Richard

See 02/01/1970

In my father's words:

"The biggest piece of luck. We found Richard Wallis staying with his parents in Port of Spain after a long illness in England. Experienced on dairying in England and happy with his new appointment in charge of the dairy."

I was 13/14 around this time and never quite understood why my mother spent a lot of time with Richard. He was a charming, very charming and good looking single man. My father never seemed to have a problem. In fact, I got on very well with him as he had an ex-racehorse he used for riding and I was allowed unlimited access. He was on a birthday to give me a small gold coin which I still have.

There was not much contact with him for me, apart from the riding, and the odd "cultural" event such as he taking my mother and me to see Dr Zhivago at the cinema which had been released on 22/12/1965.

It was only years later that I discovered why my mother and father were so relaxed in his company - he was gay, something one didn't broadcast in those days. Certainly, he made no "advances" of any kind in my direction and as I say, was always very charming.

In work terms, my father was delighted to have him as farm manager. I wonder what happened to him after we left in March 1970.