After erupting only 23 times in the past 4,000 years, and lying dormant since 1979, the event came as something of a shock.

Islanders had been on red alert since that December, when an effusive eruption set the scene for the dramatic events to come.

"I never thought I would live to see it, but it happened," said Claude Bascombe Jr, the St Vincent and the Grenadines Chef de Mission for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

A huge ash cloud engulfed the island, which also witnessed lava and pyroclastic flows.

"The experience of an eruption is like a two way street," said Bascombe. 

"In one aspect it's magnificent. From the southern part of the island you looked up and you saw the ash cloud going up. 

"You could actually hear the roars of the volcano, but when the ash starts coming down...

"Islands like these, we are not accustomed to seeing snow. But you are almost thinking that you are having snowfall."

Thousands of people were displaced from their homes and activities such as sport were forced to stop.

"There are inherent dangers with ash, of course, that comes along with an eruption," Bascombe said.

"The island was basically blanketed. Barbados, our neighbour by 100 miles, got quite a lot of ash from us as well.

"It might have seemed as though Barbados had a volcanic eruption. We actually shared some of that with them." 

A number of countries offered to take in people who were forced to flee their homes, but some were still waiting to return six months later.

"Our geography is such that the volcano is located in the north of the island," said Bascombe.

"Most of the population centres are located in the south.

"However, the impact was actually felt throughout the island.

"We had to evacuate as many as 20,000 people from the northern side of the island to the south." 

The eruption happened when St Vincent and the Grenadines, like most of the world, had its hands tied battling against the COVID-19 pandemic.

"There was COVID, and then there was a volcano," said Bascombe. 

"You are trying to avoid one hazard by social distancing, and trying your best to keep safe. 

"And then the volcano erupts and you can't really social distance."

With most sport in St Vincent taking place outdoors, athletes were forced inside.

"We had a cessation for track, a cessation for soccer, a cessation for netball, cricket," Bascombe said. "Everything."

St Vincent and the Grenadines is due to take a delegation of 34 or 35 to Birmingham 2022, in athletics, aquatics, cycling, squash and table tennis.

The Caribbean country has won two gold medals in its Commonwealth Games history, including the women's 100 metres title for Natasha Mayers at Delhi 2010.

This was a chaotic race, firstly after a dual false start by England's Laura Turner and Australia's Sally Pearson which saw just Turner eliminated.

Mayers finished third for the bronze medal behind Pearson and Nigeria's ludamola Osayomi, but Pearson was then disqualified on appeal, meaning Mayers was elevated to silver.

The placings changed yet again as Osayomi was disqualified after failing a drugs test, leaving Mayers as the winner.

The other champion from St Vincent is Frankie Lucas, an English boxer who fell out with the authorities in his home country and was snubbed for selection before the Christchurch Games in 1974.

Lucas had moved to London when he was seven but was born in St Vincent, and a national boxing association was created for his benefit.

He duly went on to carry the St Vincent and the Grenadines flag at the Opening Ceremony in Christchurch, before winning the middleweight gold medal.

"It's a big one for athletes in the sense it's international, and it's cross-discipline," said Bascombe.

"It is the Commonwealth Games after all."

Bascombe has represented St Vincent and the Grenadines in karate, and is the President of the country's national federation.

Birmingham 2022 will be his first time as Chef de Mission.

"I'm looking forward to it more than ever having had the opportunity to attend the open days in Birmingham in March, and interacting with more seasoned Chef de Missions from past Games," he said. 

"It has helped to lift my confidence in the role.

"Coming from a small island territory, there is usually a lot of weight on your shoulders. 

"Because most times you are not often seen, because you are limited in your ability to get to a lot of places. 

"But when you do get to go out and show what you can do, you have to try your best to represent."

Bascombe also competed in athletics before settling on karate.

"I ran track when I was in high school, and actually had the opportunity to represent at the Central American and Caribbean Games," he said.

"I was multi-discipline, I did sprints and field events. At one point my speciality was high jump.

"I had to choose one eventually, so I ended up retiring from track when I left high school." 

Cricket, like most of the Caribbean, is a passion in St Vincent, although the West Indies have not played a Test match at Kingstown's Arnos Vale Stadium since 2014.

The last one-day international was in 2012, with football and track and field among other popular sports.

In 2020, a new national stadium with an athletics track was opened in Diamond.

Athletes are making full use of this, and improvements are planned.

St Vincent and the Grenadines debuted at the Commonwealth Games in Cardiff in 1958, but missed the next edition in Perth.

After attending every Games between 1966 and 1978, the country, which gained independence from Britain in 1979, was absent for three editions in a row from Brisbane 1982.

Since Victoria 1994, they have been ever-present. 

Bascombe described COVID-19 as the "biggest tragedy for sport".

"Not just in St Vincent but for sport on a global scale," he added.

"Having to adjust to the realities of social distancing, and all the restrictions which came with it.

"We, like I'm sure others throughout the globe, will have suffered.

"Because of our relatively small size as a nation, we actually suffer more because having not had the resources of bigger territories, our smaller resources obviously would have been depleted further.

"As a result that would cause a lot of fallout with regards to sport over the last two years." 

 Coronavirus has inevitably dominated the planning for Birmingham 2022 organisers.

"I think it is a significant undertaking for Birmingham," said Bascombe.

"Obviously there were challenges because of the pandemic and having to span across not just one Village. 

"That's quite a task and I think that is to be commended, given the challenges, that they are able to pull it off.

"I think that once we have cooperation across the Games from all the stakeholders, it should be a very successful event."