Steel­bands lead­ers have praised the Sco­tia­bank Foun­da­tion for its de­ci­sion to dou­ble con­tri­bu­tions to un­spon­sored steel­bands prepar­ing for the Na­tion­al Panora­ma com­pe­ti­tion and in­crease the num­ber of bands qual­i­fy­ing un­der the grants sys­tem.

At the 36th An­nu­al Do­na­tions to Un­spon­sored Steel­bands Cer­e­mo­ny at Sco­tia­bank T&T Ltd's head­quar­ters in Port-of-Spain, the Foun­da­tion an­nounced that con­tri­bu­tions to steel­bands had been in­creased by 100 per cent. Last year, the steel­band as­sis­tant pro­gramme paid out $150,000 to 50 steel­bands. This year's fig­ure is $300,000 to 65 bands.

Foun­da­tion chair­man Gise­le del V Marfleet said: "In com­mem­o­ra­tion of the 50th year of In­de­pen­dence of T&T, we as­sist­ed the high­est num­ber of un­spon­sored steel­bands in the his­to­ry of the bank–50. 2014 marks the 60th an­niver­sary (of) Sco­tia­bank's op­er­a­tions in T&T and I am hap­py to re­port that we have in­creased our con­tri­bu­tion. To­day, we are as­sist­ing 65 steel­bands! "This is a mile­stone as not on­ly has the num­ber of bands in­creased, but al­so the fi­nan­cial con­tri­bu­tion paid to each band."

Marfleet said the Foun­da­tion fo­cused on de­vel­op­ment of T&T's young peo­ple, en­vi­ron­ment, sport and cul­ture, with the aim of build­ing a bet­ter coun­try."Our com­mit­ment to sup­port­ing you goes be­yond to­day. What we would like is for you, the peo­ple at the fore­front of pan, to tell the good sto­ries of the na­tion­al in­stru­ment," she said."Let vis­i­tors and pan en­thu­si­asts, with whom you in­ter­act know about the his­to­ry of the pan, the skill and suc­cess of the great play­ers among you, the ex­cep­tion­al tal­ent of our arrangers and tuners.

"Back in 1978, the bank took the de­ci­sion to lend sup­port to many rather than to spon­sor one band. When the Foun­da­tion came on stream this ini­tia­tive was passed on to the board and was im­me­di­ate­ly pen­cilled in on our an­nu­al cal­en­dar of events. The mon­ey we give may not be in mil­lions, but we are hap­py to know that it helps you get one step clos­er to Panora­ma each year."Ver­non Moran­cie, chair­man of the east zone of Pan Trin­ba­go, praised the Sco­tia­bank Foun­da­tion for al­ways be­ing at the fore­front to as­sist steel­bands.