September Meeting

Well its great to be back in sunny Kent after a month of frivolities in the Antipodes (where your Hon Secretary dispensed with large quantities of cash for weddings and christenings (ably supervised by Mrs 'Hon Sec'). Unfortunately our chairman was unavailable as he was still on a fact finding mission to Tuscany, (bravely testing the alcoholic beverages for anti freeze contamination, sleeping in the sunshine and annoying Mrs Chair). The effects of this punishing regime can be seen in this photo of our chairman obviously taken by the same paparazzi team who were following the Royal Family. Fortunately none of the gutter press showed any interest...

The Treasurer was also AWOL as well. Things were starting to look a bit critical but thank goodness Shirley was there to get things moving! We had a great session that evening and a good turnout of members. It was a real pleasure to welcome back Tom Rimmer  and Colin Baker  from Wealden Guitar Society. Both of them gave a great solo performance as well as adding a bit more weight to the ensemble activities.  Ray Butcher led us through our signature tune for the Beckenham Festival (Alta Vista) which was followed by John Mann, smoothing out some of the rougher parts of those lovely South American folk tunes Cancao (Brazil) and El Cachimbo (Chile). Mind you, compared to those Korean kiddy winkies (see the previous blog post) we have some way to go- especially getting the seating arrangements coordinated!!

After a well earned coffee break supplied by our ever reliable quartermaster, Trevor Pike, we were entertained by a range of solo performances from Vince, Ash, Tessa, Tom , Colin and myself. Vince made a recording of these pieces. You can see and listen to them by visiting this link.

Tunes played included

• Prelude in D (Francisco Tarrega)
• Alegre Campina (Bartolomé Calatayud)
• O'Moore's Fair Daughter (Rory Call O'Cahan)
• Love is the sweetest thing (Ray Noble)
• Milonga del Angel (Astor Piazzolla)
• I Giorni (Ludovico Einaudi) A
• Theme & Variations for Guitar(Lennox Berkeley)

 Another successful evening and I am grateful to the support from Shirley, John, Ray and Trevor for making it a success.

Now I can't finish without reminding you about the dates for the following festivals.

The Beckenham festival is on Sunday 11th November at Marian Vian Primary school. The ensemble session will take place some time between 6pm and 8pm that night.  It is an open competition, so even music teachers and music students can take part. I will need to give the organisers some idea about how many of us will be attending that night and want to send the entry form off by next weekend.

The Maidstone festival is on Saturday 24th November at the Invicta Grammar school in Maidstone. I do not know what time of day we will be playing at the moment. We will send more info later and can organise lifts to the event if needed.

If you intend to join us could you please email Shirley and let her know?

See you at the next meeting- more ensemble practice- we have to keep up with those North Korean players!!