YouTube video: Part of my Radio 4 interview on Montserrat
Just a few weeks after my return trip to Montserrat, I got a call from Harry Parker, the producer of Radio 4s travel programme ‘Excess Baggage‘. He seemed interested in the idea of having me on the programme. He spent 45 minutes grilling me to get a feel for me and if I had anything interesting to say. The next day (Thursday) I got a call: “You’re on this Saturday”.
Montserrat after the volcano: true resilience
I’ve just had the very great pleasure of being a guest on Rose Willock’s Saturday morning cultural show on ZJB Radio Montserrat. Rose was the calming, cheerful voice that helped inform and support the community through difficult times. After the show she explained how Montserratians had shown true resilience in the face of the volcano.
Hunting for Montserrat’s national bird: the oriole
I was up at 5.30 ready to be guided up Katy Hill by a Montserratian legend, James ‘Scriber’ Daley. A forester and nature guide, he’s the person every research project employs when they come to Montserrat and want to work in the forest. He is an expert on Montserrat’s wildlife.
The site of Montserrat’s original airport
I flew out of the W.H. Bramble airport in 1995, as many Montserratians were choosing to leave for other Caribbean islands, Canada and the UK. But no-one used it ever again after the 25th June 1997 eruption of the Soufriere Hills killed 19, and destroyed the airport.