Faithfully, freely and fruitfully

“I love God, that is why I do what I do, and my wish for you the parents, is that you teach your children to love God.” Ah lickle quotation from Sister Ivy Pacheo’s fare-well message she delivered to us, parents last Sunday afternoon.

Foh de last 21 years, Sister Ivy served dis country Faithfully, Freely and Fruitfully as Principal of de St. Mary’s R.C. Primary School. Ah know ah will be speaking foh thousands ah parents and past students, who today are scattered all over de globe, when ah say: “Thank you Sister Ivy foh being part of dat powerful Roman Catholic organization,{{more}} dat continues to provide de nation’s children wid ah “Sound and Rounded Christian Education, foh free.” It would be interesting to find out what percentage ah these young people who are involved in violent criminal activities today, had ah Christian upbringing, in particular ah Catholic Education. Another Catholic teacher, Mrs Cyrus said fare-well too, she served 35 years in de profession at de R.C. School, unbelievable! May God bless dem both and may dey enjoy de real fruits ah dey labour.

GREAT IMPROVEMENT IN JUNIOR PAN

Ah miss de first part ah de Junior Panorama Show, de Schools Category, having to attend de special fare-well function foh Sister Ivy Pacheo. But Ashley Kirby, de Guru in SVG when come to Pan, filled me in and gave me his can-did assessment. He was quite pleased wid all de Bands.

C.W. Prescod Primary was knocking at de door over de years, finally won de judges nod; dey played well and gave an energetic performance dis year, he thinks dat de Arranger/Teacher, Taffia has come ah long way. While dey was generally good performances by all de youngsters, dey was ah noticeable weakness wid de arrangers, in particular some ah de rural Bands: Troumaca and Rose Bank were hindered by poor arrangements.

Selection ah songs is important too, songs wid limited melody could be ah non starter, is like ‘cooking food wid salt and water only’ according to Ashley. Sonny Banks, arranging foh Adelphi might ah bin ah victim ah one ah dem poor choice ah song. Gemini from Largo Height, in spite ah de influence ah de Police Band did not live up to Last Year’s promising performance. Georgetown has moved up ah few places on de scale.

De bigger bands Sion Hill and Starlift continue to benefit from dey big sound. Starlift, after ah good “Intro and Tempo/Speed,” developed serious problems wid de Tempo, dey presentation eventually fell down. Sion Hill, dis year’s winners held out wid ah good performance; de Tumba was out-ah-tune, dis was audible as it was positioned too close to de microphone, technicalities!!

My choice foh Panorama Champion was third place winner Vita Malt Symphonix. Ashley however, didn’t pick ah winner but he said dat Symphonix, wid arranger Jomo Francis, ah former tenor player wid Rhythmix and Starlift, played wid de right tempo and rhythm, ah good arrangement and ah commendable performance.

De lickle band from Canouan, appearing foh de first time stole Ashley’s heart. He said dat band had ah disciplined performance, dey ‘played pan’ (softly), as opposed to “beating pan.” De band leader is only nine years old and de Arranger, who did ah one-dah-full job, is a student of Pan Tuner/Arranger, Pest Llewellyn.

De lickle drummer trapped Ashley’s attention too, he was not particularly outstanding, but played his role to perfection, d’s performances usually go noticed. Ah spoke wid ah young tenor player who told me she started to play only four months ago. Dis is good news foh Canouan and de Grenadines.

AN EMPRESS FOH QUEEN

Ah keep hearing ah lickle vice in me head saying “Ah Empress would be crowned several times. Well, dey’s Ragga Soca, Soca Monarch, Kaiso Monarch and Road March up foh grabs. My wife taught Empress at Marriaqua Convent, so she plugging foh her, foh once we in de same corner, no pun in dat, ah mean we backing de same candidate.

Lie-Za want to know how de Pry-minister could say he luv Bro Ebony’s: “Nothing at All,” and not Abijah’s Kaiso: “dey love de poor” way he bigging up de ULP. She say Ebony speaking foh de majority ah Vincentians, even de beggars on de street vex wid Ebony, dey come-plain dat when dey beg, dey tired hear people telling dem, nothing dey, “Nothing at All!”

HAPPY BIRTDAY DAY JULIETTE

Ah don’t know how de boys at Grammar School doing dey thing presently, but classmates John Horne and Paddy Corea confessed to Juliette Nanton on Monday night at her Birthday Do, dat fifty-five years ago, we all had our eyes on her.

She was and still remains dat beautiful GHS student who had all of us, blowing out our front teeth trying to seep or whistle whenever she passed. All dis was before she won Carnival Queen in 1960; her prize was ah Cake Icing Kit and her Sash. Her daughter-in-law (to be) won Miss SVG ah few years ago, her prize was ah University Schol worth 75 thousand dollars. Yuh notice ah mention birthday and dates and year but no age.

Dis is because even I can’t believe dat Juliette is 70; dat’s ah young looking 70 dat has not lost her beauty. She is now Mrs Alexander, lickle did we know dat one ah we senior boys, Vanny Alexander had his eyes on her too; he went to de UK and waited patiently foh her. Ah couldn’t miss her important event, she threatened to “Write me off” as ah friend if ah didn’t attend, so ah went, and in return ah decide to “Write her Up!”

And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy.

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.