April 23 2005: Article Published in Nepali Times.

Greg was asked to write an article for The Nepali Times about his first explorations to Nepal along the Asian Highway and the subsequent inception of Comex, which he duly did. The article was published to coincide with Queen Elizabeth’s Birthday.

May 22 2005: Editor Reads Book!

On re-reading  ‘A Pattern of Islands’ by Sir Arthur Grimble (the story of his time as a Colonial Office Cadet in the, then, Gilbert and Ellice Islands)  I came across the following:

“It began to dawn on me then that, beyond the teeming romance that lies in the differences between men - the diversity of their homes, the multitude of their ways of life, the dividing strangeness of their faces and tongues, the thousand-fold mysteries of their origins - there lies the still profounder romance of their kinship with each other, a kinship that springs from the immutable constancy of man’s need  to share laughter and friendship, poetry and love in common. A man may travel a long road and suffer much loneliness, before he makes that discovery.”

Apologies to the ladies among you, but, ignoring the obvious gender issues, this passage seems to sum up so well the philosophy of Comex, I had to share it.

^K.L.

May 28 2005: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office Responds

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has responded positively to the Comex 40 initiative.

The following message was received today from the Commonwealth Co-ordination Team.

40th ANNIVERSARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH EXPEDITION

Thank you for your letter of 10 May addressed to the Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw. It has been passed to me to respond.

I read your letter and the “Little Green Flag” celebratory card with interest and admiration. We are happy to lend support. As requested, we shall forward copies of your letter and card to our Commonwealth Missions - including our American Missions, in order to generate enthusiasm and support for your proposal.

May I take this opportunity to wish you all the best with the recording of “The Story of Comex in Song” project.

Thank you for your continued support in promoting the Commonwealth and its values.

November 7 2005: An editorial summary of Comex 40.

When we began constructing the Comex 40 anniversary website seven months ago we had in mind a combination of narrative, poems, sketches, songs and pictures with as little editing as possible. With regard to the songs there were two possibilities: to have them done by the countries involved, or confine ourselves to the recordings we already had – 'on the road' – with minimum editing.  However, to get the job done in time it seemed more sensible to do it from within our own resources.

As far as the narrative was concerned we focused on the original decision of the Government of India – endorsed by the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru – to hold a Commonwealth Youth Festival in order to organise a new consciousness in the Commonwealth. It was a unique initiative, and a committee was set up with representatives from all Commonwealth missions in Delhi. Greg was invited to attend.  Meetings took place over two years.  But the idea was dropped for want of support and Comex 1 launched under the patronage of Prince Philip.

Fifteen years later The Green Pennant Awards were inaugurated by HRH in London, endorsed ten years on at the New Zealand CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) and most recently presented at the 1997 CHOGM in Edinburgh - in the presence of Heads of Government - hosted by the Lord Provost.

The narrative gives more details and extends the story to developments following the Edinburgh CHOGM and the decision to forge ahead with producing The Story of Comex in Song.  The poems fill in the gaps, the sketches provide a little amusement, and the photographs at least demonstrate that we were once young, and remain young in heart. The songs tell the story faithfully (like the Qawals of India) following in the 'footsteps' of Comex.

But some of the live recordings were not quite up to it (not the singing, but the recording) so we had to rely on Mary Abendroth (Comex Star and 2 bars!) from the United States for Silver Train; on Kamal Kant Sharma (Comex 7 and 3 bars!) from India for Village Lights, John Mwesa (Comex 10 and 2 bars) from Zambia for Little Green Flags, and on Chris Brown-Syed (Comex 8) from Canada for Coming Home.  In most cases contrasting versions of each song are given – African, English and Indian voices. A good example is Silver Train moving beautifully and serenely in Minnesota until children climb aboard, turn the throttle, and give it a bit of woomph!

How Grows the Mango Tree, Chapter 2 makes the point that " most of us spend a great deal of time wondering what – if anything – we can do within our own spheres of influence (however humble) to help in the face of world events in which we all have a stake. And we become so preoccupied with wondering that opportunities often slip by un-noticed. A good example of this is the Commonwealth, an historic association of friends worldwide; and Comex, an attempt by a younger generation (the same age group as might be called upon in a shooting war) to do something about those friendships."

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has played its part by informing all Commonwealth missions abroad, the United States Embassy, and the embassies along the Asian Highway about the Comex40 anniversary website, requesting them to pass the information on.