Profiles: Heroes, Role Models and Pioneers of Trinidad and Tobago - by Nasser Khan

58 THORA DUMBELL (1924- ) K nown mainly as a dancer and dance teacher, Dumbell has also been a tireless fundraiser through performances for the blind, the deaf and the underprivileged in general. She started her school of dance in 1950 which she operated until 1978. She has been a judge at children’s carnival shows and Easter bonnet parades; she has organised carnival queen shows; with Beryl McBurnie, she once organised a rally of 6,000 children at the Oval in 1966 for the Queen’s visit; then for Indira Ghandi and again for the Pope in 1985. She has appeared in two movies: at age 8 in a British movie and at age 11 in the Warner Brothers movie “New Faces of 1936”. She danced at the opening of Queen’s Hall 50 years ago, in 1959. In 1978 she was awarded the Humming Bird Medal Gold. SEL DUNCAN (1924-1983) I n the field of music, especially dance music back in the 1950s and 1960’s, Selwyth (Sel) Duncan and his orchestra was a household name in T&T. He was well known for his alto sax playing skill. In 1972 he received the Public Service of Merit Silver Medal. Musicians like John “Buddy Williams, Syl Dopson, Clarence Curvan, Choy Aming, Fitz Vaughn Bryan, Ed Watson, Ray Sylvester, Frankie Francis, Watty Watkins, Mano Marcellin, and still active today Joey Lewis, were those from the early era of the golden music era.