Mr Winston Davies lived an interesting and fulfilling life and there are many attributes of his life that we will cherish as we bid him farewell on his journey to his Maker.
He was warm and affectionate but did not suffer fools gladly. He was deep and thoughtful but was not wedded to any dogma, with any new information he revised his views and expressed them in a forthright robust manner.
He was adventurous but not reckless and had many interests, cerebral as well as cultural. This made him the man that we were proud to be associated with, the consummate well-mannered cultured gentleman, in all senses of the word. he was a man of good breeding, being a scion of the well-established and elite families of Jamestown British Accra and Osu with a tinge of Krio and a large dose of Welsh ancestry.
His life traversed different countries, Ghana, the US, and Britain all showing diverse aspects of a broad education with an enquiring mind. Whilst he was a broadcaster, he was also, a personal finance professional who attained high office before his retirement as a stockbroker.
As a skilled broadcaster, he learned his trade in the best British tradition, the BBC, and this showed clearly with his elegant turn of phrase when commentating on football matches in Ghana. The fact that he had played colts football and would probably have gone on to play for the first team Asante Kotoko if he had remained in Kumase helped because he had practised all the soccer moves and just invested the appropriate descriptive words.
Winston was a great and loyal friend, faithful by those whom he considered as being worthy of his friendship.
His loyalty to his friends was demonstrated when he stood resolute to ensure that the pre-burial service and reception of his close friend King Tackie Tawiah with whom he had attended a jamboree of the Boys Scout movement in their youth was perfectly executed to the envy of the naysayers. He was there to eulogise his lifelong friend. It was the same sense of loyalty at play when he insisted on paying tribute to the memory of C.R Adjaye, an ex-chairman of Accra Hearts of Oak the football club that he became associated with.
I always sought a point of engagement with my older friends to enable me to learn from them and their experiences; Winston proved a superb teacher, a history buff and an excellent raconteur. He explained to me the relationships between several families in Accra. He even told me a lot about my cousins, uncles, and aunties on both sides of my family, enough to fill up a history book and certainly one that would make a very enlightening if not salacious soap opera.
What he lacked in his inability to speak his father tongue, he more than made up in how well he spoke the Asante Twi language. He explained that his mother had worked in and with royalty at the palace and that he had lived and attended Ahmadiyya College a Muslim Secondary School in Kumasi. He also spoke idiomatic Fantse, and his native Ga he spoke with correct functional and choice grammar if you get my meaning.
I invited him to a meeting of the Krio Development Union so that we would explore our dual heritage, – as expected he arrived long before I did. However, when he joined the Gadangme Internet forum to help us explore ways in which we could roll back the demise of the Ga language, which the Welsh had accomplished with their strategies, it was more than a test match. From whence cometh this Blofoynyo? What was his Ga name? others asked, even though he could easily have been called Owula Kobla.
Here was someone who had come to make the forum that was moribund a more exciting place with his tales about the glorious past and yet the attacks continue as expected from the Ga kroŋŋ contingent.
But here Winston showed his tenacity in staying the whole nine furlongs and this typical riposte demonstrated how well he dealt with issues about his identity over the years – the offending party promptly exited the forum without my intervention and here
I quote
Thanks for your insight. It is just unfortunate that Dr. XXXXX-XXX still persists with his double entendre, with very little regard for the majority. If one man commits atrocities like Rawlings did, does that mean that all people of mixed race are punished for the sins of one man? Then he adds insult to injury by coming back with a whole load of nonsense to justify his shameful performance.
We don’t need this on THIS FORUM. Thank you and best regards wd
Unquote
Winston treasured his family both close and extended, he was loving and generous towards his extended family who had nurtured him; to his immediate family he instilled the principles of decency that guided his life, but he also allowed them to thrive in their own chosen fields. To his friends, he remained a bon vivant, the connoisseur at the centre of discussions and a wonderful host.
Oh, I will miss the many discussions that, Mr Albert Johnson, Mr Shanco Bruce and myself, held in your ‘court’ in Woolwich lubricated by choice red wine and single malt whiskey, with your faithful consort and wife Amerley providing us with all manner of delicious finger food.
We wished we could have come for the one last time but knew that you were ill. We were however all impressed and heartened by your fortitude during your brief illness knowing that you were going to a better place.
Fare thee well my good friend, erudite and deeply forged over time with many parts, paths, and heritage – you embodied the truth in my belief that “the mixed is richer than the pure”.
My very punctual Blofonyo, Anyemi Winston – Yaa wojogban yɛ onuntsɔ mli
Ade Sawyerr – London
Magba nyɛ sane kɛ ŋɔɔmɔ /
kɛ wɔjɛ jen nɛŋ wɔtee /
ŋwɛi maŋ fɛɛfɛ-o lɛ mli lɛ /
tsoromɔ ko bɛ jeŋ donn /
bɔfɛɛbɔ ni wɔyɔɔ wɔha /
agbɛnɛ ahere wɔ /
kroŋkroŋbii le alala nɛ /
gblemɔ kɔli agboi lɛ /
gblemɔ koli agboi lɛ /
gbɛfalɔ ko damɔ ŋsɛɛ /
etɔ mi pam, majɔɔ mi he /
gblemɔ kɔlii agboi lɛ /
Mr Winston Davies – Celebration of Life
Time: Feb 2, 2022 11:30 AM London
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