The project is called All Hands: Instrumental Music from Gabriola Island, and it’s a CD of instrumental music by Gabriola musicians produced by Victor Anthony and funded by the Gabriola Arts Council (GAC) to benefit the music program at Gabriola Elementary School.

Over 230 copies of the CD have been sold, so on Tuesday morning, GAC president Kathy Ramsey presented a cheque for $2,200 to Tom Bradbrooke, music teacher at Gabriola Elementary School. Bradbrooke plans to use the funds to purchase more guitars for his eager young students (sourced locally, of course!).

Thanks are owed to the Arts Council for their generous support of this idea, Carol Ramsay and Steve Elder for graphics and mastering on the disk and of course, all the musicians who contributed tracks: Marc Bombois, Steve Elder, Tony Gradanti, Tim Harrison, Alison Humphries, The Kerplunks, Kim Kristiansen, Jeremy McDonald, Andre Nobles, Brad Shipley, Steve Smith, and Nathan Tinkham.

Locals, when you see these folks around, shake their hand. And, if you haven’t gotten a copy of the CD yet, there are still a very few available at Artworks.