Arnold Piggott

“As far as my family is concerned, the farthest back I can go is to Arthur Piggott, my paternal grandfather. What I remember about him is that he always wore a cap, and always carried a carved walking stick. He lived ten minutes on foot from us, and when we would go to see him, he would be sitting in a chair in his characteristic pose – upright like a stately older man.”

“Whereas my mother was the gentler, more lenient parent, my father was a very serious, firm and dogmatic man. He was bold and was not the kind of person to take nonsense. If he had a problem with the car, he would be at the dealership making a racket. He stood for what he believed in. But he was jovial, too. He liked to play cards and gamble but never wanted to see his children doing the same: ‘Boy, be careful… doh gamble on horse foot,’ he said, which meant, ‘Don’t expect to win when you wager on horse racing.’ My parents were both industrious and hard-working, and my father helped distribute my mother’s bread to shops within the closely-knit districts that included Bethel, Pleasant Prospect, Mount Irvine, Black Rock, Buccoo and Riseland Hill. But he also had other lucrative activities. He worked, throughout the years, as a shopkeeper, a taxi driver, and an animal trafficker – buying goats, sheep and pigs and selling them in Trinidad. During his visits there he would also purchase stock from Camacho Brothers on South Quay and have it shipped back to the shop in Tobago. He also drove and operated a Massey Ferguson tractor at Mount Irvine Estate five minutes away.”

“When I was in my early teens, I joined the Cadet Corps. At around the time of independence, in August of 1962, Princess Mary came to Trinidad and Tobago to represent the Queen. She came to Scarborough and inspected the parade of uniformed personnel, including the cadets. A newspaper took a picture of that moment, and you can see me there with her.

While in the Cadet Corps, we also once travelled by boat to Trinidad to camp for a week in Mayaro, on the southeastern end of the island. Driving along the Valencia stretch to get there was really exciting for me. It was a long road that just kept going and going and going. In Tobago, roads like that simply did not exist. When we got to Mayaro, we stayed in tents in an open playing field opposite the police station. I was tasked with guard duty responsibilities one night. I remember taking a nap on a big wooden bench in the prison cell. That was the only time I ever came close to a prison cell.”

New York, New York.

“Having served for three and a half years as High Commissioner and Head of Mission, I was acutely aware of some challenges and gaps in overseas representation. Consequently, I obtained approval from the Prime Minister to host a six-day conference, where I flew our Heads of Mission back to Trinidad. I invited industry leaders to speak at the session. They included the likes of Ken Julien, Ken Valley, Camille Robinson-Regis, Wayne Bertrand, Noel Garcia, Richard Bernal, Conrad Enill, Robert Riley, Professor Anthony Bryan and Arthur Lok Jack. The objective was to give our diplomats a solid grounding in the country’s business strategy and to transform them into advocates and representatives who could facilitate business. We also told them that we expected them to uphold specific work standards, as in any other senior appointment in the public service. Our vision was to make Port of Spain the diplomatic centre of the Caribbean.”