Montserrat: "Helping Hands"

MUSIC LEGENDS PROVIDE HELPING HANDS TO THE MONTSERRAT CULTURAL CENTRE

Little Bay, Montserrat – January 27, 2009

Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John and Mark Knopfler are amongst the music industry greats contributing to a new ‘Wall of Fame’ which was unveiled in the Montserrat Cultural Centre last week.

The musicians had their hands cast in bronze to represent the ‘helping hand’ they provided by performing in the Music for Montserrat concert at the Royal Albert Hall on September 15, 1997. The concert was organised by legendary producer Sir George Martin, whose connections with Montserrat date back over 30 years. Sir George’s hand-prints also appear on the wall, with percussionist Ray Cooper’s hands completing the current line up.

“Displaying these bronzed hand plaques demonstrates our continued commitment to the development of the arts in Montserrat,” said Sir George Martin, former producer of the Beatles, patron of the Cultural Centre and long time winter resident of Montserrat. “This is a lasting tribute to the artists who performed at the Royal Albert Hall, without whose selfless contribution the Centre would not have been built.”

Helping Sir George at the unveiling of the Wall of Fame was Sir Trevor MacDonald, one of Britain’s foremost news anchormen and television presenters, who was in Montserrat at the time to film a documentary.

The Montserrat Cultural Centre is the island’s premier arts and culture facility, which first opened for business in 2007. It is hoped that the ‘Wall of Fame’ will soon be extended to include the handprints of other artistes who performed at the Music for Montserrat concert. These include Jimmy Buffet, Montserrat’s own Alphonsus ‘Arrow’ Cassell, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Dave Hartley, the London Gospel Community Choir, Sting and Ian Thomas.