HONORING NORMAN DARWAY
By Anthony Ferguson

It is accepted that the measure of a society is taken not by its riches with which it is endowed, but by its treatment of its less fortunate members. A not-so-distant second should be the recognition it pays to those selfless individuals who, sometimes with tremendous personal sacrifice, labour to bring improvement to its constituent parts.

Accepting these tenets, the St. James Community Improvements Committee (CIC) with its inauguration of WeBeat: St. James LIVE last year, began to HONOR its own. In recognition of his different spheres of endeavour, the CIC is pleased to name as its Honoree for 2002, the redoubtable Mr. Norman Darway.

Darway was born on June 17th 1935, and spent much of his early childhood enduring the difficult days of World War II and the consequent hardships visited on Trinidad and Tobago thereafter. No doubt influenced by these, Darway partook liberally in the fisticuffs that attended the era of the early 60's and 70's in many parts of Port of Spain. This could be seen as preparation for his almost single handed leadership of the St. James Infirmary Football League (Poor House League) for 35 years. Rival teams would come from all parts west of St. James, and as far east of Duncan and Nelson Streets. It was a time not only of entertaining football, but one in which a goalkeeper could be ordered to freeze, in classic Rialto Western style, when an opposing player took a shot at a net less goal. It was a time when referees and linesmen had to be protected from supporters who did not want an unfavourable call against their team. It was a time when, like the moon, the playing field was sprayed with craters. Through all of these choppy waters, Darway, with his imposing physique, steered the rather unsteady ship, bringing nets, leveling the grounds and policing the fights. He refereed and eventually stopped the engagements of warring gangs by limiting their rivalry to the Football and Cricket fields.

Darway also involved himself with Body Building and Weightlifting, not only winning the Junior Mr. Trinidad Tall Man Division title in the former, but subsequently training several other national titlists as well. Through Darway's Gym, which he formed in October 1955, would pass national and Caribbean champions like Steve Burnett, Ivan King, Teddy Herbert and Albert Marshall who went on to win the international Short Man Competition, defeating Eddie Bates.

Working with Trinidad and Tobago's Olympic Medallist Lennox Kilgour, Darway developed a passion for Weightlifting and his Midas touch continues to produce National Power Lifting Champions in both the men's and women's category.

Darway prided himself as being St. James' fasted hundred yard sprinter of his day, training at the famed Mannie Dookie Running school. He also involved himself in Boxing, established man's and women's Windball Cricket Leagues, and as was subsequently HONORed by the Trinidad and Tobago Windball Cricket Association for his invaluable contribution to the game.

In spite of all of these undertakings, Darway found the time to address the seemingly lesser needs of his community and the individuals that comprise it. It could be the interfacing with the officials of TSTT and T&TEC for the installation of a public phone and its proper illumination; it could be his representations of the Port Of Spain City Corporation's administrators to place a sidewalk on a city street.; it could be his successful entreaties of an Attorney General to obtain a house for a national hero whose own was demolished by fire; it could be the sourcing of funds for someone who was seeking an operation to stave off what would have otherwise been a fatal illness; it could be his assistance in finding work for youth in the area. All of these by themselves qualify him to be our Honoree. However, it is for his contribution to writing the history of steelband for which he is well known by the national community.

Norman Darway befriended many of the steelband pioneers and was greatly influenced by Ellie Manette, who used to train at his Gym and for whom he laboured to establish the St. James "Ellie Mannette Park". Darway kept in his memory and encyclopedic record of the more than twenty steelbands spawned from the area, the persons who formed them, their locations, the competitions they entered, the times they played and their placements.

He can recall who contributed to the instrument's evolution and what those contributions were, who challenged the police, who challenged each other, so taught whom and how steelband names such as "Grow More Food" came about. Darway would regularly be found in the archives of various newspapers and the National Library, tracking down articles to support the competitions they entered, the times they played his claims and upon discovery would be happy to share them with everyone.

So one thing is clear, for all its contentions, the history of the Steelband movement cannot be properly written without tapping the immense reservoir that is Norman Darway's mind. Did somebody say National Independence Award?

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