27 Bobs West In December, 1899, Field Marshall Frederick Roberts took over com¬ mand of the British forces in England 's war against the Boers. Less than a fortnight later, in Ship Harbour, Nova Scotia , Rev. Thomas Frederick West and Bertha Longardpatriotically gave their new son the General's name. Roberts West , or Bobs as he is known, received his second name from another man his parents repected - the minister in Belfast , a schoolmate of his father. Bobs and his wife Alice Butcher live today in a trailer in Mount Buchanan , surrounded by furniture and articles they retained after the sale of their farm on Halliday's . He is considered by many the champion storyteller in the district and needs little encouragement if he has an eager audience. Ihad a brother and a sister older than myself. And my father was preaching in Ship Harbour, Nova Scotia , when he took sick and died rather suddenly; stomach trouble of some kind. I was only 10 months old. My mother come back to the Island to live with her people for a short time and bought a place just below them. So that's where I was brought up, in this Scotch settlement of Belfast . Oh dear. Well, my great-great-grandfather George West settled in York , Prince Edward Island . My father was one of the youngest of a family of eight or nine. He went to college and he taught school in Eldon. That's where he met my mother - Longard, Bertha Longard . After teaching school he went to university and entered the ministry. And he joined the Bobs West 239