Young musician turns artisan, training as Cayman’s first luthier
🔴 | At a young age, Zachary Allen knew he had a knack for music and began realising his calling as a musician in primary school. Today, the talented young musician, 18, is taking his love to the next level and perfecting the craft of musical repair, on a path to becoming Cayman’s first luthier, trained in making and maintaining stringed instruments.
“[My mom] noticed this knack [for music] as well,” Allen told the Cayman Compass. “She heard that there was a company, Cayman Arts Festival, at the time that was giving out music lessons and she signed me up and I was called down to our principal’s office where there was a bunch of students with instruments as well. I picked up a cello and started ‘picking’ out it,” Allen said.
“I knew that from the time I started playing those first new notes that this would be kind of what defined me as a person, or at least from then on. So, it’s not really that I found music. I think it’s cool that music found me, and I think that’s really awesome.”
🔗 Read the full story at www.caymancompass.com.
📸 Photos: Supplied
‘911 saved my life’: Cayman’s dispatchers celebrated
🔴 | One dark day two years ago, Brooke Bodden tried to end it all, but with the timely intervention of her mother and the guidance of a 911 dispatcher, the 16-year-old was revived, granting her a new lease on life.
“I was really, really grateful because obviously when all of that happened I had wanted to die so much. But they not only saved me physically, I feel like they also saved me mentally and gave me another chance at living,” Bodden, 18, said as she spoke with the Cayman Compass recently about her experience.
Bodden’s life is one on a list of many that Cayman’s 911 team has saved through their calm-and-collected approach in times of extreme distress.
On Friday, the men and women of the Department of Public Safety and Communications were celebrated for their service to the community.
Bodden, who is now employed and looking forward to the future, was among those cheering the team on.
She said she could not thank the 911 members and her mother enough for saving her life that day in 2022 when the teen was found on the bathroom floor.
Bodden said the 911 dispatcher guided her frantic mother through performing CPR over the phone and she was able to resuscitate her.
“The service that [my mother] received from the 911 service was what saved my life because it brought me back completely and I’m now completely physically healthy. The doctors were shocked. The paramedics were shocked I recovered,” she said.
She said she has recovered mentally and has “fought really hard to come back and I’m really grateful that I was given another opportunity to make my life better.”
🔗 Read the full story at www.caymancompass.com.
📸 Photo: Reshma Ragoonath
Frizz and Grizz return to Prospect Playhouse for a country Christmas
🔴 | The Cayman Drama Society is presenting its annual ‘Playhouse Family Christmas’ production, titled, ‘A Magical Country Christmas’, with Frizz and Grizz and all the gang.
This year, the cast is invited out to the countryside, where they meet Christmas spirits and share the joy of the Christmas season.
“Every year is magical to us really, and we’ve had some amazing settings over the years,” Sue Howe, the production’s creator, writer and director, told the Cayman Compass.
“This year we hope we have achieved the feeling of being somewhere really quaint and cozy. Shayne Howe has once again designed us a beautiful set, and the Phoenix and S.W.P crews did such a lovely job of creating a warm, and what we feel is a magical setting to escape to for people coming to see the show. We hope that people feel the warmth of being in the country for Christmas,” she said.
Along with Frizz (played by Sue Howe) and Grizz (played by Gabrielle Wheaton), the two-act Christmas variety show features a 30-member cast, 11-member crew and a lively set of characters, including toy soldiers, angels, wise men, penguins, and, of course, the beloved Mr. and Mrs. Claus.
🔗 Read the full story at www.caymancompass.com.
📸 Photo: Shanda Gallego
Film featuring Cayman waters set for global premiere
🔴 | Cayman’s turquoise blue waters, the majestic world beneath their surface and the mounting challenges they face will take centre stage as the third instalment of the ‘One Planet Insights’ docuseries, which premieres online on Friday.
The new chapter in the series, entitled ‘Our Global Ocean: The Planet’s Blue Heart’, will debut at 10am Cayman time on the YouTube page of the Cayman Islands Government Office UK.
Cayman Islands UK and Europe representative Tasha Ebanks-Garcia, speaking with the Cayman Compass via Zoom Tuesday, said excitement is building for the new feature-length film, which was done in partnership with the Department of Environment and produced by Bryant Media.
She said the latest instalment in the ‘One Planet Insights’ docuseries not only explores the wonders of the ocean but “this compelling film delves into the challenges our blue planet faces”.
“We recognise that the Cayman Islands are a global leader in marine stewardship and protection. Over 90% of the UK’s biodiversity sits in its overseas territories and, as an overseas territory, we have a huge responsibility to protect the natural environment in the Cayman Islands. So this film does a couple of things. It celebrates the wonders and resilience of the ocean while addressing the urgent need to protect it,” she said.
🔗 Read the full story at www.caymancompass.com.
📸 Photo: Supplied
Pirates Week crews say more planning needed for annual festival
🔴 | While attendees praised many aspects of the recent Pirates Week activities on Grand Cayman, which wrapped up on 16 Nov., some long-term participants say this year’s festival was rushed and more time should have been given for planning.
“There is room for improvement for the festival,” said veteran pirate Darvin Ebanks, known as Captain Black Terrence of the Bloody Bay Buccaneers. “Four months is simply not enough time to plan and prepare for Pirates Week.”
Orneil Galbraith, who leads the Las Tortugas Pirates crew under the alias Captain Wes, agreed with this assessment.
“I don’t want to talk bad about any of the organisers, because they worked really hard and did a great job, but it really should be more like six months to organise and advertise the festival properly,” he said.
🔗 Read the full story at www.caymancompass.com.
📸 Photo: Daniela Kober @wavesidecayman
Cayman Airways pilot Adrian West immortalised with new plane
🔴 | As tears silently streamed down her face, Vernice West, widow of Caymanian pilot Adrian David ‘Josh’ West, lovingly received a replica, commemorative airplane model – a miniature version of the new Cayman Airways Twin Otter plane that was christened on Friday morning with her husband’s initials as its registration number.
Matthew Anderson and Matthew Moore, both from Edna M. Moyle Primary School, secured second and third place, respectively.
Though it was a bittersweet moment, Brandon West, Captain West’s elder son, said it was a “truly special” moment for the family to see his father’s initials CAW on the plane’s tail.
“It means a lot to me because I get to see his plane being flown by the best pilots in the world, knowing that it’s in great hands,” West told the Cayman Compass in an interview following the special christening ceremony on the Cayman Airways hangar.
🔗 Read the full story at www.caymancompass.com.
📸 Photo: Reshma Ragoonath
‘Guillotine’ spells championship for Siddharth Yedla
🔴 | Siddharth Yedla, 9, a Year 5 student at Cayman Prep, got through ‘guillotine’ to win the 25th annual RBC Royal Bank Primary National Spelling Bee held Tuesday at the John Gray High School Performance Hall.
The audience was on the edge of their collective seats as the competition moved into the final round, with students spelling their way through the nail-biting battle.
The quiet, laid-back, but clearly focused Yedla took home the trophy, by correctly spelling ‘guillotine’, impressively displaying grace under pressure as he contemplated the word.
He bested 66 public and private primary students from across the Cayman Islands, including those being homeschooled.
Matthew Anderson and Matthew Moore, both from Edna M. Moyle Primary School, secured second and third place, respectively.
🔗 Read the full story at www.caymancompass.com.
📸 Photo: Shanda Gallego
Politicians urge action on domestic abuse after Silent Witness March
🔴 | Politicians came out in force for the 24th Annual Silent Witness March on Wednesday to support victims of gender violence. The event came amid questions over whether long-awaited legislation on sexual harassment would finally make its way through Parliament.
Former premier Wayne Panton, who attended the march along with organisers from the Business and Professional Women’s Club (BPW) of Grand Cayman and staff from government’s Gender Affairs Unit, told the Compass he was going to “keep the pressure on” to see that legislation was passed. He said he held out no hope, however, that it would happen before next year’s general election, blaming “male chauvinism” for the lack of progress so far.
Panton was joined by Deputy Premier Kenneth Bryan and fellow MPs André Ebanks, Katherine Ebanks-Wilks and Heather Bodden, who walked silently through George Town.
🔗 Read the full story at www.caymancompass.com.
📸 Photo: Sarah Bridge
Laguna Del Mar owners to meet with DoE over seawall
🔴 | Owners of the Laguna Del Mar condo have been told to meet with Department of Environment staff and planning officials to discuss their application for a protective seawall in the latest stage of this long-running planning battle.
There has been a seawall at the beachfront condo Laguna Del Mar ever since it was built in 1989, but the wall was badly damaged two years ago during Hurricane Ian.
Attempts to seek planning permission to reconstruct the 360-foot wall at a cost of $1 million ran into problems right from the start thanks to Laguna Del Mar’s location on the southern end of Seven Mile Beach, which is suffering badly from erosion.
Planning regulations specify that in a hotel or tourism zone, seawalls should be at least 130 feet from the high-water mark, but Laguna Del Mar’s damaged seawall is now only 38 feet away from that mark thanks to substantial beach erosion since the wall was originally built.
🔗 Read the full story at www.caymancompass.com.
📸 Photo: Supplied
Top Headlines: 28 November 2024
Expansion of CCTV network earmarked for 2025
🔴 | Cayman’s 400-camera-strong CCTV network will be expanding next year to fill gaps in strategic locations as part of planned upgrades by the Department of Public Safety Communications.
Department Director Sean Vasquez stressed the importance of the CCTV network upgrades, which will help maintain public safety as well as assist law enforcement agencies in their investigations.
“We’re looking to identify key locations with our public safety agencies whereby we’ll be building some resilience into that [network] and also looking to start discussions with some other third party agencies that will be able to build resilience into [the CCTV] platform as well,” he told the Cayman Compass.
Expansion is also planned for the cameras on the Sister Islands, he said.
Vasquez said discussions are currently ongoing with the Ministry of Home Affairs to determine how many cameras will be installed and in what locations.
He said the department is working very closely with the police and border control, as well as some other agencies, to map out the expanded network.
“I’m very much looking forward to a further expansion of at least an additional 25 to 50 cameras. That’s a healthy hope,” he said.
🔗 Read the full story at www.caymancompass.com.
📸 Photo: Supplied
