Left: Members of the group One Third get close to patients and visitors to the centre during their appearance there on Wednesday.   Right: The children were happy to get a visit from the Rising Stars. Nickeisha Barnes spent some time interacting with them. - Contributed photos

The top two contestants in the Digicel Rising Stars, One Third and Nickeisha Barnes made a welcome appearance at the Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre and performed for the many students, staff and patients of the centre.

Nickeisha Barnes led the performances, which had the audience in frenzy. One young man held on to her legs as he pleaded for one more song.

One third turned it up a notch as they got the audience singing and clapping as they went down memory lane, performing two of their favourite songs from the competition.

Commanding performance

After their commanding performance, they spent time on the wards with the patients.

"It is a dream come true for me, to see One Third and Nickeisha here at the centre," said Latoya Senior, a patient at the centre who, along with another patient, Pamela Scott, were instrumental in having the contestants there.

The occasion was Digicel's donation of $1.5 million from the Rising Stars concert to the Centre. The donation is to assist in the rebuilding efforts after a fire razed several buildings at the institution last month.

The Sir John Golding Centre, which began operations in 1954 after the deadly polio outbreak in Jamaica, now operates a 75-bed hospital, while maintaining an out- patient service in addition to its regular rehabilitation and health care services.

"A number of people have been affected by the fire, and we felt compelled to assist in the restoration of such an important institution, which has been providing first-class health care to Jamaicans for so many years," said Digicel Marketing Project Manager, Paula Pinnock-MacLeod.

A television feature on the centre will be aired during today's final results show of the Digicel Rising Stars to drum up support from the show's fans for the rebuilding efforts.

Rising Stars concert sold out

All presold tickets for the Rising Stars Concert to announcement the winner today have been sold out.

The organisers of the event say that there will be no tickets available for purchase today and only people who purchased genuine tickets from Digicel Dealer stores will be allowed access to the venue.

However, fans of the show who didn't manage to secure a ticket can watch the show on TVJ which will air the show live and exclusive along with coverage of the concert starting immediately after the results show at 9.30 p.m.

Busy Signal and Alaine will serve as hosts to the fans at Mas Camp during the first hour. The concert, which begins at 9:30 p.m., will also feature 2006 finalists Natel, Secrets, Kimanda Cunningham, Jim Laden, Inga Stewart, Suzanne Perkins, and Jordan Mais.

The inaugural Digicel Rising Stars winner, Cavan, his runners-up, Renee and Diana Rutherford, will join last season's winner Christopher Martin, first and second runners-up Noddy Virtue and Daynea Deacon, who will all be performing before the capacity- filled venue.

The gates at Mas Camp will open at 6:00 p.m. and patrons are advised that there will be no parking available at the venue and vehicles should not be parked along Oxford Road.