Music promoter Leo Cripps has endured many a numbing winter in more than 20 years of living in Calgary, Canada. He says he reflects regularly on his youth in Portland, and recently decided to give back to an institution which helped shape his life.

Recently, Cripps and his wife Cindy Nield, traveled to his home parish and donated two Dell computers to the Windsor Forest Primary School, located in the district of Fair Prospect.

The computers were presented on behalf of the Calgary Reggae Festival Society to Principal Hilbreth Anderson and Vice-Principal Paulette Donegan, last Tuesday.

"This is just the start. We really want to help get a resource room going at the school," Cripps told The Gleaner. "Our main focus right now is to see what can be done."

timely donation

Anderson, who has been principal since last November, said the donation was timely as the school's 200 students have to travel two miles to the Long Bay Library to use computers.

"This is a good venture. It will definitely enhance the learning of the children," Anderson said.

Cripps, who was a student at Windsor Forest Primary in the 1960s, said his organisation plans to assist in structuring and stocking the school's resource room, which is still under construction.

After leaving Windsor Forest, Cripps moved to Kingston for his secondary education before immigrating to Canada in the early 1980s.

He has been involved in music since moving to Canada, working as a disc jockey at the University of Calgary's radio station, CJSW 90, for the last 25 years.

Along with his wife, he is a founder of the Calgary Reggae Festival Society, a multi-national organisation that promotes the Calgary Reggae Festival which was first staged in 1995.