A JOURNEY INTO THE PAST

After four years of research into the history of Leonarisso and Vasili, it is with great pride, pleasure and affection that I see the fruition of this project about our beloved villages and the way they were prior to the invasion of 1974.

It is indeed morally obliging upon the older generation of Leonarissites and Vasiliotes to see to it that the younger generation are mindful of the customs and traditions of their forefathers and realise the importance of maintaining them at all costs and handing them down in their turn to their children and descendants.

I would like to express my grateful thanks to all my fellow villagers for their continued help and warm support and for the way they entrusted me with their photo-albums, constantly supplying me with an abundance of relevant photos that made our book so vivid and alive. Indeed, their enthusiasm and interest in this matter were impressive and at times touching!

Above all, I would like at this point to give boundless credit and express my wholehearted gratitude and sincere thanks to Costas Modestou from Vasili for his tireless industry, full co-operation and interest displayed throughout the course of the research. He has consistently put much effort and energy into the production of this book, stood by me all along, encouraging me constantly and supplying me with a prolific amount of old village photos. Costas spared no time or expense in this matter and his determined attitude, laborious efforts and enthusiasm are truly commendable.

Next my special thanks go to the researcher and teacher Tryphonas Papayianni (also from Vasili but now residing in Deryneia) for all his co-operation, specialised knowledge, his readiness to help at any time and for making so many of his photos available to me. Equally I would like to thank his colleague Angelos Smagas for all the valuable information he gave me regarding the archaeological sites of our villages during our visits there.

My genuine thanks also to Andreas Petrou from Vasili (now resident of Paphos), who kindly let us have access and make use of some items, rescued from his village, from his private museum. 

Once more I would like to give my special thanks to the researcher Antonis Georgiou from Kalopsida for his constant advice, expert knowledge and willingness to supply me with the appropriate material.

My greatest thanks also go to my modest friend Philip Chandler for all his help for the past four years and for the skilful arrangement of all the photos and for the final revision and sorting out of the various chapters. His overall contribution to the book was indeed enormous and his patience with me admirable.

My warmest thanks also go to David Badland for his editorial input and to Mrs Maria Philona, Katerina Georgiou and my nieces Maria Psillos, for proof-reading the script, and Christina Demetriou for helping with editing.

My wholehearted appreciation to the researcher Dr. Georgiades for supplying me with the relevant documents from his archives and for allowing me to use source material from his erudite book on  “Yiallousa - Ayia Triada”.

Finally most sincere thanks go to Demetrakis Anastasiou from Leonarisso (now resident of Limassol) for his full co-operation since 2009 and the endless trips we made together to the various libraries, museums, research centres and private houses in search of the relevant documents, photos and newspaper articles. Demetrakis is currently compiling in Greek a shorter version of the History of Leonarisso which I am sure will gratify all our fellow villagers and compatriots.