MEMBERS of the West End Sail Boat Club (WESCB) kept up a long established club tradition on Sunday and attended a divine worship service to mark the beginning of their active summer programme.

Each year the club attends a different one or another of the several churches in the parish. This time it was at the George's Bay Gospel Hall, and the regular congregation there seemingly made them feel very welcome.

In reciprocation, WESCB Commodore Howard Simmons and his executive invited the church to their Boaz Island clubhouse to partake of the buffet luncheon where there were enough delicacies to feed the 5,000.

After lunch the Somerset Brigade Band (SBB) under Bandmaster Leslie Lowe took command of the club's open-air patio and rendered a most delightful concert. Major Lowe praised the club for its invitation.

He said it triggered memories of being told how generations ago regular Sunday afternoon features were concerts in the parks given by the various naval and military bands stationed in the colony.

"We are glad to be one of the entities along with the boat club in reviving worthwhile traditions," the Major said, pointing out that the evening before (Saturday) the band was presented in concert at Heron Bay School, Southampton East, at the invitation of the Sarah Allen Missionary Society of Vernon Temple AME Church.

The most gratifying aspect of the Saturday night concert was the fact it was under the distinguished patronage of Mrs. Writa Johnson, who celebrated her 100th birthday in January, and Mrs. Wilma Hall, the oldest lady member of the church.

Mrs. Johnson is the last surviving daughter of one of the founders and first bandmasters of SBB. The band celebrated its 75th anniversary last year with a number of events, parades, concerts and a hectic two-week-tour to Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland China. Some 80 members and friends of the band went on the tour.

Major Lowe said another tour was planned for this year, a smaller one to Toronto, Canada. For the past decade SBB has gone off almost yearly to perform in such places as London, England, New York and several times in Canada.

The concert on Sunday provided a most delightful variety, starting with Festival of Youth, followed by the waltz Waves of the Danube, Bob Marley's Three Little Birds, Michael Jackson's Heal the World and music from the movie Titanic. The pace was changed with Robert Sheldon's Fall River Overture, Hooten Annie, Malotte's Lord's Prayer and Willoughby's Battle Hymn of the Republic. The concert was closed with the playing of The Somerset Brigade Band's March.

Now that WESBC had had its religious and cultural fling, its former long-serving secretary Norbert Simmons said members were ready for their first major event, the 62nd Annual Long Distance Comet Race from St. George's to Somerset. WESB was formed in 1941 to promote Comet class racing. There are now two other Comet class clubs, the Mid-Atlantic Boat Club and East End Mini Yacht Club, that compete with WESBC in the Long Distance Race for the Edward Cross Cup.

It is held traditionally on the Queen's Birthday Holiday, starting in St. George's on even-numbered years and from Somerset on odd-numbered years, which, incidentally is how the annual Somerset-St. George's Cup Match is planned.