Agnes Skerritt – Former Chaperone, Pharmacist & Chairwoman of Carnival
Agnes Skerritt’s interview was first published in the book entitled The History of St. Kitts & Nevis Carnival by Mosi Mandisa. The interview is also in the digital copy of Celebrating 65 years of St. Kitts & Nevis Carnival which is available here
Agnes Skerritt
The Chaperone with the Golden Touch
Former Chairwoman of the National Carnival Committee &
Chairwoman of the Queen Show Sub-Committee
In 2023 she was the Carnival Grand Marshall
How did you become involved in Carnival?
In 1957, Basil Henderson came to me and told me he wanted to start Carnival and needed my assistance. I was quite agreeable to it. I was a photographer in those days and I was always interested in fashion, make-up and art. This was before I became a pharmacist. So we got together and formed a committee to organise it. The years 1957, 1958 & 1959 were just wonderful.
What other memories do you have of Mr. Henderson?
Plenty. Would you believe one year later, Basil came to me again with another venture? He told me that he wanted to start 4-H. We worked tirelessly to form the organisation here. When he went abroad to study, he begged me hard not to let it fail. I had to go around the island to train the children and teach them various skills. Over the years, I asked the business community to donate gifts for the children. Even when I travelled I would buy gifts and other items for the children and ship them to St. Kitts. We also had a Christmas tree for the under privileged children. We started 4-H with a few children and gradually it grew to over 500 children! Every October we had an exhibition showcasing the work and skills that the children learnt at 4-H. The exhibition was held at Warner Park. Basil also had an Easter parade. Basil Henderson has done so much for the country.
What was Carnival like in those days?
Except for the Calypso Competition, we never started Carnival activities until Boxing Day. We would have had the calypso tent before as the Calypso King opened for the Queen Show. The 1st year Calypso King was Lord Kush and the following year was Leader.
There were many troupes. I remember Alfonso had a troupe depicting the Red Amerindians. He brought the costumes from Trinidad and they had a trail of long feathers. Another person had a troupe with Moses. That troupe was called the 10th Commandments. Iris Howell who is now deceased had a troupe called The Hawaiian Dancers, with the grass skirts and everything. Janice Reynolds had a troupe of Spanish Dancers with fancy frills on their dresses. We also had a lovely Children’s Carnival. We had some lovely troupes the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of Carnival.
How did the Committee feel about having Carnival at Christmas time?
We thought of it. We had it at Christmas time because growing up Basil and I grew up with masquerades and Christmas Sports. Remember at the end of the crop, this was the only time for the slaves to come together. That was before my lifetime but we kept the tradition. There were a lot of biblical plays such as David and Goliath etc. The masquerades did not come out until Boxing Day. The masquerades would dance in town on Boxing Day, then go to the villages for the whole week, then return to Basseterre. All those dances have a story to them. The masquerades did English dances like the quadrille etc. I remember being frightened to look at the St. Peter’s Actors. Every time I saw them crushing the stones on their bodies I would cry out, “Lord have mercy!” (Laughs) In those days we also had Neaga business and when they start to talk, whatever happened in the village that year, you surely knew who they were talking about. We didn’t have anything besides the calypso elimination and the calypso show before Carnival and we didn’t start anything until Boxing Day. In those days the music had to stop at 6 0’ clock. This was by law before National Carnival.
Basil was a Catholic like me. In our church we observe a period of Advent where one prepares for the coming of Jesus Christ. So it’s a holy time. Nowadays you hardly hear Christmas carols like once ago. In those days, it was unheard of to have any Carnival activity weeks prior to Christmas. Everything has to be balanced. We get the word Christmas from Christ and we have to pay attention to that. In October and November when a person felt breezes one would say, “Christmas breezes are blowing.” There was a distinction between the time set to observe Christmas and the time to observe Carnival.
In a 1977 newspaper article, the reporter expressed:
Mrs. Agnes Skerrit, the chaperone with the winning girl in nearly every contest, is now becoming a national figure. She had been in the field from the beginning with Mr. Henderson. She continued into the National Carnival and except for one or two occasions her girls always won the crown. She again proved her exception when in 1972 Miss Louvina Bertie won. The Carnival Committee decided to make Mrs. Skerritt Chairwoman of the Queen Show Sub-Committee. Here she would not chaperone but her daughter Miss Arlene Skerritt came through with flying colours as chaperone…”
I would aptly describe you as “The Chaperone with the Golden Touch”. Tell us about the Queen Shows.
The first queen show we had, there were 13 contestants. The least amount of girls we had was 8. Judy Mestier won the first year (1957) and then Claudina Bagnell won in the 2nd year. We had some lovely times. When we first started in the 1950s there was no Swimsuit Competition, Interview or Talent. Remember we were just starting out and also remember the culture at the time. This was in the 1950s.
(Three in the middle) Calypso King Leader, 1958-59 Queen Claudina Bagnall, and Basil Henderson
We had the Costume and Evening Wear. Eventually, the other categories – Swimsuit, Interview and Talent were introduced for as the years progressed we became more exposed to international shows such as Miss World and Miss Universe. I remember in 1977, I was a judge at Miss Universe. My category was to judge a contestant apart from the stage show. I had to observe a particular lady’s conduct etc., behind the scenes.
We had a tough time organising the shows for in those days the park was not secure. Many people jumped over the wall. Factory Social Centre was better controlled for those events. When I became the Chairwoman I didn’t chaperone any contestant because it would have been a conflict of interest. Interestingly though, when I chaperoned I was sometimes looking after more than one contestant in a show! The list is quite long but I’ll just name a few. I have chaperoned Helen Owen now Mrs. Coury the 1960 Queen; Judith Pennyfeather the 1961 Queen; Stella Samuel the 1965 Queen; Grace Horsford the 1969 Queen; Elaine Lynch-Wade 1970 Queen. I also chaperoned contestants for other shows such as Miss Barbara Walton, Miss Statehood Queen (1967).
What were the evening gowns like?
A lot of the dresses were the big bouffant style dress. I always liked sleeve dresses. I’ll never forget I went to Antigua with the winner Jennifer Evelyn-Howell and her dress was well admired. It was a plain cream Grecian dress. I went to Trinidad to buy the material and got a Trinidadian costume designer to make me a copper belt. The dress came to her waist and then you saw a copper belt across her back. The material was so lovely and it fell so soft. When she went to Antigua to compete in another event, the Governor in Antigua, who was once a Magistrate here, met me ten years later and told me, “That was a beautiful dress.”
I also made one for Marguerite. That was another beautiful dress. I went to Trinidad and got shades of pink, from the lightest pink to the darkest purple. There were layers of these colours. She was such a popular person. She had the show from the time she walked in. She was a singer and she had such a beautiful voice. The bands always asked her to sing. She was popular, tall and elegant with very striking features.
How did you train them?
I spent a lot of time training them in my home. I would put a book on their heads and make them walk on a straight line. I didn’t allow them to drag their feet and do unnecessary posing. Many times after I already train them, they would go to their homes, listen to what their friends and family tell them and do differently to what I tell them. Then on the night of the show you would see them throwing their hands here and there and all over the place doing exactly what I told them not to do. (Laughs) The Committee has been doing a wonderful job with regard to the Queen Shows and it is good to see that such a high standard has been maintained.
Other articles about St. Kitts & Nevis Female Pioneers are below: