Farewell to fearless journalist Brandford

Members of the media fraternity, the majority from the Nation Publishing Company, said a final farewell to veteran colleague Albert Brandford at his funeral service yesterday.

The morning service at St Mark Anglican Church, St John, drew a cross section of people whose lives were touched in some way by a man regarded as one of Barbados’ most outstanding journalists.

In his tribute, The Most Honourable Joel Garner spoke about his late friend who was “forthright in his opinions and was a true enough friend to respectfully tell you what he honestly believed”. “He was impressive with his incisive political commentaries, which were analytical and well argued. He remained unmoved by both criticism and praise, confident that his columns were grounded in deep research and never aimed at currying favour,” Garner said.

The cricket legend recalled how Brandford “honed his craft with passion” and on occasion “paid the price” for his fearlessness in his parliamentary reporting and political analyses, areas in which he excelled.

Mentor

Garner also reflected on Brandford the mentor.

“He hated wasting time and had little regard for those who he felt had cared little about uplifting journalism standards or were unwilling to spend the time honing their craft. In fact, he was unapologetically dismissive of them.

“For others, he was an eager mentor, gladly finding time to help them develop their skills and offering guidance.”

Garner concluded that Branford gave more to journalism than he was due, but pointed out rewards were not the goal of the journalist he knew.

Lodge School alumnus John Goddard shared examples of school day pranks shared with Brandford, one of the small group of Lodge boys who maintained lifetime friendships. He too referred to Brandford’s prowess.

For Marilyn Gittens of the Reliance Co-Operative Credit Union, that organisation’s late president was “deeply prudent with the credit union’s finances” and treated the credit union’s affairs “with care, caution and respect, guided by the belief that safeguarding members’ resources was not good governance but a moral obligation”. In his homily, Reverend E. Brian Thompson reminded the congregation that “death does not end love, nor silence a story”, though he acknowledged there were times when words failed to bring comfort to those mourning the loss of a dear one, as in this case.

However, he reminded the congregation that Brandford’s entire existence was intricately woven with the power of words, as the late journalist was someone who believed that words “could illuminate hidden truth . . . . offer solace in times of despair and could challenge the status quo, unlocking hidden truths”.

Brandford passed away at his Wotton, Christ Church home on December 8, at age 74, after a brief illness and was interred in the St Mark Cemetery. (GC)

Pictures by Jameel Springer

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