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GLAD TO BE BACK: Mr and Mrs John Peberdy on their arrival aboard Minerva II in Port Georgetown. (Cullen Bess-Nelson photo)
THE first cruise ship to visit Guyana this year, Minerva II, arrived in Georgetown Tuesday evening, welcomed by the rhythmic
sounds of the Guyana Police Force steel band which the passengers on the liner truly enjoyed.
Some 600 passengers were on board, seven of whom were of Guyanese origin.
The Guyana Chronicle was lucky to bump into Mr and Mrs John Peberdy, a couple with a close Guyanese connection.
Mr Peberdy, from the United Kingdom, nostalgically recalled his stay here in Guyana, from 1935 to 1948, when his father,
Philip Peberdy, served as the Curator of the now Walter Roth Museum, from 1935 to 1942.
After his stint at the museum, Mr Peberdy served as an Amerindian Welfare Officer until 1948, when the family re-migrated
to the UK.
John Peberdy said he has fond memories of Guyana and the one that remains indelibly in his mind is climbing Mount Roraima
at age 14.
He left Guyana when he was 18, but he always wanted to return, and this he did in 1953.
I knew I had to return to Guyana because I ate labba and drank creek water,the now 75-year-old agriculturist told the
Guyana Chronicle.
He said his mother, who is now 95, vividly remembers the Chronicle newspaper and impressed upon him that he must bring
back copies for her.
This I will certainly do,he said.
Peberdy, after leaving Guyana at 18, furthered his studies and then worked in Kenya and at the World Bank up to 1992,
when he retired.
He and his wife Monica now live in Anglesey in Northern Wales.
Coming back to Guyana is wonderful and exciting. The Guyanese people have always been so friendly,Mr Peberdy remarked
delightfully.
The cruise ship left Thursday. (CHAMANLALL NAIPAUL)
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