IT was Earlston Smith's uncle who first taught him how to play the saxophone. Unfortunately, after a few months his uncle died in tragic circumstances.

When Mr. Smith was honoured with the Queen's Certificate & Badge of Honour in the Queen's Birthday Honours last week, it seemed a fitting tribute to the early attention of his late uncle.

"I was very surprised and pleased to be on the Queen's Honours List," Mr. Smith said. "I have been a musician for 60-odd years. I started playing when I was eight years old. My uncle, Edward Smith, was a saxophone player. He played at the St. George's Hotel in a band. Unfortunately, after a few months of lessons he was killed."

Edward Smith was going to see his father in the country. He passed a quarry and some workmen asked him to give them a hand because a block of stone was jammed.

"While he was helping them, a piece of block fell down and struck him on the head," recalled Mr. Smith.

In those days, the ambulance was pulled by a horse. When the ambulance came to collect Edward Smith, the horse couldn't get up the hill. Sadly, Edward Smith was already dead.

But other members of the band took up the charge, unwilling to let the young Earlston's talent go undeveloped.

"Another guy who played in the band with him lived nearby, so he continued to teach me," said Mr. Smith. "Then he turned me over to Al Davis. I started playing at the Belmont Hotel when I was 18 years old. Ghandi Burgess, the trumpet player, was 16 years old. I played with the Al Davis Band for ten years."

MR. Smith said although his uncle tried to introduce him to the clarinet, his heart always lay with the saxophone. "I always liked the sound of the saxophone, since I was a little boy," said Mr. Smith. "My uncle wanted to teach me how to play the clarinet, but I didn't like the sound as much. I'm still playing the saxophone at Grotto Bay."

For 40 years he worked for Bermuda Cabinet Makers, owned by Gibbons Company, as a carpenter.

"When I came along, everyone was learning different trades," said Mr. Smith. "But as time went on things changed. I think there should still be opportunities to learn trades."

When asked which he preferred, carpentry or the saxophone, he had to admit he liked the saxophone. "I like carpentry also," he said. "I used to make boats. During the war I repaired and fixed up wooden boats."

Mr. Smith now plays in the Aldana Quintet - drummer Kenneth Smith and fellow saxophonist Peter Tucker were also honoured by the Queen - which does a lot of charity work.

"We like to play at Lefroy House, the Devonshire Rest Home, the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and at St. John's Church," he said.

He said he had a good childhood growing up on Khyber Pass in Warwick. In fact, he still lives in Warwick.

"I have lived there all of my life," he said. "My mother used to play the piano. In those days you had to work on the farm. I also worked in the stone quarries with my grandfather.

"There was a lot of work to be done. Even in carpentry, I used to make boxes for produce, because things were exported."

He and his wife Delmer have four grown-up children, Diane, Corene, Larry and Carneal. He has seven granddaughters and two great grandsons.

JESSIE MONIZ