April Meeting

April has been rather kind to us all this month! The weather has been unseasonably warm and the evenings have been quiet and drowsy....save for that 3rd  Saturday of the month when it becomes the Night of the 'Pluckers'!!  And so it was  on April 15th!!

Numbers were generally quite good despite the absence of Enfield's Number One Lumberjack and Generalissimo of the Ensemble arrangements, Mr Ray Butcher!! We suspect that the call of the wild was too much for him to take in (either that or the fact that he was recovering from his tree felling adventures with his new Chain saw!!)  Enfield , so the legend goes, once had a thriving forest but not any more!!.  I suspect it was the 'call of a pint' from his local that proved to be more irresistible...

And our 'Chair' was enjoying the fleshpots of Amsterdam under the careful supervision and control of the long suffering Therese. As there were no police news or international incidents reported from the Netherlands, we can assume that he was on his best behavior at all time. Well that's what he tells me...I will check with Therese for verification.

The evening ensemble  aerobics  started with a few simple pieces from Ray's collection of pieces which was a bit of a struggle. Both Steve and I have our strong points in other areas, but leading ensembles is probably not one of them.  Thank goodness, John Mann  finally  arrived to put us both (and everyone else) out of their misery with a return to Mr Levesque's rather jazzy ensemble piece Note Bene.

After a refreshments provided by Trevor Pike and Larisa Liebermann, we had a great round of solo performances.  They included

• L'Encouragement (Sor)  played by Vince Chittenden   and Larisa Lieberman
• Milonga (Pujol) played by Vince Chittenden
• 'Blow away the Morning Dew'(anon) sung and played by Trevor Pike
• Jesu Joy of Mans Desiring (Bach) played by Fred Carvallho
• 'Angie' (Davey Graham) played by Malcolm Lane
• Preludio Tristan (Pujol) and 'For my Father (Andy McKee) performed by Rob Sellery
• Preludes 1 and 5 (Villa Lobos) by Miles Roberts

We  then had another stab at Monsieur Levesque's piece but judging by John's expression (which says it all) , we still need a bit more practice before its inaugural BGS launch at the Federation Day.

See you all in May

Andrew