Peter Embleton Principal of St Ignatius Catholic School

St Ignatius Catholic School Steel Band will provide live entertainment at this weekend’s second anniversary of StreetSkills’ drive-a-thon.

The 15-member band, aged between 12 and 16, will perform at Seven Mile Public Beach for those people who have taken part in the event on Saturday, 10 May.

The drive-a-thon will begin in Camana Bay car Park and will end at Seven Mile Public Beach. The procession will travel with police escort up West Bay Road and will culminate with a memorial service and celebration on the beach.

The event is designed to remember those who have lost their lives on Cayman’s roads while at the same time highlight the efforts of those people who aim to improve road safety. Those who participate will receive a T-shirt and goodie bag and could be eligible to win prizes including two cell phones with hands free kits courtesy of Cable & Wireless.

Peter Embleton, Principal of St Ignatius Catholic School (Years 7 to 13) said: “I am delighted that we are able to support the StreetSkill committee in its efforts to promote road safety through our steel band’s performance at this Saturday’s event. Promoting road safety among our students and young people is extremely important and we wish the committee every success.”

The band instructor, Ostan Matthews, is from St Vincent and has been playing for 15 years and instructing high school students for five years, two of which have been at St Ignatius.

“Mr Matthews has been an asset to the school since he joined us and he is helping to lead our attempts to get sponsorship for the band as we need new pans to replace the existing ones that we have used for many years,” Mr Embleton.

Anyone wanting to know more about sponsoring the steel band should contact the school on 945-9250.

Residents can register for the drive-a-thon in a number of ways, firstly by attending Fort Street Market on Friday, 9 May between 11:00 am and 3:00 pm or by contacting Deborah Denis at 244-3004 or deborah.denis@gov.ky.

Collected funds will be used for future road safety efforts such as educational and promotional material.

The Streetskill campaign was launched on 1 May 2006 by the National Roads Authority, the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service and The Cayman Islands Road Safety Advisory Council, and is aimed at educating motorists and influencing their behaviour.

Since the start of the campaign, many areas of road safety have been addressed including, speeding, school safety, child safety, cyclist’s safety, the dangers of using cell phones behind the wheel and drinking and driving.