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EXCITEMENT is building at St Christopher's for its annual Young Musicians of the Gulf competition supported by Gulf Air. This is the 14th year of the event, and with a record number of schools participating, the competition promises to be the best yet.

The competition is the only one of its kind in the region. It gives a platform for young musical talent from across the Gulf and provides a forum for music making which is unique to Bahrain. This year, 120 young musicians will participate.

The Grand Final will be held in the Gulf Convention Centre, Gulf Hotel, tomorrow at 6.30pm. Tickets for the Grand Final are BD5 inclusive of finger buffet.

Preliminary rounds were held at St Christopher's School, Isa Town on Monday and Tuesday. Members of the public are welcome to attend the semi-final which will be held at St Christopher's School, Saar, today at 6.30pm, admission free.

In addition to solo instrumentalists and singers, a range of chamber ensembles, including madrigal groups, string quartets, brass quintets and other groups, will compete for the Ensemble Prize. Expert adjudicators, flown in from England, have the unenviable task of deciding the winners.

St Christopher's would like to thank all the sponsors of Young Musicians of the Gulf for their generosity. The school community looks forward to a fantastic competition and to welcoming competitors and audience members to share in this celebration of young musical talent.

Tickets for tomorrow's Grand Final are available from Virgin Megastore, The Bookcase, Room2Rock and St Christopher's Schools.

Mrs Helen E Kamal

PA to head teacher

St Christopher's Infant School

I JUST want to ask one thing of the government of Bahrain regarding my father who has been living here for almost 40 years.

He was just two years old when he came to Bahrain. His whole family has lived here for a very long time. He doesn't go to his birth country because he loves Bahrain. He has filled in applications to get Bahraini nationality so he can live here permanently but he never gets any response.

He was interviewed only once and after that nothing happened. Is this the rule, that applications and requests are simply ignored?

Others are getting nationality even though they have not lived here for so long. So can the government of Bahrain just tell me ... is this fair?

Regards Dani,

By email