Mandeville Meeting

In January 1959 I started my annual business tour of the West Indies, on behalf of the paper manufacturer, John Dickinson & Co Ltd. Early on I went to a little town, called Mandeville, in a remote part of Jamaica. I stayed the night of the 12th January in the Manchester hotel. During the evening I was in conversation with the hotel's proprietor, there being few visitors. Back in England, several months later, I came down to breakfast at the central YMCA in London. My landlady at that time insisted on my departing my digs at weekends. A young man asked me if he could join me at my table. I could tell from his accent that he came from the West Indies. It turned out that his mother owned the Manchester hotel and that he had been there, when I was engaging her in conversation. I had not seen him at the time. John.