Foxwood and East Steel at Otley Carnival

It's the third Saturday in June. It is Otley Carnival. We are Foxwood Steel and East Steel. And this is our umpteenth time playing it. It never disappoints.

This year East Steel is me [Victoria], Bex, Sophie, Vicky, Wanda, Wendy, Maddie, Lynn, Joyce, Jeanette, Anne, Pippa.

Foxwood Steel is  me [Victoria], Bex, Sophie, Vicky, Natalie, YiBai, Amy, Gig, Charlotte.

Guest Doves are George, Millie.

That's nineteen players, twenty-six, cut down ex-oil drums, twenty-six stands, four banners and two sets of bunting.
















I make three float diagrams, distributing the high and low sounds as enely as possible while retaining friends and families [Wendy-Jeanette and me-Georgia], and four setlists. I leave behind two setlists and two diagrams, but I chain my setlist to my handbag and never lose it. A first!

We play our usual Carnival tunes setlist, ruin Matilda/Soca Junkie, then make them all play/sight-read Rolling in the Deep, Fix You, and some other moving slow one.


Our driver was Daniel at first, then he wasn't allowed cos it was his first float drive and we got X who had driven us 3 years ago. Driving out onto the Leeds Road continues to be very scary. We hang on for dear life then burst into Boardwalk, or whatever.

Thanks as ever to Rhona and the crew for organising it all, and asking us over and over. Thanks to Kirsty T for the static shots.

turning into parade ground

cab backing up to float

Foxwood Steel play Manchester Carnival

Rick drove the van [with Bex], cars were me [plus Tim and Ashley], Lizzie [plus Gig, Katie and Vicky] and Alli [plus] Karen; on the train were Amy, Sophie, Varshika and Fehmina.And you, Debs, coming from Huddersfield. Plan A was for a small group of us to leave early, arrive early, set up in the perfect and agreed spot, then once the architecture is right, we know where the next-comers can slot in.  And hey! No need for Plan B.

By twelve noon we have two kits set up under the gazebo [preserving drummers from sunstroke] and the pans in a semi-circle from big bass to tenor bass.  Here is a picture of Sophie and Georgia doing impressions of each other while we are setting up.

Natalie has arm-in-sling and decided ["gutted"] against one-armed bass playing, so Tim is main drummer, with Varshika joining him towards the end.

I have a forty song setlish [setlist/wishlist] and we manage about thirty of these.  The sun comes up, the ground is dry; as the parade leaves and folks return to the arena they gather around sitting on the grass.

Damien [organiser] had got a little PA for us but there’s some problems with us using it. At first the sound systems on the stage and from the adjacent youth arena threaten to engulf us but they die away as we embark on three and a half  hours of our favourite tunes.  In memory of Robin and Whitney this year we have introduced Words and I Will Always Love You as well as reviving Tragedy.  In honour of the Jubilee we are trashing the once-lovely Diamonds are Forever by playing it calypso style, and in hour of the Olympics we [forget to] play Chariots of Fire. Hmmm.

In a twelve months that saw us chucked out of our home town carnival, had us overhear the comment in Huddersfield about who Carnival is for, and read That book by Geraldine Connor which stated that Leeds City Council should be ashamed to have no high quality steelband]; well, after such a disheartening year, Manchester Carnival is a wonderful, wonderful experience. I loved it; we loved it . . .

I was so excited that I decided to attempt to drive the van again on the motorway. Had a panic attack on massive bridge [over two canals and a river] on M60 and then had to drive Tim and Bex home the slow route, setting the Satnav to avoid motorways. Scenic and slow.  Very slow.



Here's a before and after shot of Amy - seen it, been it, got the t shirt. It's official. She's stuck with us for ever, or at least till she decides she is not.

For the record the bands today come from Foxwod Steel [Leeds community steelband], Leeds Silver Doves [older, more experienced and in most cases, better players[!] from city-wide high school, Leeds ArtForms Music Service band: Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows] and Steel Rising [from East Steel: Leeds ArtForms Music Centre steelband, these are long-serving members, who want to push the musical boundaries], plus guest Sparrow Ashley [who is conveniently over 16, plays nearly all the tunes and a bit of kit, and can nearly play all of the melody of Moves Like Jagger.  And you, Debs of course also play for South Steel [ex-students from South Leeds High School]. [So that's five steelbands that Leeds City Council can be proud of.]

In the past we have played on floats at this carnival, but there were serious riots last year in Manchester town centre. At first the police called the parade off, but the organisers argued that they should not be daunted; the police agreed; reinstated the parade, by which time, half the lorry drivers had committed themselves elsewhere [this is my understanding of events], and so we ended up in the arena. We loved it; so did many of the festival-goers; we decided to do it again. And we did.  

Foxwood Steel, Steel Rising, East Steel, Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows, Leeds Silver Doves at Lawnswood YMCA

I would like to thank the YMCA for inviting us [at rather short notice] to this event. Otherwise I would have started on the sherry at 3 pm saying goodbye to City of Leeds School, and then not been ready for this wild combination of as many players from as many of my bands as happened.


 Players from all the Foxwood stable of bands fall into three categories:
1. specialise in one pan
2. can play all pans
3. can also play drum-kit [the minority]

And you can get always get some 1s, you can always get at least two 2s, but those bloomimg 3s . . .Well . . . .

We had three hours. No Natalie, Tim, Joe, Varshika, or even Alan, so no proper drummer. Even so, Bex and Ashley were marvellous while they were there - Bex having to go early and Ashley being asleep till I texted him back to reality! But was Ashley's surprise lie-in a blessing in disguise? OMG, It's Bruce, ex-colleague and drummer: Bruce, who agreed to sit in for an hour in this baking heat, learning all our tunes as he went along. [And Bruce, if you're reading this, contact me.]

Hour One was Foxwood, Steel Rising and Doves: me [Victoria], you [Debs], Bex, Lizzie, Gig, Daisy, Vicky, Karen, Ruth, Amy, Sophie

Hour Two was East Steel, Sparrows [but Jack and Naomi were both ill, Ashley still zzzzz], and: me, Bex [for a bit], Vicky, Lizzie, Karen, Ruth, Judy, Anne, Lynn, Amy, Gig, Sophie

Hour Three was same as Hour Two plus Ashley.

Obviously we played YMCA [which is on the Sparrows' second CD] ; not obviously it didn't rain. A good all round gig,  let's pack away and get off to East End Park . . .

Foxwood and Foxwood Doves on tour of Leeds Primary Schools

Well, we had just agreed to do Cross Flatts when we find that normal emails being regarded as spam can wreak havoc with the old plans. So, it's St Barts as well, after all!

To ensure that I don't do Work work on my day off I agreed to mind Maya on Fridays while Georgia does a shift at the Malt Shovel. So, it's pans in the blue van, Maya in the car seat and we're off on tour. The best laid schemes o' mice and grandmothers - eh! Anyway she needs to get used to it. 

At Cross Flatts the kids are all eating on tables set up outside; we set up in the playground facing the tables, start playing and the kids then all run into the playground behind us. We are Varshika, Joe, Katie, Sophie, and Amy. Maya sits on a pan case.

Then the van comes back. We reload and set off for St Barts. Katie leaves us here, and Rick takes Maya back to Gig; Daisy, Lola and Vicky join us. At St Barts we play between the railings and the bouncy castle. I give Lola a little purple pan to use that I "borrowed" from a supplier at an education conference, in exchange for a formal evaluation. After that Joe and Varshika have an excellent fight over who gets to sit in the front. For a while it's a stand-off as I find they're both in it!

Sparrows and Doves at Music For Youth at Harrogate St Aidans School

Well Debs, I still have that cold that started when you were there at Tropical World Day One. I don't do off-work, but I did let Rick take the pans to St Aidan's on his own, while I reacquainted myself with sofa in the front room, and as usual, slept through the Archers.

We are playing this festival, the Music For Youth Regional just as Sparrows are moving their main practices from City of Leeds School to West Park; I have afore-mentioned multi-dimensional cold, and the flippin' Old Guard are getting older and now, even Amy is too old to be M4Y Sparrow. And Varshika is working 7am till 3pm in Leeds [and that means she is probably waking up at least two hours after she has started work. Can M and S tell that she is still asleep?]
This is our seventh year; got the mellow songs sorted way back in September; always knew they would be Your Song and Days, both classics; you, Debs, are usually our source of soca tunes but you're moving between Almondbury and Huddersfield while looking wistfully over the Atlantic; and none of previous tunes are inspiring me. In the end, Ashley says he knows Trinidad so init goes; then I added Moves Like Jagger. A two-chord wonder; the kids hated it, but they played it so well they fooled us all.

Stations: Carrie-ann met the first lot at Leeds City; the rest of us got on at Burley Park. Sparrows were the really old guard : Joe, Danielle, the nearly equally regular: Millie S, newish-comers: Ashley, Jenner, Evie, Nina, Maisie, Claudia, Millie C, Chloe, new-comers: Peter, Yash, Antonio, Nyla, Han. [Varshika was still at the shop tills in Leeds - we survived]. Staff were me, Bex, Joe [who thought that I had tricked him into getting to the station on time, by not revealing the actual train time!], Carrie-ann, Bart; parents were Trish, Wendy and Steve, Adele and Evie's mum; sisters were Jeanette; guests were Diane and her pal, Ruth.

Getting off at Hornbeam Park, walking down to Oatlands Whatever, tellin some kids off for not looking carefully as they cross over side roads, turn round to find Bart doing a wheelie in his wheelchair off the kerb on the side street. OMG! Just can't get the staff these days!

I asked Mark from St Aidan's to give Sparrows first, and Doves last slots. The penultimate band finished; there was a silence; we knew that even as the applause died away Vicky was collecting Varshika from Hornbeam Park. Then the doors open; Varshika runs through the hall and straight out the back doors to put her Doves top on. There's only three Doves proper this year: Joe, Varshika and Danielle; Ashley, Nina and Maisie guest for them; they do Morning, In the Hall of the Mountain King, and Sweet Soca. The judges think that Grieg "would have been thrilled". These are songs decades into the Foxwood repertoire, given a new airing. And Doves, new and old were ace. And did us justice.

Unity Panto

Dear Debs

So, you have your visa! I guess that means we will just have to have anothere goodbye drink. Oh well, if I must.

And here you are at the Unity Panto. Here's a picture you took from across the room, one from the first set,and a further one with you in.

This year Unity Panto is Gullible's Travels. Always meant to, only ever played/acted in one. Too much other stuff. So, the least I could do is a little pre-panto panning, and thank you to Sarah, yourself, [Foxwood], Amy, Varshika [Foxwood Doves], and Chloe and Millie C [Sparrows] and Sophie [Sparrows, Doves], we did a couple of 20 minute-slots.

We all sight-read tunes that we necessarily only play once a year. Plus Wavin Flag to give the Sparrows a fighting chance of already knowing something on this limitedness of pans. And then a day of rest before the undoubted madness that is Tropical World!

Festival of Britain 2011

Dear Debs, It seems that you are now heading for Carriacou by way of Abu Dhabi which is somewhere in the Near Middle East, as Science Advisor. I'm not sure what to say, so I think I'll say Massive Congratulations. The work you did at Merlyn Rees and South Leeds High Schools, staying there through all the troubles, inducting one new Science teacher after another; devastating one Ofsted after another with your wonderful successes, only to see an incompetent and corrupt private education company close South Leeds - oh Heavens, I've wondered into my wrong blog!

Anyway, I'd like to think that playing pans with Foxwood and South Leeds is what has given you the strength to keep going, especially when it must have seemed that brilliance was no match for money and power.

Well, I was trying to go through all my gigs chronologically, and I was just heading towards the 60th anniversary of TASPO [Trinidad All Percussion Steel Orchestra] playing the first Festival of Britain in 1951, which was about to feature the Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows and the Leeds Silver Doves when I discovered that the Leeds Carnival Committee had run out of money and couldn't afford the massed Foxwood Carnival Steelband.

Debs I wish I couldn't believe it, but I could. Sadly I could. I looked on the Leeds Carnival website to see who was on the committee. Who thought it was okay to dismiss the bands who were good enough for the Festival of Britain at the Southbank Centre [only 4 weeks earlier], who were good enough for the Royal Albert Hall [2 years previously], who were good for Huddersfield, Manchester, Otley, Featherstone, Brotherton Carnivals, invited to London and Birmingham.

When we were asked to play at the Festival of Britain, I felt the same glow that I had done in 1993 when I was asked for the first time to play on a float at Leeds Carnival. And, once you get over the nerves, there is nothing like playing your hometown. And, when we were asked to play in London, the particular slant was on how pans had got into schools and reached Britain's youth. So the Festival organisers asked the National Festival of Music For Youth to reccommend some bands, and they reccommended us from Leeds. And there was nothing like playing for your capital city, and representing your town, and representing it with students from the inner city of your town, including Hyde Park [that's in Leeds], Chapeltown, Harehills, Osmondthorpe, Beeston, Kirkstall, Holbeck, Middleton, Little London, Burley.

Debs, it doesn't get better than that.

Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows play at the Mariners and More Fund Raising for the Festival of Britain

Dear Debs

It's all go here. No sooner than we get the pans back into the Pan Room at City than it's round the back of the school with van, and loading up for the Mariners' Day Centre, Beeston. This is where band-member, Evie's mum works and it's a good few quid to help us down to London. The Lord Mayor calls, and Bruntcliffe School brings a lovely band and singers.

This is on Tuesday July 5th, which is a week day. The band now consists of maternity leaves, home educated and Year 11s just finished their exams. It was ever thus. And how is it, I hear you ask that we can all play along together from different bands?

Answer: Foxwood songsheets, sight-reading, and a number of tunes in common. It is not rocket science, and while "purists" wobble on about the aural tradition, my bands can play loads of tunes, at the drop of hat, at summer fairs, galas, local carnivals and festivals, and re-open any number of bandstands without going into rehearsal meltdown first.

Pictures to follow.

City of Leeds Summer Fair and the Great Run-up to the Festival of Britain

It is the first Saturday in July and Sparrows, Doves and Foxwood are all in action at the summer fair. John has brought the inflatables and the Smalls are eying up the rides. We are now fund-raising in ridiculous earnest. Ashley's dad, Richard, is the bun-sale king, and now he and Vicky have made £20 selling cakes.

In a rash, and very typical Victoria-esque moment last week I told Spring Bank Primary School that I would call up with some Sparrows and do a spot with my Year Sixes and with Sparrows. Luckily, Millie's mother, Trish, has a big car and big heart, and we bundled two cars' worth of players along to do this. Most of Year 6 scattered, but a few brave souls did stand up to be counted. Back to City where I found I had left Amy, who had been the first to offer to do this little gigette.

I don't have permission to show the primary school students so here's a pic of some Sparrows playing after. We didn't make any money at Spring Bank because I forgot to tell them we were fund-rasining. I might sack myself as a money-maker, but I'd have to get in there before Bex does.

Foxwood and Doves at the Great Pensions Strike Leeds

Dear Debs

We've barely unloaded from the Hop, when it's back in the van with our eight piece: triple basses, guitars, 2 seconds, double tenor, 2 sopranos, kit, and I'm now unloading in Leeds City Square. It's 30th June and it's the great UK Big Pensions Strike. And, not only has Leeds TUC put the steel band on its banner [facing the brass band] in our honour but now the NUT has asked us to play in the Square as people gather for the rally and speeches.

Honoured to play; honoured to be asked. I have been an NUT member for 31 years and they have helped me personally on more than one occasion, and they help in the fight against the injustices that have so sadly beset our city over those decades. They are someones to turn to when you feel that They are out to get you. And also now that we have free meals at the Sheesh Mahal if we help make the meetings quorate, even better. Well, I teach night classess on Thursdays so it is theoretically better. I get to the meeting then have to leave before the meal, and with that wonderful smell taunting me as I leave.

Of course, it is a strike for teachers and lecturers but Foxwood Steel Band is not all teachers. And not any lecturers. Luckily some student Doves are able to join. And so as 11.30 gets closer the band goes from a duo [Me and Gig] to a trio [and this is how Sarah spends her lunchbreak], to briefly an octet [well, Sarah has got to eat as well!].

We are on tele for an very excited 11 seconds [and this, Mig, I guess you could call an transfered epithet], and Gig has it recorded, so we can compete for who gets most air time! And it's Georgia, of course!