case behind him.

And Mr. Ming is finding that the best way to forget about his term in prison is to be back on stage with the band.

The Bermuda Strollers recently toured America after an exciting appearance in front of 300,000 people in Central Park as part of the New York Marathon.

The US visit also included an appearance on the coast-to-coast Joe Franklin Show on US television.

Now the band is negotiating with hotels and looking forward to another US tour to promote Bermuda.

Mr. Ming was cleared of drug smuggling charges by the Court of Appeal earlier this year, after being sentenced to 20 years in prison in May, 1991.

He said: "People do not realise that the Bermuda Strollers never really broke up even when I was on `holiday.' I arranged for entertainers to come into the prison to play to the inmates. That included a performance by the Bermuda Strollers and me.

"When I was working on the cruise ships I called the prison the Channel View Hotel, pointing out that it was one hotel in Bermuda that is always full. The joke was on me when I ended up in there.'' Mr. Ming said that the Strollers had recently completed their US tour including the Central Park performance as part of the entertainment for families of runners in New York Marathon.

He said: "We were the only musical group and we were playing to around 300,000 people. It was great experience. This was very good promotion for Bermuda.'' The appearance on the Joe Franklin Show saw the band play four numbers with a video of Bermuda shown at the same time.

Department of Tourism Assistant Director of Activities Mr. Randy Horton was also on the show. Mr. Ming said: "He did a wonderful job of promoting Bermuda.'' The Bermuda Strollers have their original line-up apart from new bassist Mr.

Randall Simmons.

The band asked the Tourism Department to support them but Director Mr. Gary Phillips said that they could not give sponsorship because it had not been budgeted for and it was in the middle of the financial year.