Songs of comfort

ON?A?NIGHT when the cup of sorrow of the people of St John was full and overflowing on the field of Gall Hill, Mara Thompson wept for her husband, Chris Sinckler cried for a colleague and friends and hundreds of other Barbadians remembered a departed Prime Minister.
 Last night’s inter-denominational praise and thanksgiving service for the late David Thompson will linger in the memory of all those who listened, prayed and sang for a shade over two hours.
Chief organiser, Reverend David Durant said the event was a success and the response overwhelming.
New Prime Minister Freundel Stuart delivered the feature address, noting that many would have been gladdened by Thompson’s life and saddened by his death, but on a night full of emotion, it was a song rather than a speech that unleashed the floodgate of tears from Mara, Minister of Finance Sinckler and Senator Irene Sandiford Garner.
It was songbird Kareem Clarke’s captivating rendition of It Is Well With My Soul that brought tears from the trio, all seated in the front row. Durant was moved to comfort them.
Clarke, backed up by the Restoration Ministries Chorale, was also a hit with No More Night.
Later in the programme, Hoszia Hinds, former gang member who has turned his life around, energised the audience with the uptempo Not An Option. Hinds, 30, a recent winner of the Caribbean Album of the Year in the reggae/gospel genre, bellowed to the fans “don’t give up”.
Hinds set the stage for two-time calypso monarch Adrian Clarke, a product of St John, to enhance the musical flavour with Eye On The Sparrow and God Never Fails.
Prime Minister Stuart saluted the man he has succeeded to the highest political post in the land,
by reminding the audience that Thompson had pursued his goals with a selflessness “that many of us will do well to emulate”.
Stuart said that Thompson’s fingerprints will not only fall on the people of St John, but also on the hearts of all of us who have come in contact with him.
He?said the country owd a debt of gratitude to Mara and her three daughters Misha, Oya and Osa-Marie for lending David to the country for long periods of time and not complaining about it.