A class in Bermuda's history has been scrapped due to an almost total lack of interest.

The evening class on the Island's social and political history was scheduled to begin yesterday but was withdrawn because only three people enrolled -- and two of those were non-Bermudians.

John Cox, the president of the Bermuda Historical Society, said he was disappointed that there was not enough interest in the subject to make the course viable.

He said he thought interest in Bermuda's social and political history would have been heightened with the recent election of the Island's first Progressive Labour Party government.

"I am surprised and disappointed at this,'' he said. "I would have thought people would be climbing the walls to get at a class like this.

"Particularly nowadays when people are more informed and with the change of government, I would have thought people would be a lot more interested.'' The ten-week course was part of the Community Education and Development Programme sponsored by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Development, Opportunity and Government Services.

It was scheduled to be held at Sandys Community School, Somerset.

Mr Cox said he did not think the cancellation of the class indicated a lack of interest in general in Bermuda's history.

He said there were more books than ever in the shops on Bermuda's history, and many were going into second editions. In addition, a wider range of subjects were now being examined.

"People are much more informed now than they were 20 years ago. If you look in the bookshops, there is so much more history, particularly social history, than 20 years ago.

"There is much more variety of books and more of a cross-section than there was, which is very encouraging.

"When you read history 20 years ago, it was about the prominent few but now you can read about people who would fall through cracks in time if there hadn't been someone to record them.'' Sylvie Gervaise, the archivast at the Bermuda Archives, also said she did not believe there was a lack of interest in Bermuda's history.

She said a lot of people use the archives for serious research for books and to trace family histories, although she conceded that few schoolchildren are interested in history.

Patricia Chapman, the Director of the Community Education and Development Programme, said the cancellation of the class reflected the fact that Bermudians were more interested in other subjects such as computing.

She said the computing classes were hugely over-subscribed and could have been filled several times over.

"I wouldn't say there is no interest in history. You have to look at what is happening to society in general,'' she said. "There are now varying new technologies and a lot of interest in computers and a total shortfall of interest in other things such as history.'' But a prominent local historian, who asked not to be named, said he believed there was little appetite for history among Bermudians, but he blamed this on a decline in literacy.

"There isn't that much interest in history here. Anyone who writes a book on Bermuda's history finds it doesn't sell,'' he said.

"Most Bermudians aren't interested in reading, but I would say that isn't just for Bermudians. I would say it is a general situation because most people don't even know how to spell.'' The historian also claimed Bermudians weren't interested in knowing the truth about their history unless they could write it from a contemporary political perspective.

HISTORY HIS