Robert and Sally Dick-ReadRobert and Sally (Sarah) Dick-Read currently live in retirement, in Winchester, England. Winchester is a cathedral city and a former capital city (in the 7th century A.D.) of England, and is also the county town of Hampshire. It has a population of around 41,000. When they resided in the BVI (from 1963 to 1989) they lived in a number of different locations, including Marina Cay, Fort Burt, Pasea, and Pleasant Valley – in what had apparently once been Robb White’s (of “Our Virgin Island” fame) house. Robert and Sally then moved to Belmont Estate, overlooking Smuggler’s Cove (or Lower Belmont Bay as it is more properly called) in the west end of Tortola, until their return to England.
In the late 1950s, Robert was working in Africa (Ethiopia) shooting film footage for the Adventure Series produced by David Attenborough, which appeared on BBC television in 1959. On the strength of this experience he moved to Detroit, to work for Britannica Films (a branch of the Encyclopedia Britannica organisation). He did some more work in Africa, and then was asked to work on a project called the “Islands of the Caribbean”. Some of the scenes were meant to be shot in the Virgin Islands, and although the project fell through, Robert’s interest in coming to the BVI had been whetted. At this time Robert and Sally were planning to be married. Sally was Fashion Editor of “She” magazine in London, but gave up this career to marry Robert and move to Tortola in late 1963. They arrived with 100 pounds sterling in their pockets, on a one way ticket, reflecting both their current financial state and their determination to succeed.
When they landed they found themselves in a much less formal situation than contemporary immigrants do, and became part of a small number of people (under 50) living on Tortola who were not born in the Virgin Islands. Initially they did not even know they had to “check in” with the government, until a passing meeting with Police Inspector Hull on a ferry pointed out that it might be a good idea to register their presence. There was one private (leisure) boat at the time, owned by Geoffrey Cobham, son of Sir Alan Cobham. There was no bareboat industry, and little else that was specifically tourist oriented! The Dick-Reads stayed initially at Marina Cay, but soon moved to the Fort Burt Hotel in Roadtown. This hotel, located on the site of a colonial fort, was owned at this time by Commander Chris Hammersley and his socialite wife. Robert and Sally ran and looked after the hotel for a time while the Hammersleys were back in England. The telephone number for Fort Burt was #3: #1 was the Police Station, and #2 was Government House. In October 1965 Robin Tattersall arrived to ‘get away from it all’ and become Government Surgeon, and was surprised to meet Sally Dick-Read whom he had known during his days as a male model, and her days as Fashion Editor. As they say, “It’s a small world.” At times Robert would pick up people at the airport on Beef Island in his Boston Whaler, and bring them back to the Fort Burt in Roadtown – he once ferried in a man who had come to investigate the possibility of opening the first Barclay’s Bank branch in Roadtown.
After the Hammersleys returned to Roadtown, Robert and Sally worked in a number of different endeavours, including landscaping, liquor sales, and the travel industry. In the mid-1960s the BVI saw the beginnings of investment from the UK (see the Michael Helm profile in this series). A number of people bought land and wanted to build, and the Dick-Reads acted as agents in the process of land clearance, landscaping, road building, culvert building, and related activities on various parts of Tortola. They also saw an opportunity to sell liquor to a number of bars around the island, and coupled this business with the occasional sale of hard-to-come-by imported vegetables, which were an expensive luxury in the Virgin Islands at this time. These ventures led them into a difficult competition with “the Haycrafts” of Road Town Wholesale (RTW), and John Morrell, the founder of TICO. They also owned a car rental business (Hertz Tortola) for a time, and in 1971 Robert helped Sir Humphrey Cripps start Air BVI, initially flying Britten-Norman “Islanders” and then (in 1975) Douglas “DC-3s (Dakotas)”. Although Robert didn’t run the operation, he was an owner-director of this company – which eventually went out of business in the 1990s - for about five years.
The Dick-Reads are probably best remembered in the Virgin Islands, however, for their operation of a company known as the Ample Hamper (which is, of course, still in business under different ownership), that opened in 1974 at Village Cay (Sally’s branch) and then later at The Moorings (Robert). The company was formed as Robert and Sally saw a gap in the market to provision the growing number of bareboat charter operations such as CSY and The Moorings (which was founded in 1969). The first incarnation of Ample Hamper meant that they were still in competition with the Haycrafts and others, and this endeavour initially “didn’t work”. This led to many stressful moments. One night, however, Robert had an epiphany – Ample Hamper would go ‘upscale’ and move it out of competition with the other similar stores in Roadtown. He reasoned that many of the charter boat customers were quite wealthy, and would be prepared to pay more for good food at a higher price to ensure the success of their vacation sailings. This despite the fact that some of their stock was often purchased at RTW! Happily their turnover soon increased as a result of hard work and the hiring of “great workers” – often “posh English girls”. This success eventually allowed them to sell the company (to Canadians), return to England in 1989, and fund their children’s education. Their son Aragorn and his brother Alexander initially went to St. George’s School in Roadtown; they both now live back in the Virgin Islands. The Dick-Reads’ experiences also led to Sally continually threatening to write her autobiography to be called “Fourteen Years Behind the Slicer”. Robert has continued his African interest into his ‘retirement years’, recently publishing what has been termed a “bold and stimulating” volume called “The Phantom Voyagers” (ISBN:09549231-0-3) about early (B.C. years) South East Asian influences on the African continent.
The Virgin Islands have been transformed since the early 1960s when Robert and Sally arrived. Prior to Little Dix (opened in 1964) there were only some 40-50 hotel beds in the BVI (Fort Burt, Guana Island, Marina Cay and Treasure Isle, with Long Bay under construction). There were initially no international banks, few cars or other vehicles, and of course little or no bareboat chartering until the late 1960s. Now boat chartering has exploded, and there are “cars, cars, cars”, but with few obvious controls over the vehicles and very little parking. There are many more roads that have opened up the islands, and most are in better condition. The airport has grown considerably (but hopefully will grow no more!!), and schooling has been transformed. Of course cruise ships have also increased in number and size, but they “haven’t contributed anything”. In addition a variety of goods and services are now available, that were only dreamed of in the 1960s. Certainly “the food is a lot better”. The “standard trips” to St. Thomas to pick up supplies are now largely things of the past.
The Dick-Reads saw these incredible changes in the Virgin Islands and helped to make them happen over a quarter of a century. Both Robert and Sally are proud Belongers and their children are also BV Islanders. Robert was “a bad Rotarian” while on Tortola, he says, but feels that his children have made, and are making, major contributions to the Virgin Islands. But they agree that it is a very different country now, and “it would be impossible” to do what they did, today. But they have no regrets, and if they were able “to do things over” the only change would to have brought more money with them – if they could have done. They now live in Winchester but return annually to the Virgin Islands to visit friends and family, and plan to continue this ’commute’ into the foreseeable future.
Draft of March 1st of interview of February 21st, 2012