Those tour members who stayed at Penni’s house
in Blakeney, rose to a hearty breakfast courtesy of the lovely Kimberley. After
that we packed up and made our way to rendezvous with the rest at their guest
houses before embarking on the trip to Hannah’s at Seale Hayne.
Oh, that reminds me! I forgot to tell you about a slightly odd occurrence on arrival at the guest house yesterday. Just as we parked up and began unloading baggage I sneezed and was rather shocked to find my tissue covered n blood. My poor nose proceeded to pour what seemed like pints of the red stuff at an alarming rate, way too long for my liking. "Pinch your nose and keep it pinched for ten minutes" was the consensus from the tour Doctors and it duly dried up after, well, about ten minutes. Weird!
Okay, moving swiftly on. You could say that Caroline
Sharpe Singers are an eccentric bunch and just about anything can
happen, especially on an away trip. Well, motorway journeys can be pretty
tedious experiences at the best of times, so why not liven thing up a bit? Oh
dear! I’m not sure who suggested doing a flash-mob type impromptu performance
at Taunton Deane Services, but singers were surprisingly ‘up for it’ apart from
Anna who was like soooooo embarrassed! Vic recorded the truly delightful
performance of Almost Like Being In Love on her phone and onto Facebook it went! The
response of fellow restaurant users was varied – some enthusiastically watching
while others showing complete indifference! One guy was particularly keen to
know what prompted it and wished us well with our tour which was nice!Oh, that reminds me! I forgot to tell you about a slightly odd occurrence on arrival at the guest house yesterday. Just as we parked up and began unloading baggage I sneezed and was rather shocked to find my tissue covered n blood. My poor nose proceeded to pour what seemed like pints of the red stuff at an alarming rate, way too long for my liking. "Pinch your nose and keep it pinched for ten minutes" was the consensus from the tour Doctors and it duly dried up after, well, about ten minutes. Weird!
Today was the 'main event' and the purpose behind the whole trip, the World Rocks Against Dementia - WRAD 2017!
Now I’m not sure whether the satnav route to the
WRAD venue was quite what it ought to be, with the last little stretch proving
something of a challenge for Granville to negotiate. Thank the Lord we weren’t
all in a 50 -odd seater coach!
Anyway we had arrived in good time, which is more
than can be said of Norman H who was, how shall we say this ‘was delayed a
bit’? With our set start time of 3.20 pm rapidly approaching, I started to
run over Norman’s solo line for Do You
hear the People Sing in my head – just in case. He wouldn’t let us down,
would he?
Nah, course not. Shortly before 3 pm in he strolls.
Phew! T’was a relief to have the full thirty quid in that tenor section!
Strangely we had all been directed into a room away from everyone else so had
no idea what the concert hall was like or what to expect when we got in there.
Word came back from Chris Hill that everything would be obvious when we
got there including which mic I could use for FBG. Well I hoped so. We were
called forward by the somewhat over worked Kirsty-ann Johnstone who
seemed to have run over to get us and it was ‘green for go’! After a speech
from Mary Sherwood (4Dementiacarers) we were on! The whole event from
beginning to end was to be live streamed on Hannah’s Community Radio station so
there were a plethora of microphones set up on the stage, leaving not much room
for manoeuvre. Definitely no chance of ‘Freddie’ going on a wander this time!
The onstage sound man pointed out the microphone I was to use later and we were
off with I Will Sing With The Spirit.
Thankfully, Fat
Bottomed Girls was our third piece and I think I can say it went well.
Alright, it went bloody fantastically! After an agonising 10 days of at times
paralysing fear and anxiety, as soon as Chris Hill’s piano started all nerves
pretty much disappeared. I got the audience clapping a fair bit and it was over
in a flash. What I didn’t know until later was how
much the radio presenters enjoyed it! In fact they were very complimentary
about our whole set which was fabulous! I thought One seemed particularly good, but then we’ve won awards for that
previously, dontcha know? For once, us tenors got Blue Moon almost
right, which was something of a miracle. And well done to Norman with his solo.
High five!
I even made a decent stab at Tell Me It’s Not True, which I have struggled with up to then. And
the grand finale of Ibuleve, sorry, I
Believe was a suitably epic way to finish. We even took a proper bow as
well, or did I imagine that? Before we were allowed off stage Ruth was
presented with a certificate, recognising her as a Purple Angel Ambassador.
Bravo!
After that, the choir returned triumphantly to the 'Green Room'. I was feeling pretty euphoric and everyone else seemed quite chuffed too! For those of you who haven't heard it yet, here's a link to the live radio broadcast of the show:-
 |
| Ruth's certificate, confirming her appointment as an official Purple Angel Ambassador. |
After that, the choir returned triumphantly to the 'Green Room'. I was feeling pretty euphoric and everyone else seemed quite chuffed too! For those of you who haven't heard it yet, here's a link to the live radio broadcast of the show:-
Our bit can be found at about 86
minutes. It’s well worth a listen, especially for the presenter’s comments.
Enjoy! A 20 minute video excerpt can also be found at top right of this blog
Ruth and I returned to the hall to
meet the inspirational Norman MacNamara, better known as Norms!
 |
| Ruth with the inspirational Norman MacNamara, aka 'Norms'. |
Norms
was the founder of the Purple Angel Dementia awareness campaign. Despite being
diagnosed with early onset dementia at age 50, he has written books on the
subject and can be found on YouTube presenting numerous
campaign videos. And, he's a Bolton lad! He knew as soon as I started
singing FBG that I was from Bolton as well! You see, you can take the lad out
of Bolton, but you can't take the 'Bolton' out of the lad!
The
only thing I regret about the day was not having more time to enjoy some of the
other artistes performing at WRAD, but at least there's the radio broadcast
available to get a taste of what went on. As it was, we hopped back aboard
the bus and headed for The Palace Hotel. At least some of us did. One
person who shall remain anonymous (Michelle) tried to check in at the wrong
hotel. LOL! The Palace Hotel was just fabulous. It was like stepping back in
time to the 1970's! All it needed to make it complete would've been a
drugs bust by Gene Hunt! Sorry, but if you never watched 'Life on Mars'
you won't know what the hell I'm on about, but it was a uniquely atmospheric
hotel that me and Ruth just loved.
Well,
we were at the seaside which obviously means FISH 'n CHIPS! Well, the
'Award Winning' Hanbury's fish 'n chip restaurant, was full when we got there,
so we had to make do with another 'Award Winning' fish 'n chip restaurant a
mere stone's throw away. Rarely has fish & chips tasted so good. If
Hanbury's was any better than this place it must've been something else!
Bloomin' lovely!
And
that was just about that! A fabulous day was had by all I think.
Stay
tuned for Day Three and the breakfast. Oh, the BREAKFAST!!!!!
Cheers for now,
Alyn.
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