clips), view the original article.