A former pupil of a school in Pembroke fulfilled her birthday wish when she and a team of organisers donated a quantity of musical instruments to her alma mater yesterday.

At a small ceremony at the Victor Scott Primary School auditorium, 22 instruments, which comprised guitars, violins and two keyboards, were handed over to the school by Carol Ann Griffith and her team.

The event was the culmination of arrangements initiated by Ms Griffith six months ago.

She teamed up with fellow alumnus Michael Weeks, the Minister of National Security, and Mickey Robinson, the managing director of Medical House, a business in Pembroke, to see the project materialise.

Ms Griffith said the donation was borne out of an idea she thought of last year when she celebrated her 70th birthday.

At the time she was attending a reunion at Victor Scott, which was called The Central School when she was a student in the 1960s.

Ms Griffith explained: “Instead of doing a party, I said I will do a donation to Victor Scott. I mentioned it to Mr Weeks and he said he would like to come on board.”

She said: “They had children playing violins but they had them in three groups because there were not sufficient instruments for the children to play.”

She added: “I decided rather than me having a birthday party, I will just donate some instruments to the school.”

She then contacted her friends and the school’s music department about the idea.

Ms Griffith said to get the project off the ground, “I needed someone to help with the shipping, so that’s where Medical House came in”.

She added: “I thought they were going to charge me high, but today I want to say they did it all, so we are very thankful.”

After the event yesterday, Mr Weeks said he was happy to be a part of the initiative.

He said: “Victor Scott is my alma mater, so when the opportunity came to partner with the other people who wanted to donate instruments to the school, I thought it was a great idea and I definitely looked forward to it.”

He added: “Music is healing and it is good for the children to learn to play the instruments. They are all looking forward to learn what they can.”

He encouraged others to donate whatever they can to the island’s schools “so that they can help with the productivity and the good of our children”.

Mr Robinson said his company decided to be a part of the initiative as a means of supporting the community.

He said: “It means a lot to do something for the community and support these endeavours.

He added: “Music is a personal love and interest of mine, so I am happy to see young people come through and keep the music alive.”

School principal Kennelyn Smith said the donation “is a big deal for us”.

She said the school instituted a “TAG block” as part of its academic programme.

“The TAG stands for talents, abilities and gifts, so every Wednesday in the afternoon we have small groups of children who go off and do various things — and one of the areas we are finding they have an interest in is music.”

She added: “We don’t have enough instruments for children to explore various options, so this donation today is huge for us.”

Roshan Bean, the school’s music teacher, said more than a dozen pupils are part of the music programme.

He said his largest class comprising 17 pupils is at the P3 level.

“We have a lot of students, especially after Covid, who would come to me and say they like to play the piano but we don’t have enough instruments,” Mr Bean said.

As early as next week, the teacher will be offering the pupils lessons on how to play the new instruments.

“I think I am more happy than the children,” he said. “They will soon realise how much this means for us.”