Birthday:

January 3

If you like, go ahead and tell your fellow WST Ning members about yourself here

I am a Trade Unionist by profession and currently the General Secretary of the Antigua and Barbuda Free Trade Union. I am a member of the Hells Gate Steel Orchestra for the past thirty-nine years. My main instrument is the Alto Pan (Double Tenor). I served as Captain of the Orchestra for twenty-three (23) years, effective November 1980 to November 2003. I am currently the PRO of the Orchestra and function as a Steel Pan Tutor for the Advanced and Adult Pan Classes at the Eustace 'Manning" Henry Steelpan Academy, a subsidiary of the Hells Gate steel Orchestra. The Academy was established to ensure the preservation and continuity of the art form, through the training of our youth from ages 6 and upwards. We view the involvement the youth in the Steel Pan as a deterrent to deviance. Our Adult Class is specially designed to teach middle age and seniors to play and to perform on the Pan. The tutoring is voluntary. I have been tutoring the St.Joseph Academy High School (Catholic) for the past eleven (11) years. I have served as tutor to the Christ the King High School (Catholic), the Holy Family Cathedral Steel Orchestra (voluntary), and the Anglican and Moravian Churches (voluntary). I was instrumental in assisting with the revitalization of the Steelpan artform in Aruba (1996 - 1997), and establishing the Urban Steel Orchestra of John Marshall High School in Rochester New York (1999). I also function as a Mentor, Advisor, Rehearsal Driller and Metal Fabricator in the Hells Gate Steel Orchestra. I have been compiling some data regarding Hells Gate Steel Orchestra and steel Bands (Orchestras) of Antigua, in general . I would be pleased to share my work with you when it is completed.