Thought For The Day – Friday 21st November 2025
Breaking Barriers
It was a very great pleasure to welcome Year 12 students, carers, and parents to the “Consultation Evening” last night. Thank you very much for choosing to continue, and further, your education at The Bishop’s Stortford High School.
On Tuesday, it was also a very great pleasure for T.B.S.H.S. to host Roland Orlando Butcher. Roland spoke to Year 12 and Year 13 students. Roland is pictured above talking with Year 12 student Jayden. Jayden had stopped after the presentation to thank Mr. Butcher and say how appreciative his family were for Mr. Butcher’s legacy.
Roland Butcher gave a wonderful, and inspirational, presentation about: respect; responsibility; resilience; identity; and integrity.
Roland Butcher grew up in Saint Philip, 16 miles from Bridgetown, Barbados, in the Caribbean, on a plantation.
Brought up by his paternal grandmother, Marie Stuart, and his Aunt, Olga, Roland worked very hard in the fields.
Further, every morning, before school, Roland had to journey to a nearby church, half a mile away, to bring buckets of water because his home had no running water.
And, after school, Roland had to cut grass to feed the cows because as his Grandmother said: “They cannot eat fresh air at night”.
Roland still completed his homework, together with all these family commitments.
His family had to show resilience. Roland’s maternal grandmother had to walk many miles a few times a week to sell fruit and vegetables.
Growing up, Roland’s family did not have much money, but he did have love, friends, and community. “The price of nothing, the value of everything” to adapt a quote by Oscar Wilde. What Roland, and his friends, did not have they made. They played safely in the street and by the sea. They used their imagination. The only presents Roland ever received were at Christmas, sent by his dad.
Roland’s dad, Robert, who passed away recently, aged 96, and his mum, Doreen, had left Barbados in “their Sunday best” to establish a new life overseas in 1955 for, ultimately, the family, including Roland, as part of “The Windrush Generation”. This remarkable generation came to the United Kingdom after the Second World War and helped the country rebuild. We will always be grateful to “The Windrush Generation”.
Aged 13, Roland would join them, not even knowing where England was at the time, seeing his dad for the first time since he was two, and his mum for the first time since he was four. Roland was one of only two black families in his secondary school.
Roland excelled at cricket. Roland would go on to star in a wonderful Middlesex county team.
And then, on the 22nd August 1980, Roland Orlando Burcher would become the first ever black person to play professional cricket for, and represent, the England cricket team, scoring the fastest “one-day international” 50 by someone on debut, against Australia.
Subsequently, Roland Butcher was selected then to represent England in the test match series in the Caribbean, against a truly great West Indies team, with the first test match being in Bridgetown, Barbados on the 13th of 1981.
Life had come full circle for Roland. His test debut sixteen miles from where he had grown up.
In his presentation, Roland talked of “the responsibility of being the first”, a responsibility to help others. A responsibility he had become even more conscious of with the passing of time.
Today, Roland Butcher commentates for the B.B.C. , and has held, and holds, sports leadership positions in the West Indies, at University and with the national team.
Roland inspires the next generation.
We were very grateful that Roland Butcher shared his story with us on Tuesday.
Roland’s wonderful autobiography is called: “Breaking Barriers: Barbados to England…And Back”.
It is a remarkable book of a remarkable journey and a remarkable life.
Thank you very much Mr. Butcher.
