At first, it was an email conversation amongst a few members of Civil Society in March 2018, ignited by Mr Reginald Dumas’ Resett 1962 document, in which the need for a complete over-haul of the Governance structure of Trinidad and Tobago was evident. This email conversation would wax and wane over the next 3 months, when towards the 1^st week of June 2018, with the impending JSC Consultations on Tobago’s Self-Governance Bill 2018, the conversation reached an inflection point; the following email is indicative;

EMAIL: “Tobago should establish a system of governance that is uniquely Tobagonian… If the house is designed to have ten elected members, each voter should choose ten out of the many candidates presenting themselves to the electorate. There should be no subdivision of Tobago into separate constituencies. Why don’t we meet to iron out these matters face to face and avoid these emails?

A few of us agreed with this sentiment, as a result, the following email invite was sent to those few, from Mr Reginald Phillips;

EMAIL: “Hello fellow Tobagonians, the venue is 228 Shirvan Road, Buccoo. The time is 5 pm. The date is Wednesday 6th June, 2018. Let us knock heads on this one. The ancestors expect nothing less of us.  R.O.P.”

Five of us convened that day, and what was carded to be no more than an hour, turned into 4 hours of conversation centralized on the issue of Tobago’s need for Self-Governance, and a Resett of that Governance structure.

Given the impending JSC Consultation on Tobago’s Self-Governance Bill 2018, carded for that coming Sunday, June 10^th, 2018 at the Victor Bruce Building, this would be our first contribution as an ad hoc group. Not only did a contingency from our group attend this Consultation, a comprehensive document, aptly prepared by Dr Vanus James and Mr Reginald Dumas, was effectively submitted to the JSC.

After this inaugural group effort, we agreed to continue these face-to-face discussions. Yes, the beginning was much like the engine of an automobile that had been sitting idle for decades, it would not turn over with ease, a requisite amount of elbow grease would need to be applied, and with perseverance undergirded by sincerity in the words ‘I love Tobago’ the engine turned over, and carried us on to accomplish other group efforts.

The initial gathering of Mr Reginald Dumas, Dr Vanus James, Mr Mervyn O’Neil, Mr Winston Dillon, Mr Rodney Piggott, and our gracious host and first to chair these sessions, Mr Reginald Phillip, agreed on the name ‘Campus 228’ for our ad hoc group, ‘Campus’ was indicative of our intention to engage in meaningful discourse n the betterment of Tobago, ‘228’ was the numerical address of Mr Reginald Phillips, we would eventually host our gatherings at the Merci Buccoo, the eclectic beachfront Performance and Event Venue in Buccoo, thanks to the generosity of Mr Winston Dillon.

The following is what we additionally accomplished as the ad hoc group Campus 228:

• July 24^th, 2018 The Tobago Bookfest, which was the brainchild of Mr Reginald Phillips, wherein, several of Tobago’s authors gathered with some of the books they had published, shared their story with an audience and sold their books.
• November 8^th, 2019 ‘A Caribbean Reparations Update’, this was a lecture by Dr The Honourable Ralph E Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent and The Grenadines, who accepted the personal invite of Mr Reginald Dumas, and came to Tobago where he presented an update on CARICOM’S Reparations effort.
• December 10^th, 2019 ‘The Tobago Symposium’, we partnered with the Tobago Writers Guild, and staged a symposium in recognition of the UN International Decade for People of African Descent, we are the only body in Trinidad and Tobago that recognized this Declaration.
• March 12^th, 2020, Good Governance in Trinidad and Tobago/Voices from Civil Society’, we again partnered with the Tobago Writers Guild, and staged an effective panel Presentation on the issue of Good Governance, was it sheer coincidence that in March of 2018, Mr Reginald Dumas’ Resett 1962 document on the issue of the need for Governance Resett, was again the document that instigated this the final accomplishment of Campus 228 in March 2020? Perhaps, in the words of Mr Reginald Phillips in his email in June 2018 ‘The ancestors expect nothing less of us’.    

We had already began planning our next event, which was to be a day-long Symposium on Education Reform in Tobago, alas, the Covid pandemic whistle blew. and our plans for that was one of the many casualties of Covid Restrictions. Transition from face-to-face meetings to Virtual meetings became the new norm, and perhaps as the ancestors would have it, this transition seemed to have been planned for additions to what was then Campus 228 included several Youth with the technical awareness to navigate us into deep space, and many crucial and historical achievements.