EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
by Dr Roy D Thomas
1991 George Goddard Forty Years in the Steelbands: 1939 - 1979The Encounter that led to Editing this Book.
Editing George Goddard's absorbing manuscript on his long association with the steelbands was for me a most satisfying undertaking. I can clearly remember how it all started. It was the first Monday in October 1987. I was on the campus of the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, walking towards my office in the Faculty of Social Sciences, when I met George, who was walking in the opposite direction. I had known him for a long time. Of course, anyone who had more than a passing interest in the steelbands knew of George Goddard, but I also knew him personally. For some years of my childhood, our families lived on the same street in New Town, Port of Spain. George Goddard was the kind of person who genuinely rejoiced at whatever successes his friends achieved. I could sense from his warm greetings whenever we met that he was happy that someone whom he knew well, was "one of the intellectuals at the University", as he jokingly categorised me.
I heard from George that morning in October 1987 that he had recently completed the first draft of this story of his involvement with the steelbands. I mentioned that I would love to read it when it came out as a book. The next day, George brought the drafts of his first two chapters to my office. Chapter 1 was his account of the birth and origins of the steel-band, and Chapter 2 was on the early years of the steelbands - the 1940s. These two chapters were really rough drafts, requiring much gross and fine editing. George asked me to read the two chapters and give him my opinion about prospects for publication of a book of which these two would be the opening chapters.
After George left my office I read the two chapters, non-stop. Although they were in a rough form, the contents were fascinating. I then immediately began to revise and edit the first chapter, bringing it nearer to the stage where a prospective publisher could evaluate it as a sample chapter of a manuscript for publication as a book. The revision and editing took me about a week. Next, I had the edited first chapter neatly typed, and I delivered a copy to George's home in Diamond Vale, Diego Martin. A member of his household received it for him for he was not at home at the time. He would be back around 2 p.m. that day, I was told. At about 11 p.m. on the same day, George telephoned me at my home. He was obviously elated. He had received and read the revised and edited Chapter 1.
The very next morning George brought the remaining draft chapters to my office. These chapters were in the same rough state as the first two. Although George did not say it in words, I knew then that he had chosen me to edit the book. And I also knew that I could not refuse, although I had an extremely busy schedule.
As I recall, it was on the same day that he handed me the rest of the manuscript that he told me in a matter-of-fact way that he was terminally ill. In fact, in describing his medical condition his words were: "I am living on extra time." Four years earlier, his doctors had told him that he had no more than two to three years to live. I would normally be very emotionally upset if a friend or acquaintance told me that he or she had just months to live. But the revelation from George did not have an upsetting effect on me, because, as I soon realised, he had himself come to terms with his situation. He was a man at peace with himself, and he radiated that inner peace of mind. In his last years he had faithfully followed the precepts of the religious denomination that he had joined. I think this development in his life was something of a surprise to some of his acquaintances as he had never seemed to be a deeply religious person. On the other hand, he may have always been a "believer", who kept his religious convictions to himself.
Between October 1987 and early January 1988, George and I met regularly in my office, in long sessions of discussion of his manuscript. I extracted from him more precise interpretations of some events. We corrected errors of form and substance. With my prodding he fleshed out some parts of his original drafts. He toned down the harshness of the criticisms of some of the persons with whom he had crossed swords. When I suggested alternative presentations, he accepted them gracefully. We also re-checked some newspaper references. When we laid plans for extensive re-checking of quotes from newspapers, another surprise was in store for George. He was not aware that the University of the West Indies Library at St Augustine held the Trinidad newspapers on microfilm; for his research he had used the bound volumes in the West Indian Reference Library in Belmont, Port of Spain. Of course, working with the bound volumes is much more tedious and time-consuming than working with the microfilms.
We played around with possible titles for the book. When we considered the title: "Forty Years in the Steelbands", we knew the matter was settled. By December 1987, I knew what I had to do, and George knew what I was going to do.
© 1991 Mona Goddard
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