In August 1951 Jamaica saw a disaster which was almost equivalent to the earthquake of  Port Royal in 1692, Hurricane Charlie swept through the island killing hundreds of people and left thousands homeless, it was the worst disaster for 70years on the island.  It was still the time of British rule and the people of Jamaica were left to suffer the consequences. 

Money was being collected here in England to help the Jamaican people.  I received a letter from a poor relative of mine asking for help.  At this time I was working in a large furniture factory in North London and because of my concerns about the hurricane, I discussed it with my work colleagues.

 Although the factory employed about 120 people only two of us were black, myself and an African who worked in the basement as a stoker.  The managing director of the firm was Mr Bert Segal a Jewish gentleman who had taken to me and knew of my political activities and supported me, and used to call me into his office each Thursday when he would educate me about Jewish history.  He felt he could hold a conversation with me because I was intelligent and he appreciated what I was doing in my spare time to help my people.  

When he heard about this letter he called me into his office. ‘Young  Stennett’ he said ‘ I hear you have some problems in Jamaica and you have a letter asking for help..  May I see the letter?  After reading the letter, he said he wanted to do something about it, as in the past there had been collections by the workers for other causes and I had always shown support.  He said it was my turn to be helped.  He immediately called his secretary into the office and directed her to draw up a document to circulate around the factory floor in order to collect money to help my relative in Jamaica.  He started the collection by giving £500 which was a lot of money, at that time and sent one of the office staff around the factory collecting whatever my colleagues could afford, no matter how small the donation. 

 As I said there were only two black people working in that factory and I had become close to the African employee, each lunchtime we would sit together in the basement where we would talk and share sandwiches.   Apparently this man had been a medical doctor who had been in the Army in the same battalion as Mr Segal but because he had been a doctor he was an officer and ranked above Mr Segal, they were not exactly friends but acquaintances.