The newly knighted Chief Justice of Barbados Sir Patterson Cheltenham Q.C. says he feels humbled by the top honour which he said he achieved on the backs of the nation’s forefathers who paved the way for him and other generations.
He made the comments on Tuesday, after Madam Justice Margaret Reifer took the oath as the island’s newest Justice of the Court of Appeal.
“For me, at a much deeper level, this is about my early experiences and the backs on whom my generation walked when we receive free secondary education in 1962.
“I consider the knighthood, which was awarded, to be held by me in trust for the working class of Barbados, and in particular the agricultural labourers. They are the ones on whose backs I walked in 1962 when I received my secondary education at The Lodge [School],” he said.
Sir Patterson recalled that when he headed to school in those days, whether through Carrington Factory or Foursquare in St Philip, he saw cane fields and agricultural workers.
“There was no enhanced tourism sector; there was no financial sector…it was all agriculture and I consider the award of the knighthood to be a sacred trust to be held by me for them. Without them, I do not know what would have been my existence or that of several others in my generation. It’s to them, unmoved, unheralded, frequently forgotten, that I hold this [position],” he said. (SB)
