Dash & Splash

My last two weeks here in Montserrat have been proving to be just as busy, starting with the final assembly for Montserrat Secondary School held at the cultural centre on Tuesday the 3rd, followed by the graduation ceremony for the Form 5s the day after. It was a formal enough affair, with the MSS cadet corps doing a procession with an inspection of the graduands. The choir sang, along with a MSS dance ensemble and of course, lots of speeches. The valedictorian Tiffannie Skerritt - it was quite an American-styled graduation - also got awarded an iPad for her hard work. A pretty good deal if you ask me!

MSS end-of-year assembly at the Montserrat Cultural Centre.

Form 5 graduands getting ready for inspection.

The Montserrat Secondary School cadet corps.

Putting on the final touches with a bit of help.

The Montserrat Youth Choir in their final performance with me.

Over the weekend just past was the inaugural Belham Valley Dash 'n' Splash, organized by the Montserrat Running Club. A 1.8km dash down the Belham Valley, navigating past obstacles such as pyroclastic hills and scattered brush, before approaching the Old Road Bay and crossing the finishing line by placing any part of your body in the sea. Of course, stylistic 'splashdowns' were encouraged, and also rewarded.

Oh, and all of this done in fancy dress (of course)!

And so, in the spirit of Montserrat Secondary School and as a reflection of my work there, I decided to dress up in a MSS student uniform. Given the logic that long trousers would impede my performance, I therefore made the strategic decision to wear a female uniform instead. I came in 6th out of twenty-five, so I guess it paid off. Unfortunately, however, I was just ahead of the winner who made (and subsequently won the prize for) the best entry into the sea. As such I had the privilege of turning back, only to see him thrashing butt naked into the Caribbean sea towards my face. Thanks Andy.

All decked out and ready to go.

"If you get injured, then it's your fault."

The wide variety of fancy dress everyone turned up in.

The remainder of the photos can be found on my Facebook album at http://is.gd/RCVxi0. Be sure to take a look at some of the hilarious finishes!

Effort & Legacy

Earlier in the week I had the pleasure of heading over to Isles Bay to have dinner with Gordon and Sylvie Young, who are currently on island for a short break. Gordon is the chairman of The Montserrat Foundation (UK), which, of course, is the charity that has been managing this entire project. After some very fine, exquisite French fare (whipped up by Sylvie herself, no less) - which is certainly a treat in these places - Gordon put on a DVD of Music for Montserrat, a concert which was held on 15 September 1997 at the Royal Albert Hall.

What so special about this concert was that it featured a plethora of famous musicians who previously recorded at AIR Studios in Montserrat, including Phil Collins, Sting, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Carl Perkins and Paul McCartney. Music for Montserrat was arranged and produced by Sir George Martin, and proceeds from the concert were used for disaster relief after a major eruption of the Soufrière Hills volcano the year before. These musicians agreed to appear, out of their own pocket, to raise the necessary funds for the sake of Montserrat. Below is a video of the show's finale, featuring a line-up of stellar artists singing Hey Jude. If anyone could have brought the likes of Sting, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and so many more together on-stage to perform at the same time, it would have had to be George himself.

AIR Studios in Montserrat was also set up by Sir George Martin, who himself fell in love with (and still continues to play a huge part in the development of) Montserrat. It's main purpose was meant to be a get-away-from-it-all sort of studio, and saw many famous faces walk through its doors until it was finally destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1989.

Over the weekend I had the chance to visit what now remains of AIR Studios, located near the Belham Valley. It certainly looks like a ghost of its former self, but one can still certainly appreciate the legacy and the charm it must have held over its many visitors.

The entrance of AIR Montserrat.

Pool included for all those recording breaks.

All that's now left.

It is a somewhat of a shame that a lot of the island's music legacy as been lost on the young people here today, as I have observed from my classes. If only the government here could put in a bit more effort in restoring that by starting to spread awareness of the pivotal role Montserrat once played in - if not the development then at least the production - of what we would call iconic rock music today, I am sure the young people here would embrace it proudly.

Things like putting the Montserrat Cultural Centre to better, more intensive use would only serve to benefit the island's heritage. The only time I stopped by at the centre, the second day I got to the island, it was completely locked shut and the area behind the centre looked slightly overgrown. Yet the Montserrat Tourist Board lists the Cultural Centre as one of the tourist spots to visit. This place could be a perfect location to continue the legacy of AIR Studios and the Beatles - to set up a permanent, constantly-manned exhibition might be a good start.

Ghauts & Scuba diving

This weekend gone has been a busy one, and as I now settle back into this mid-week post I can see my arms slightly reddish from a bit too much exposure to the sun. On Saturday, a group of us - Doug, Mel, Rob, Dan and myself - went on a hike in the north, starting from Drummonds heading to Rendezvous Bay and going via Silver Hills. What was meant to be a rather straightforward undertaking quickly turned into somewhat of an intrepid bush hike as we somehow veered off the trail, stumbled onto a farm and then proceeded to edge our way slowly down a steep slope into a valley before clamouring down the entire length of a ghaut on our hands and feet.

At this point we were beginning to wonder if we were truly lost, but by some fortuitous chance we came across two men who were building a goat fence, albeit in the seemingly most random and remote location as where we were. They, however, did seem to know the local geography well and managed to point is in the right direction - this time following yet another different ghaut down the valley, towards the sea. The aim was to reach Crystal Beach, a rocky beach along the north coast purportedly containing crystals.

And crystals we did find! Well, nothing too grand, but crystals nonetheless - they were embedded in some form of limestone. Following the coast, we continued on to Rendezvous Bay, the only white sand beach on the island. The water was pristine and nothing short of relieving, after our long detour.

My return to the summit of Silver Hill.

Carib or Arawak ruins, perhaps?

At the summit of Silver Hill, we spotted what appeared to be ruins of some sort - two monoliths strangely sticking out of the tree canopy. While I can't profess to know much about Caribbean history, I did hear that the earliest evidence of humans in Lesser Antilles arc of islands dates all the way back to 2,000 BCE in Antigua - which is right next door from Montserrat. This area certainly has seen lots of human history.

Dan being a bit of a geology nerd.

Attempting to reconcile with the trail.

At some point, the trail we were trying to follow disappeared, and no amount of consultation with Doug's hi-tech GPS tracker could point us back in the right direction. We crossed a farm gate and, after avoiding a potentially irate cow looking after a calf, arrived at a steep side of a hill overlooking a valley which, we reckoned, would lead us to the ocean.

Rolling hills and valley.

A rocky respite.

At a scenic rocky outcrop.

After pushing our away through some low but thick vegetation, we arrived at a dry ghaut that was bordered by a goat fence on the east side. Which, I suppose, was good news - that meant someone had been here previously before on foot to build these fences. Although, considering how remote where we were, it seemed like a massive effort to go through just to make sure a few goats don't accidentally wander off.

And just as I was pondering on that point, we ran into that pair of fence-building farmers.

Mel expressing some rocky love.

The intrepid five.

Familiarizing myself with more local flora.

And finally, two-and-a-half hours later, we finally heard faint sounds of splashing waves. At the end of ghuat we emerged at sea level, on a rocky beach that was Crystal Beach. From there, we followed the coast west-ward and arrived at neighbouring Rendezvous Bay. This beach is only accessible by boat, or a hilly 30-minute trek from the port in Little Bay.

First stop: straight into the sea.

The cliffs which cut Rendezvous Bay off.

My little spot of paradise.

On Sunday, Mel, Philippa and myself returned to Little Bay - not for more walking though, but to get our sea legs in shape with a boat dive with Emmy and Andrew, a couple who run a diveshop on the island called Scuba Montserrat. We went out to Rendezvous Bay (again!), but anchored off about 400 metres form shore for our dive and a spot called Rainbow's End.

As I don't have an underwater camera, I didn't get any pictures from our dive, unfortunately - but it certainly was a beautiful sight of corals, fishes and a couple of sea urchins. At 45 feet, one tank lasted pretty long, and we managed to clock just above an hour for our dive.

After returning to shore, we headed over to the nearby beach bar for some lunchtime beers to finish off the weekend - for me, at least - I was completely knackered. Here is a map of the trail we took for the trek on Saturday, taken off the GPS.

In other music-related news, the Montserrat Youth Choir will be having their inaugural performance on Cultural Day, 12 March. Montserrat Secondary School celebrates the annual cultural day with a parade from Salem, with students dressing up in cultural costumes representing all the countries which the student population derives from. There will be a UK contingent, and I have agreed to 'choreograph' a ceilidh-style Scottish reel routine for the parade.

The parade will then end at the school itself, where there will be a varying range of food and merchandise being sold to raise funds for the school. I almost thought I might be cornered into preparing some Singaporean-type cuisine for this, but thankfully I was spared. Not that I have the slightest inkling on how to whip up chicken rice, laksa or char kway teow! (I make a pretty damn good carbonara meatball pasta though.) And finally, There will also be a 'concert' of sorts, with students performing different artistic routines derived from different cultures.

Come next Tuesday, I will be meeting with the Rotary club here in Montserrat to see if we can raise even more funds for instrument donations - which is in itself a positive development. On the other hand, my order of music books from Chappell still hasn't arrived, and it's been nearly three weeks. Very frustratingly so. The postal system in this region really needs a big kick up the bum!