By Stanley Greaves
Bobby Fernandes was a multifaceted person whose fundamental charac-teristics were witnessed, enjoyed and appreciated by all who came into contact with him regardless of their station in life. In this respect, he was undoubtedly humanitarian in outlook and practice. He was a very perceptive intuitive person of a humorous disposition. I will, however, in this writing be only concerned with his achievements in the Creative Arts.
I was associated with Bobby and fraternal twin Billy both at Sacred Heart School and at Saints later in 1957. I took students camping and one camp suggested by Bobby was spent at his dad’s timber concession near Sand Hills on the Demerara River. I left Guyana to study in the UK and on my return we made contact. It was the beginning of a firm and lasting friendship. At the time he was working at John Fernandes Ltd, the family business but spent his spare time “straying about in the bush,” as we say, in his trusty Toyota Land Cruiser. “Ever since I was a schoolboy I have been fascinated by the natural beauty of Guyana.” Over the years he covered the hinterland and took photographs on a cheap “point and shoot” camera as we called it. He said that he took photos because people did not believe the things he described.
