Looking back at it, so many years later after it came into being, that was the name, The Base, most commonly used to refer to Guyana’s international airport, Atkinson Field, which had been created during World War Two, as the jumping-off point from North America for US Air Force planes headed for the Far East and Europe. When the War ended, although the Americans continued to operate there for some time, the Base became a kind of weekend retreat for Guyanese, particularly those living in Georgetown and villages to the east. There was a modern wooden guest-house, operated by the Cossou family, along with the many 2-bedroom buildings, in what Guyanese called the “cottage area”, then fully occupied by workers and general staff for the airport servicing the many flights coming and going. In recreation, it was also the site of several volleyball courts, and tennis courts, and a sprawling cricket field, used by resident Guyanese and their friends.
On weekends, in particular, the place was often jammed with affluent Guyanese, often entire families, drawn there by the full-size freshwater swimming pool in the daytime and by the bathing possibilities at adjacent Kamuni Creek, which could be reached via the public road from town or, for Atkinson residents, by a short drive to the northwest.
I’m not sure who was responsible for the pool maintenance, but it was efficiently done, considering the amount of use it generated – getting a swim on weekends could be difficult – and the very close proximity to the “Cottage Area”, with all the family accommodations. Facilities on The Base were generally spare, with only one major restaurant, operated by the Cossou family in their Guest House single-storey unit, about 10 minutes drive from the airport proper, and services such as laundry, haircut, etc., usually required a trip to Georgetown or some place on the East Coast main road. Entertainment, generally, was sparse, with often the only source being the Guest House movie night operating with rudimentary equipment and very limited choice. Nonetheless, simply because of the smallness of the market and the choices, the movies were well attended, and it was somewhat amusing, on sunny days, to see crowds of people taking in the occasional volleyball game which would break out on late afternoons or weekends, on a clay court in the cottage area, only a few yards away from where people lived. Although the wide Demerara River was just a 5-minute drive from the residential section, fishing and other river activities were rarely seen – the stelling was not the most inviting structure = and young people, in particular, were often quick to tell you “what a boring place” the Base was, even as their parents generally loved it.
By comparison, mainly because of the swimming pool and the volleyball games, friends from West Dem and Georgetown, were delighted to be invited to drive up and spend a few hours on “The Base” although, in retrospect, the volleyball was often comical and residents could be very averse to all these strange bodies cavorting in “our pool” and splashing the senior folks sunning at poolside.
I lived for many years on The Base in my sister Theresa’s home. Her husband Joe Gonsalves, from Clonbrook, was the Atkinson Fire Chief for many years and was a hero in the place following a major fire in Georgetown, when water pressure there ran low, and Joe had come to the rescue, driving hell bent in the mobile Atkinson Fire Tender, to rescue a couple of buildings in danger. The Base remains in my memory as a place of great calm and isolation, very conducive to contemplation, for creative persons of whatever stripe, as well as a place of varied talents and some overblown egos, where it was possible to see cooperation making things possible, and to come to appreciate the abiding quiet in this isolated enclave in the midst of deep sandbanks and beds of clay. Such was The Base; a unique creation in a distant place, with a completely different terrain from the one most of us grew up with on Guyana’s north coast. To drive through that area now is to look back and be amazed at how it came about and where it went.
