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CCNTV6
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00:00an envious collection of trophies standing atop various shelves at classics productions
00:06a testament to the many years of success of the children's mass band which was founded in 2003.
00:12these include many awards under the red cross children's carnival in categorical fields and
00:18band of the year which classics productions copped as recently as 2025. here at suffolk street in
00:24belmont the goal is bigger than pushing out costumes to hit the road for carnival it's about
00:31learning opportunities and the awareness and preservation of the country's rich culture within
00:36a community where at least some parts can be considered vulnerable band leader vanessa ford
00:41says volunteerism is part of the live blood of classics productions opening up more than just
00:47adults to the spirit as young ones have also been drawn to it so what we do too as well at
00:53classics productions is teaching young people and children the you know the art of making the mass
00:59you know so that you know is something that we feel good about where do you get these children from in
01:04terms of those who actually want to come in and learn how mass production is done okay so what happened
01:12is that we have parents when the band started we have parents who came in and wanted to give assistance
01:18because from inception we started doing what what we call well philanthropy and giving the children
01:25from the school for the deaf costumes free costumes we do that every year it has been so for the longest
01:32while and we have continued every year so we have parents who come in and assist you know do volunteer
01:36work and then the children who they had who played in the band before come in and assist to and end up with
01:43their children now so i have my grandchildren playing in the band now at this point in time the philanthropy
01:48work in terms of providing free costumes also enables other vulnerable children the chance to play mass
01:54the shelters in our community we also give costumes these are children shelters children shelters and
02:00some underprivileged children who we identify from the teachers in the different schools they identify
02:07children who they know cannot afford and who they know would have loved to have this experience so
02:14especially the bellman government primary school which was traditionally the bellman methodist school
02:20we have a lot of children from the valley road and that attending that school so we use that school
02:26that's one of the major schools that we use as well to to give the underprivileged children there we
02:32also do some from the quarry street school despite its charity work and accolades finances have been a problem
02:39for the band for years and ford has gotten used to it but 2026 is shaping up to be out of the ordinary
02:46and not in a good way you tell me what is different this year this year well i don't know but so far this
02:53year i find that you know registration is a bit slow i don't know if people are a little worried about
02:58what's the happening you know the atmosphere but i'm hoping that by the end of this month hopefully or
03:04probably the middle of this month that people will start coming in you know to to register also this
03:11year we haven't seen anybody come forward to give us a little sponsorship so we're really looking for
03:16we're hoping that people would assist us without sponsorship the philanthropy work will only stretch
03:22so far but meals and other aspects of the carnival packages offered to children will fall solely on
03:29ford and her team according to ford it's not due to a lack of trying she's written to children friendly
03:35companies as customary hopefully that they will come on board if even it's not monetary we are asking that
03:42you know we get assistance to feeding the children because that's the next thing with our band too
03:47we ensure that the children are probably fed and they they get you know liquids throughout the time that
03:54they're playing mass with us have you worked out a dollar value as to what you would need to pull
03:59off a successful carnival for classics productions carnival 2026 well we have a budget which has come
04:07up to over seven hundred and something thousand dollars yes because it's it's really really a lot
04:13when you work it out you know what fall is looking like what right now our shortfall is approximately
04:18two hundred thousand dollars but something else has gone awry by now ford and her team would usually
04:24have about 70 paying registrants but the band has only managed to draw about 25. it's a far cry from
04:32the annual total of approximately 225 children who would dance play and parade with the band with about
04:3950 of them paying and the other 50 through a give back to society interestingly the theme this year
04:47is in a time of war it's part of a trilogy conceptualized by her son prior to the geopolitical
04:53tensions in the region there are those who believe it has led to economic instability in this country
04:59while ford can say for certain that it has led to a cut in spending there's one aspect she's making a
05:06definite pronouncement on people have been calling and they're saying they are coming but i think people
05:10are waiting to have money you know people use up their money for christmas and then to our catchment would
05:15have been a lot of the people who have no jobs now for instance the cp workers you are people because
05:21they are the ones who love their children to play mass but if they don't have the the income you know
05:26they can't really come come forward to ask to let the children play masses here amidst the adversity
05:32ford is optimistic and says one thing is for certain we have a motto here we feel that fun family and
05:40friendship is what we are about and regardless of what takes place war whatever we will be on that
05:47road and the children having a great time for carnival 2026 if you're interested in getting in touch with
05:54classics productions you can reach forward at 759-8936 alicia boucher tv6 news
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