BO­BIE-LEE DIXON

Vet­er­an mas­man Neville Am­ing passed away on Fri­day at a nurs­ing home where he spent his lat­ter days. With his chap­let in hand, his fam­i­ly said he peace­ful­ly left to the songs of prais­es, prayers and recitals of the Holy Rosary. Am­ing was 96 hav­ing cel­e­brat­ed a birth­day in Au­gust. His son Bob­by Am­ing yes­ter­day told the T&T Guardian his fa­ther was not ail­ing but rather griev­ing.

“He was just tired. He got to a point where he could not take care of him­self,” he said, adding his fa­ther took his last breath at 9.20 pm.

He said while the fam­i­ly awaits the ar­rival of oth­er friends and fam­i­ly from abroad, the fu­ner­al is ten­ta­tive­ly set for next Mon­day (Oc­to­ber 2) or Fri­day (Oc­to­ber 6) at the Church of As­sump­tion, Mar­aval.

Am­ing was born in 1922 in San Juan and be­gan his ca­reer in 1958 with his first pre­sen­ta­tion Reign of the Mings. From there on he con­tin­ued to present up un­til 1984 with his last pre­sen­ta­tion, Cer­e­mo­ni­al Dancers. Yes­ter­day, long time friend Ar­den Knox said it was hard to say which of Am­ing’s pre­sen­ta­tion was bet­ter than the oth­er as he al­ways tried to do great work.

Knox vivid­ly re­called the 1963 pre­sen­ta­tion by Am­ing ti­tled Court Jester and the Ba­by Dolls and an­oth­er pre­sen­ta­tion called The Gold­en Age of Chi­na. Am­ing, to­geth­er with oth­er band lead­ers like de­ceased George Bai­ley, Stephen Lee He­ung, Harold Salde­nah and Cito Ve­lasquez, was in­stru­men­tal in form­ing the Car­ni­val Band Lead­ers As­so­ci­a­tion (CBA) in the late 1950s. The as­so­ci­a­tion made rep­re­sen­ta­tion to gov­ern­ment on be­half of band lead­ers for bet­ter venue con­di­tions, pay etcetera. Their rec­om­men­da­tions at the time were made to the Car­ni­val De­vel­op­ment Com­mis­sion (CDC) which was run by then T&T’s first Prime Min­is­ter Dr Er­ic Williams.

Knox said Am­ing was al­so among one of the ear­li­est mas­men to ex­port T&T Car­ni­val abroad, again along with Bai­ley, Ve­lasquez and his broth­er, mu­sic band leader Choy Am­ing, to coun­tries like Bermu­da and the US. Am­ing was a re­cip­i­ent of the Hum­ming Bird Sil­ver for his con­tri­bu­tion to the vi­bran­cy of T&T mas in 1996. Knox said af­ter Am­ing bowed out of mas mak­ing he re­mained ac­tive in the Car­ni­val as an ad­vi­sor to cur­rent mas­men.

He ex­pressed con­do­lences to the fam­i­ly and told the T&T Guardian he will sure­ly miss his old friend, who will be great loss to the mas fra­ter­ni­ty.

“We were very close. Last of his era now is Ed­mund Hart, Frank Smith and Ja­son Grif­fith. He will be missed,” Knox said.