THERE was a week in February 1966 when Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited Trinidad and Tobago as part of a Caribbean Commonwealth tour. It was a moment of enormous historical significance. The Queen became the first reigning monarch to open a session of Parliament in the newly independent nation.

While the major ceremonies were staged in Port of Spain and San Fernando, the royal motorcade also travelled through Fyzabad, a town then synonymous with the country’s oil industry and labour history.

At the time, Fyzabad was a place of wealth, movement and promise. Oil workers travelled constantly between wells, pipelines and storage tanks. The smell of crude oil lingered in the air. Shops were busy, bars were crowded and there was money circulating through every corner of the town.