Talk show host Douglas Wheatley has lamented that too many significant events in Virgin Islands history are beginning to pass unnoticed or without much remembrance.

Mr Douglas Wheatley said for 'many rolling years', residents had great fun growing up in the Virgin Islands and experiencing Guy Fawkes night on the 5th of November. 'And all of a sudden it has seemed to become so sophisticated. Or perhaps we disagree with the political philosophy of Guy Fawkes or whatever it is, so now we want to discontinue that tradition, but it was part of our tradition, part of our boyhood days, part of our growing up…' Photo: VINO/File

“Our history is our history, there are good parts of it and bad parts of it and so forth but it is all part of our history and we are the product of that culture. We must make the best of it and we must showcase it,” Mr Wheatley stated on his ZBVI radio programme Speak out BVI last evening, December 3, 2013.

According to Mr Wheatley, there were many significant events that happened in the Virgin Islands in the month of November in times gone by and which should be remembered, such as the March of 1949 and the opening of the Legislature in November 1950. “And these things pass without even a murmur. How do we expect our young people to understand from whence they came if you don’t repeat these things and talk about them just like how they do it in the United States on the television all day and all night…and you bring in experts and you bring in other people to talk about them because that is the way we transmit our culture.”

The talk show host mentioned the late Noel Lloyd as an example of someone who much should be said about as his actions, along with others, helped to shape VI history. “How much is said about Noel Lloyd? These events just pass like that without any consideration for any discussion…It’s like they are just forgotten and not even important,” Mr Wheatley further lamented.

Guy Fawkes night was also mentioned and Mr Wheatley said, for many years, “many rolling years”, residents had great fun growing up in the Virgin Islands and experiencing that on the 5^th of November. “And all of a sudden it has seemed to become so sophisticated. Or perhaps we disagree with the political philosophy of Guy Fawkes or whatever it is, so now we want to discontinue that tradition, but it was part of our tradition, part of our boyhood days, part of our growing up…”