A dreadful building

October 29, 2009

Dear Sir,

On returning to Bermuda after a long summer abroad I was driving along Front Street going from West to East. As traffic was fairly slow I was admiring the different buildings and their architecture as we chugged along. A nice job has been made to the building with the new blue verandas. Sorry, I don't know who that belongs to. Shortly thereafter is the new Orbis building and what a lovely job has been done there. Very Bermudian with the cedar pillars, verandas and set back in levels. All very tasteful. Further along is the new HSBC bank and they, too, have gone to great lengths to keep the Bermudian theme. Very, nicely done. In fact all the shops seem to have had a face lift right down to the man scraping and varnishing the cedar work at A.S. Coopers.

Then, as I neared the end of Front Street I received the shock of my life. I just could not accept nor believe the enormity of the Swan building which is far too large for that particular area and with all that dreadful blue glass. It is totally out of keeping with the entire façade of Front Street. What a shame the Planning Department passed it. Or perhaps, as in the past, it was the Minister at the time who overruled Planning.

Sir John is a good friend of mine and I know he has Bermuda in his best interests. But goodness knows whatever happened there. I haven't met one single person who does not think it is dreadful. If it was on a different street with all the other large buildings I am sure it would fit in beautifully. Also, I noticed when driving along Harbour Road early one morning the reflection of the sun on all that glass was so strong that it could be awkward for both residents and drivers alike. How very, very sad.

PATSY PHILLIPS

Job well done

October 29, 2009

Dear Sir,

To follow up on your article in The Royal Gazette on October 23, my wife and I were extremely pleased to have attended The Bermuda Tattoo the day previous. In writing to you, we wished to heartily endorse the many wonderful comments we heard/read before our departure on October 24. It truly was a wonderful affair, conducted in the traditional manner (despite Janet Evans vacuous comments!). All Bermudians should be proud of the excellent organisation behind it, that made it such an huge success. We thought that the choice of The Dockyards as the site was excellent (despite the negative commentary from some Hamiltonians that we heard the next day!) We have attended tattoos all over the Commonwealth and yours would rank high on the list. As Canadians, we were pleased that our contribution of three bands helped add to the events success. Will there be a DVD/VCR produced of the 2009 Tattoo? If there is, we would be most interested in purchasing a copy — please let us know.

Again, our sincerest congratulations on a job well done. the event did Bermuda proud! Could we offer some constructive criticism? (In the hope of future Tattoos.) The exit logistics need some more thought. Having only one exit made life difficult for the disabled (like me!) and the elderly. Two separate exit modes should be available for bus passengers, separating paying customers from the performers, with police supervision to move things along. An event at The Dockyards without hint of either navy or marines personnel?

PAT & JOHN REYNOLDS

Toronto, Canads

Truly seeing CedarBridge

November 9, 2009

Dear Sir,

I was once an outsider looking in, listening to all of the negativity that the public was saying about CedarBridge Academy. I used to hear negative things all of the time: "Cedar Bridge is this, Cedar Bridge is that ... boys walking around with their pants hanging down their behinds- girls with lip gloss and eye shadow, their skirts are so short, blah, blah, blah ..."

After all of the negative hearsay, I refused to send my son through the Public System. I talked to his father and expressed my view with him, my strong opposition to sending our son to any Government School after Gilbert Institute. After a while, I said to myself: "You have to go and see what can be done to help get the Public System up to par. You have to go and witness what everyone is talking about. Go there, and see for yourself so at least you will know firsthand and will be able to form your own opinion."

Thereafter, I e-mailed the Premier, writing that I have some ideas that I believe can help the Public School System improve and progress. He in turn, forwarded my e-mail to the Minister of Education– Minister James, who by the way is a very respectful and honourable man. Minister James agreed to meet with me to review and discuss some of the suggestions that I had in mind. Once I reached the Minister's office, I felt very comfortable. Minister James welcomed all of my ideas and explained to me how they may or may not work effectively. One of my recommendations was a test in Primary 6, to determine which Middle School the children will get into. This, I thought would mix the Island's students to get them out of their territorial mentality. My other suggestion was to change the Senior schools, Berkeley would become an academic school and CedarBridge would transformed into a "hands-on" or technical school.

After our meeting, Minister James asked me if I would like to go to CedarBridge Academy on the Friday, to see how it was operated. I accepted his offer. That Friday, when Minister James picked me up, my heart was racing from the negative impressions that I have heard outside of the school. I said that I should wear a helmet, joking with Minister James.

Once we arrived at CedarBridge we were met by Mrs. Richards, the principal, who I must say was well dressed. She gave us a tour of the school, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised when we went to an S1 class and everyone had their heads down, working diligently. We then went to the Hairdressing or Salon room. There was a very professional hair dresser and barber set up. The tutor informed me that some pupils that have graduated from CedarBridge Academy have gone on to take up employment at hotel salons and other local hair salons island wide.

One aspect of CedarBridge that caught my eye was the Life Lessons. In this class, the disabled children were learning how to cook, make a bed and also learning how to do things on their own. I was totally blown away when I saw the students in this class making omelettes. Our next stop was the cafeteria, which for the record, was immaculate. The food was very healthy as they had wraps, salads, sandwiches and various drinks available. Cedar Bridge Academy also has department for woodworks, motor mechanics, etc.

As part of my tour I stayed for 'crossover', which is when the students cross over to another class. I could have sworn this was when I would have seen some craziness, so I prepared myself ... waiting, waiting. Hold on- I see boys with their pants up, a belt on and no boxers showing at all. Girls dressed very professionally. The way in which they spoke to Mrs. Richards was very respectful and the way that she interacted with them was very uplifting. I was so excited to know that all of the negatives things that I've heard about CedarBridge have either died away, or were never there.

The reason for me taking on this adventure was to show people from the outsider's point of view, a different light of CedarBridge, as I was one of the 'outsider's'. I can assure you that CBA is a wonderful school where the students are well dressed and well behaved. Mrs. Richards, I would like to command you on a job well done.

KPC

Pembroke

Thank you Arts Council

November 5, 2009

Dear Sir,

During the summer my wife Nicola and I (1undread) were invited to perform at the Electro- Music Festival 2009 which is a festival for experimental electronic music held in New Jersey. We had previously been invited to play at a festival in Europe but were unable to go due to a lack of funding. Determined not to let a second opportunity slip away we applied for a grant from the Bermuda Arts Council and were successful in our application. The festival consisted of several days of performances in upstairs and downstairs rooms. When a group or individual was performing in one room, the other room was being set up for the next performance thus creating a steady flow of music for the entire festival. For the backdrop, a company called Azimuth Visuals provided an interactive visual display that pulsated and moved with the music.

There were also a number of lectures which included demonstrations of new music controllers, programming music using a programming language call CHUCK, Building your own synthesizer and modifying circuits (Circuit bending), using Ableton Live (a music sequencing program), and using Quartz Composer for manipulating visuals and film (the program used by Azimuth Visuals). I attended as many of these lectures as I could.

On the first day of the festival a group did not show up and since my wife and I came with all of our equipment we were able to perform in their stead. We were very well received and gained numerous compliments on the performance. We later found out that the entire festival was being streamed live over the Internet and we also received a number of compliments from online listeners.

On the second day we performed again and received more positive comments about our music. Nicola was then invited to be interviewed for the Internet radio station and I was asked to play my bass for another artist who performed just after our set. The same artist (Logan Mitchell) invited me to play for him again on the following day, and opportunity that I could not turn down.

We were exposed to a number of new ideas within music and were able to see what electronic musicians and composers where doing internationally as well as being able to demonstrate our own skills and abilities. A number of new friendships were formed that I am sure will lead to more new opportunities in the future. I would like to thank the Bermuda Arts Council, publicly, for making it possible for us to take advantage of this amazing opportunity.

M. BRIAN SWAN

Sandys