The 40th Anniversary of the oldest running British Virgin Islands newspaper has now been “stamped” in history with a se-tenant pair of commemorative postage stamps issued by the BVI Postal Administration. One of the stamps portrays the founders of The Island Sun newspaper, Carlos and Esme Downing, and the other stamp features both the very first issue of the weekly newspaper and a recent edition. The logo for the 25th Silver Anniversary edition is displayed in the middle, and features a map of the BVI. A special edition Cacheted First Day Cover is available from: Vernon Pickering (issun@candwbvi.net)

STAMPS CELEBRATE 40th ANNIVERSARY OF THE ISLAND SUN NEWSPAPER

By Giorgio Migliavacca

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) Postal Administration has issued on 14 March 2003 a se-tenant pair of $1.35 postage stamps to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Island Sun newspaper. The two stamps are part of a set of eight stamps celebrating four 2002 anniversaries and events. 

One of the stamps portrays the founders of The Island Sun newspaper, Carlos and Esme Downing, and the other stamp features both the very first issue of the paper and also a recent edition. The logo for the 25th anniversary edition is displayed in the middle, and features a map of the BVI.
Carlos Downing appeared on a local 10c. stamp that was issued in 1984 as a part of a set of four celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the World Chess Federation.

Although this 10c. stamp depicted a group of local chess players without identifying any of them they are nevertheless easily recognizable: on the left Trevor Parris, Carlos Downing and Elton Georges; and on the right L. B. Walters and Edmund Maduro.

On June 23rd, 1962, the inaugural issue of The Island Sun was published and at the time it seemed impossible that a newspaper could survive without hardly any public or financial backing. It was on the whole a very difficult period for the British Virgin Islands altogether, but this did not deter the founders, Carlos Downing and Esme Downing (nee de Castro) from their new venture. It mattered little that a weekly by the name of “Tortola Times” had ceased publication after less than three years. There was some encouraging support coming from readers, well-wishers and the government and that was enough for the indomitable founders. During the early days of the newspaper moral support and production assistance came from Carlton deCastro,
a former parliamentarian who has been depicted on a stamp included in a long set issued in the year 2000 honouring deceased members of the BVI Legislative Council and commemorating the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the Council.

In 1962 Road Town had no wharf, except a small broken-down wooden jetty, and there was no Wickhams Cay either, excepting for the small island, there was no road from the capital to West End, apart from a donkey path passing over the mountain, and no airport, cruise ship dock or deep water wharf. The administration building was not there, nor of course the four-lane highway. The hospital was at the time called the Cottage Hospital, and the name alone speaks for itself.

Much has changed since 1962, mostly for the better, thanks to the hardworking and progressive people of the BVI and their government. The Island Sun has played its part too in boosting greater civic and political awareness, as well as promoting BVI businesses locally and internationally. It may perhaps escape the average reader that punctually and diligently publishing the newspaper year after year for the past forty years has been quite a task, and not even the catastrophic 1989 hurricane Hugo prevented The Island Sun from meeting its deadline — the only newspaper in the
entire Virgin Islands (BVI and USVI) published as scheduled during that dramatic weekend.

In 1985 Sun Enterprises (BVI) Ltd (a company locally owned and locally managed) became the official publishers of the oldest-running newspaper of the BVI. Carlos Downing continued as editor until 1987 and then Vernon Pickering, who had been assistant editor for three years, became executive editor in 1988. For almost three years, between 1986 and 1989, The Island Sun published a mid-week edition which came out on Wednesdays. The first chairman of the board of Sun Enterprises, Dr. Norwell Harrigan was in 1993 one of the first two black natives to be honoured on BVI stamps.

During the early years the weekly newspaper had its own press, but eventually Caribbean Printing took over the job, and by 1987 the whole operation became computerized and The Island Sun was then printed in St. Thomas. The publication has gone from the initial few pages, to the 12 pages of the 1970s, the 20 in the early 1980s, and to an average of 40 pages today. 

The weekly newspaper has grown considerably, but its staff remains still small and the commitment to serving this community is still the same as the founders. As far back as 1997 The Island Sun became the first Virgin Islands newspaper to have its own website (www.islandsun.com) and every weekend thousands of readers from all over the world are able to read the latest BVI news free of charge. A recent survey of the daily traffic on The Island Sun website has shown an average 1,000 visits per day, and on certain days as many as 18,000 accesses have been reported.

During the 1966 Royal Visit, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II asked Mr. Downing why he had ventured into publishing the local newspaper. His answer was that “The Island Sun was not started in the sense of a business undertaking per se...(but) as a community venture and with confidence in the future of the Virgin Islands.” A native of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, Carlos Downing became Clerk of the Municipal Court whilst still in his early 20s and later on turned to politics and soon found himself as the leader of the Progressive Guide Party — the first organised political party in the US Virgin Islands. In early 1942, while in New York he enlisted in the US Army and eventually found himself as part of the contingent of troops that landed in Southern Italy in 1943.

At the end of World War II Downing received an Honourable Discharge with the rank of Ordinance Master Sergeant, the rank he had attained within a year of joining the Army. Mr. Downing returned to St. Thomas after four years of absence, and his earlier involvement in local politics resulted in him being elected to the Municipal Council for St. Thomas-St. John for two successive legislatures.

Love-at-first-sight struck Carlos when he met Esme deCastro, and in a very short time they were married. It was whilst in the Legislature that he served as Chairman of the Municipal Committee and Vice-Chairman of the Legislative Assembly. During his third term in office Carlos Downing decided to continue his post graduate studies at Columbia University, New York. In 1959 he was invited to return to St. Thomas to become Commissioner of Property and Procurement for three years. In 1962 he and Esme moved to Tortola and together they founded The Island Sun newspaper.

Carlos was to serve as editor for 25 years and saw the newspaper go from strength to strength. Contributing writers and columnists included among others British aviation pioneer and hero Sir Alan Cobham, Dr. Norwell Harrigan, Dr. Pearl Varlack, Godfrey deCastro, Dr. Pierre Encontre, McW. Todman, QC, Dr. Quincy Lettsome, and Clarence Christian. 

Of the many honours bestowed upon Carlos Downing, none ranked more highly than the honorary BVI citizenship presented to him in 1983 by the then Chief Minister of the British Virgin Islands, H. Lavity Stoutt. However tragedy was to strike Carlos in September 1984 when his beloved Esme died.

He then retreated into many fond memories, but eventually found the strength to restructure The Island Sun and launch Sun Enterprises (BVI) Ltd. With the future of the newspaper secured by the new company, Mr. Downing became honorary editor and eventually retired spending his time between Tortola and St. Thomas. Carlos is fondly remembered by many Virgin Islanders both in the BVI and USVI and also by many regular visitors as an unpretentious but cultured person who believed in rendering service and having a purpose in life. A sports enthusiast he became a strong supporter of softball and later on founded the BVI Chess Federation. He died
in December 1997 in Miami. Esme deCastro-Downing, the second eldest of a family of 13 children, played an active role in the BVI community from the 1950s up until the early 1980s. She was a member of various committees and was most energetic in contributing to the August Festival Committee during the 1960s. 

Esme served as Chairlady of the August Festival Committee for one year, and became the first woman in the BVI to have been appointed a Justice of the Peace. She engaged in civic activities too, heading this or that committee and spearheading any number of celebrations. She served on various Government Boards and on the Visiting Committee of Her Majesty’s Prison, and the BVI Scholarship Board. 

A founding member of the Tortola Ladies Club, Esme first opened a boutique and then a stationer’s and magazine store called Esme’s Shoppe in the Sir Olva Georges Plaza in Road Town which remains to this day a meeting point for the island community. In a 1982 autobiographic article Carlos revealed that in 1962 whilst in New York he received a letter from Esme encouraging him to start a newspaper in Tortola. He confirmed this in a 1984 interview published by a local newspaper.