Dear Sir,

I was delighted to be able to watch your online video of the Purvis Primary School Gombey troupe performing. There is something still remarkable, in my opinion, to be able to sit in Australia, about as distant from “De Rock” as one can be, and yet still watch the colourful spectacle of this performance.

The creative arts always enhance education and enrich the experience of both participants and those who respond to them.

When I was a staff member at Purvis years ago, we did not have a school troupe to enjoy this local cultural custom. So it is great to see this in action now. I’m sure the organisation and managing of the exercise is a valuable contribution and effort by staff member Tiffany Bean.

I was quite fascinated to see the same hall, where we worked and sometimes performed, apparently much as it was back in the early 1970s. I was impressed also by the accompanying drummers and percussion that provided the accompaniment.

I still recall the excitement that the appearance of a Gombey troupe in the roads would trigger. If it was a temporary distraction, no matter.

There is a rare energy and mystique in the Gombey troupe and its appearances. The colour and vigour carrying something of Africa to the North Atlantic Island.

After that splash of living colour, I was able to vicariously enjoy the images of the carnival, the participants delighting in the pleasures of being young and full of energy and life!

Although there was no carnival as I recollect from my sojourn there — although I may have forgotten — I imagine that such festivity can only delight most visitors.

Would that I was there...

DAVID MORRIS

Byron Bay, New South Wales