National Security Minister John Sandy surprised campers of the Beetham Police Youth Club yesterday when he played a few musical notes on the trumpet. Sandy, who learned to play the instrument as a member of the cadet band while in the army, paid a visit to the youth club yesterday to monitor the progress of participants of the club's annual camp.
Sandy's ministry had donated $87,000 worth of musical instruments to the club in March. The young members of the camp used the instruments to play the chorus of David Rudder's Sweet T&T. Programme director, Inspector Sheila Prince, said the campers took only a week to learn the chorus. Sandy encouraged the campers to continue mastering the musical instruments. He told them: "Grow up to be musicians of worth and I will pay to see you perform."
Prince told reporters that for many of the 25 children, the camp presented the first opportunity for them to hold a musical instrument. She said the camp acted as a haven to take the younger members of the Beetham and Sea Lots community away from the lawlessness in their environment and homes.