Hylton Lewis is among those I refer to as a Guyanist. He has been a great influence on my life when I was a teenager with his advocacy and practice of values that still mean much to me. He has a charismatic personality, a vibrant assertive voice, and is a true eccentric. It is both a privilege and delight to know him.
In the tenement yard where I lived, a gentleman by the name of Mr. Cummings owned the only radio and used to play it loud on Sundays to allow others to hear the church service. This was followed by a programme of Classical Music produced by Rafiq Khan. I sat on my step each Sunday to listen. Mr. Cummings on seeing this later invited me to sit on his step and eventually to enter his home to “…sit on that chair”. I duly complied with his order.
After Mr. Cummings had left the yard, I learnt of Classical Music concerts being held in the Botanical Gardens. For several years during the late 1940s, I used to walk from 132 Carmichael Street to the Botanical Gardens to listen to Classical Music played by the Militia Band (now the Police Band) led by Major Henwood who later resigned when the band came under the jurisdiction of the Police Commissioner. Usually I was the only youngster attending, with the rest being older men from the working class, which surprised me. On one occasion I noticed a man wearing a blazer with dark brown and yellow stripes and a hat made from woven green coconut fronds. On his bicycle handle was a handbag. After graduating from Saints aged 17, I became a pupil teacher the next year at Sacred Heart R.C Boys School, which I had earlier attended.
Apart from the shock of being in front of a class as a teacher for the first time, I saw the same gentleman attending the concerts as the teacher of Standard Four, wearing the same blazer. I later discovered that his socks never matched, he used a necktie instead of a leather belt, bright single coloured shirts and neckties. Whenever his coconut leaf hat turned brown and brittle, a new green one would appear. No other teacher dressed the same way, but I soon started to wear shirts in toned down pastel shades and one inch wide hand knitted ties by Mrs. Maude Burrowes, the wife of the artist and teacher.
From listening to the way he conducted lessons I began to learn the art of teaching, which is distinct from following what is written in manuals. First thing was to respect the dignity of a child and never to make them lose self-respect and feel lessened in the eyes of others. Next was never to overlook any child in class and to encourage each one to operate at the highest level of their ability. Corporal punishment was rarely administered. Headings on his blackboard and notices around the class were in Old English which I appreciated because of helping my Dad by lettering signboards. I began to shadow Lewis in the various extracurricular activities he undertook, and was eventually summoned by him. This took place at the YMCA Ground, where he was training the school football team. He did not ask questions for my behaviour, said that he had noticed me following him at a distance, asked if I played football, and invited me to join him training the team.
He also trained the boys choir, which sang during services at Sacred Heart Church. I attended training sessions which indeed formed part of my informal music education. Two boys were the leading soloists, one from the working class the other from the middle class. Mr. Gouveia, the church organist, favoured one of them. Lewis realised this and made them understand that at any time during a hymn he would switch from one to the other. Neither was to feel superior to the other. Lewis knew how to read music. He was once a chorister of the leading church choir at St George’s Cathedral under the accomplished leadership of Boris Bowen.
One Monday morning I heard him call out loudly “Dennis Pompey, stand up”. I wondered what misdemeanor the unfortunate pupil was going to be charged with. It turned out he was the best of everything in the last cricket match played. When Pompey was in my class I realised why Lewis had done this. Pompey was not academically gifted and therefore others had to recognise that he excelled in an area that also mattered and brought distinction to the school. This was a lesson for Pompey himself, which as I discovered later had been well learnt.
There was the occasion when Primary Schools had to take part in a parade. Lewis got a tin drum and trained the boys to march, first in the schoolyard then along Main Street avenue. He supervised the design of uniforms based on the school colours, blue and white, and which included the kind of cap worn by RAF pilots.
When training for Primary School Sports began, boys were trained in sprints, relay races, high and long jump and even in hurdles. Lewis constructed hurdles from hibiscus branches. One pupil, Dennis Telesford, actually turned out to be a natural hurdler. Parents were asked to provide white T- shirts and trunks with a blue stripe – the school colours and even advice about diet. Enthusiasm in the team was high. Lewis was soon confronted with a major problem. At the time the Government was planning to take over the management of all denominational schools. The Catholic Schools decided to boycott the Sports Meeting. Lewis told me that it would be very hard on the team because they were eager to participate. The Sports Management, when approached, told him that the boys could be entered as the Hylton Lewis Team. This was done, and over the weekend after the games Lewis actually came to my home to say that I would not be seeing him the Monday because he had been suspended and would be going to teach at the Plaisance Orphanage. I was quite upset for days. Lewis, obviously gifted, had made full use of both academic and non-academic subjects he had studied at the Teachers’ Training College. The only one in my experience to have done so.
The Guyana Teachers’ Association had a Cultural Section, of which I was a member, and I was delighted to see Lewis appear as our choral director and trainer in preparation for the National Music Festival. For a song about the wind I was asked to create an impression on the blackboard to help create an appropriate mood for the song. Learning that he was teaching at the Campbellville Government School, I knew that I had to pay a visit. His classroom had window blinds and linoleum on the floor, both brightly patterned. Desks had been scraped and boot polish used to present bright clean surfaces. A vase of flowers was on his desk. He said that he wanted pupils, who would have been from the working class, to see how they could brighten up their homes. Boys were even encouraged to attend home economics class. I was not surprised, it was another occasion to witness the range of his efforts to show others how to improve their existence.
Transformations
In 1968, I returned from studies in the UK and learnt that Lewis was Headmaster at Mocha Arcadia Primary School and was determined to go see what was taking place. The origin of the two villages went back to the days of slavery. Both were separated by a middle road which became a boundary line because of an inexplicable feud existing then between the two. This was common knowledge. I entered the school and Lewis immediately rang the school bell to bring everyone to attention. He announced my presence as “…a famous artist, and he will be holding Art Classes during the rest of the day.” I was told that the School Team had won the Cricket Championship for the East Bank, and had made history because one of the pupils, a boy, had obtained its first ever Government Scholarship. Lewis also told me that his previous appointment had been as Headmaster of a small school up the Demerara River. I was sorry indeed to have missed the chance to see what transformations had occurred.
The English artist John Chriswick, Art Teacher at Central High School, who was living in Mocha, told me that Lewis actually created a behavioural change of attitude between the two communities. At evening, when everyone was at home to evade the mosquito invasion, Lewis would parade along the middle road preaching to parents in both communities to support the school in maintaining facilities because of the benefits to their children. Chriswick also said that at a sports meeting organised to help bring communities together, Lewis actually threatened to take physical action to stop a fight from taking place. I felt that changes took place because of his charisma, application of moral values, ability to see what needs to be done and that his creative mind created stratagems to make the needed changes.
Around 1970, he had retired but was asked to teach at the Plaisance Community College, which was part of a new government initiative to provide secondary and technical education to students in different parts of the country. I was most delighted when asked to visit the school officially to make a report. I knew Lewis was there and was planning to go anyway. The school kept its doors open until about 7 to 8 pm for students and members of the community. Lewis apparently would arrive late in the morning and would be the last to leave. He was not assigned to a class so as to allow him to make a contribution wherever he could. Lewis was always the complete teacher, not only in subjects but also in helping others to develop positive attitudes. The Plaisance Community College carried out its mandate in an exemplary and unsurpassed manner. The only other one I know of to be compared with it was at Anna Regina, which I had also visited. In both instances, the Headmasters were hardworking visionaries.
Next time I heard from Lewis he was at a retirement home which I also visited. On the walls he had painted murals, religious and moral sentiments in bold decorative Old English lettering – his favoured style. The Matron did not approve and the decorations were soon painted over. This, of course, would have been upsetting to him, but he was rescued by Duarte, one of his former pupils from Sacred Heart, who had invited him to spend time occasionally with him on the East Bank in the vicinity of Eccles I think. I lost track of Lewis for a while and it was in 2014 while buying fruit from stalls on Robb Street I heard a familiar voice call out, “Stanley Greaves !” and saw him standing in the doorway of a shop. Needless to say I was delighted to see him and invited him to Cara Lodge, where I was staying, so we could have refreshments and to allow me to catch up on his movements. On the way, I was told his age in years (96) and months and so on down to the hour and minutes by looking at his watch. I thought this was hilarious. Lewis said that at times he would stay away from the Retirement Home because he liked to walk about. He would visit street friends even to sleep behind stores at times.
When he was at Uncle Eddie’s Home, I visited to see him. As usual his energy level was high. He felt a bit constrained, his mind clear about what he wanted to do. He was planning to organise a concert. The pandemic put paid to plans to visit Guyana where I would have made attempts to find Lewis and see how things were with him. It was great relief indeed to have my son Andre send me news of his 102nd birthday, accompanying a Facebook photo of him in a sky blue shirt and what looks like a trendy panama hat, a change from the coconut leaf hat. I was delighted to see that he was alive and well. Hello Hylton, here’s wishing you good health in continuing your innings.
