Otley: A Right Proper Carnival

Dear Debs

Taking a break from gigging, I headed south to the big Anti-Acadmies Alliance conference in London last weekend. Of course, pans must go on, every summer weekend, and so Natalie and Carrie-ann held the fort, taking the Silver Robins from City of Leeds school to play for Little London Community Day, while Mrs Durkin and Miss Holt looked after our gorgeous Little London year 5 Percussion group.

But suddenly it's the 3rd weekend in June, and now it's Otley Carnival. Like Brotherton and Byram, it's a proper, old-fashioned carnival with floats and proper fancy dress, troupes and marching bands. Foxwood, East Steel, Doves and you and Caroline from South Steel. And, then a dancing troupe from Leeds Museums, with West Indian style costumes, as you can see below, and some well-practised dancing.

Two things fell off the float after we hasd stopped; one had a happy ending; one not so.

One: Taking her phone out of her pocket, Natalie watched in dismay as her ring of white gold and with sentimental bounced behind a banner and out onto the ground below. Happy ending; it was mostly gravel and such grass as there was was short. I found it.

Two: Karen from East Steel/Steel Rising was not so lucky: getting off the float, and sad ending: she knocked her elbow on the lorry, and finished her day at the first aid tent. Now, with her arm in a sling she needs to be practising one-handed, methinks!

Dear Debs Now It's Shipley

Dear Debs,

This letter to Carriacou often finds you closer to home. In fact you and I have just spent two nights in a field near Shipley. I did take some photos, but I lost the camera the following evening, so those pictures of the triple canal locks will just have to remain in our memories.


Before setting up my own tent, I spent some time looking at the setting sun, trying to face north, work out east and west, thinking left and right and then I set up the tent entrance so it would get the sun all day. Sadly I forgot the sun was nearly overhead, and I decided to be near a tree for cosiness, and also got shade.


And the moral is that you don't have to have to go miles away from home i.e. Leeds in order to get away from it all. And actually, being near to home meant that when I drained my car battery with the camping light, it wasn't too far the following evening for Diane to come over with the jump leads that she bought en route.

But I did think Debs, that you were spoiling the fun a bit by reading the instructions. I always just used to touch the different terminals with the different leads until they didn't spark too much. Used to work to work for me, and the nervous-looking donor drivers.

I came back to Leeds on Thursday and that night my neighbour and friend, Deborah died in a house fire. This was a very sad event, and not really appropriate, Debs for me to talk about in this blog to you. However, it happened. So it must be known.

At the weekend, on Saturday East Steel played for Judy's big birthday. Players were Karen, Ali, Judy, Joyce, Adele, Cathy, Vicky with guests, Bella and Rameice and me, Bex and Nat. No camera, no photos as yet for Judy's do

On Sunday, Foxwood Steel and the Leeds Silver Doves played for the Big Lunch for Valley Court on Cardigan Road. We debuted our new Events Tent. We were Georgia, me, Bex, Natalie, Amy, Joe M and Varshika, with guest, Jo from ArtForms. Children were Jordan, James, Michael and Maya, and here is Michael posing on the banner. The event was organised by David and Sandra from Valley Court, and it did indeed bring the community together is the bestest ever big garden.

Trophies and Rakes

Last Saturday, that is eight days ago, I trod on a rake in my back room; on Sunday the new marquee that was supposed to protecting East Steel from the elements. took off during the second verse of Buffalo Soldier at Middleton Park.





Sadly I have no photographic record of this disaster, only a nice picture of us all playing later, when, as it transpired, it did not rain at all. I do have a good pic of my eye one week later. I found that the bruise was the same colour as my present eye shadow, so I just exagerated the the other eye to make it match. What does this say about make-up. Should I be writing to Number Something or Other suggesting a new colour: bruise brown?

Me and the bands have been gigging around Leeds for nearly three decades now. And it has been a nice place. Life doesn't need to be about winning or being the best, getting awards or whatever. I have always liked the socialist/communist thingy - ie you get what you need , and you do what you can. But then sometimes you need a thank you. An acknowledgement.

Thirteen years ago I got a trophy for putting on the Combined Leeds Steelband on a float at Leeds Carnival. That was nice. And I was a bit disappointed not to get some more.

About eight years ago, the Wharfedale Festival asked me to bring some steelbands. They offered competitive silver-ware; I wouldn't play ball. I took the Sparrows, the Doves, Saint Steel [from St Lukes, Bradford]; I took my baby Silver Robins from City of Leeds School.

This year I entered us all competitively - Doves, Sparrows, Robins and the glorious newcomers: Cookridge Steel Band. The Doves won a trophy, a silver cup. Of course the Doves deserved it. but I think the cup was really a present from an exasperated Wharfedale festival committee. for the years of turning up in Ilkley with a vanful of pans, and a trainful of players.

And , do you know, I really, really appreciate it. So thank you Wharfedale Festival, Liz, Blanche and the crew for wearing down my defences.

From the Yorkshire Air Ambulance to the Scottish Fire Brigade

Well, these holidays have been great. I don't know how else I would have caught up with the paperwork. But I did fancy a bit of time out of Leeds, and as I am gearing up to checking out Fingal's Cave with Ann in the May half term, Glasgow seemed like a good idea. Morgan agreed to come with me, and just as I was booking hotels and trains on line, ex-pupil: Andy Lofty contacted the Foxwood website to see if we would like to play a benefit for the Air Ambulance at Leeds Bus Station on Thursday.

And here's a combination to die for: Foxwood ex-student, good cause, busy thoroughfare. I booked our tickets for the 1.05 to Glasgow, found a hostel just out of the city centre, contacted Foxwood and Doves and two days later, there we were: me, Mig, Gig, Varshika, Amy, Bex and Charlotte. The man in the picture wasn't all that keen by the looks! Or was he just on his phone?
Striking up a conversation with Dougie on the Edinburgh to Glasgow train, we: me and Morgan allowed ourselves to take a lift with him, to our lodgings on the Firhill Road. A modern block of student accomodation overlooking the Partick Thistle stadium. Dougie called it Partick Thistle Nil. I think we understood what he was saying.

We walked along the canal into town, and there, even as the town cente began was the Wee Curry House. We squashed in and tucked in. Later we found it was in the Rough Guide to . .

The city hostelries didn't take our fancy. We had a bit of a laugh in the Open Mike Bar, but en route for Byers Road [as recommended by Carrie-ann] we bumped into a Thursday night acoustic session in the Islay for a group of older generation folk musicians playing guitars, violin, boran, pipe, mandolin. So we just stayed. And then after a magical hour and a couple of pints, the dynamics changed as different musicians joined the session. And the Old Guy leader packed away his guitar after a couple of tunes with the newcomers, and left. We thanked him, and left ourselves.

Next day we did art galleries: Hunterian and Kelvingrove, and saw many a famous painter's work. Here's me checking out Dali's Christ in a discreet tourist in front of a famous painting kind of a way. Later that evening massive pub crawl - probably burnt off the alcohol striding from pub to pub. Which was probably just as well, because our short Scottish break ended with with not one, but two fire alarms in the middle of the night, but noone admitting to having a cig in in Block Whatever 4a.

Grabbing my coat, my keys and my camera . . . [I think we knew it wasn't a fire] here's a blurry picture of bleary people.

Life and Death and Steelbands

Now then Debs

Sorry you missed Oakwood Farmers Market March 19, first Foxwood gig of the year. It was ace and the weather was too. Last year, same event we were under canvas, well nearly under canvas, trying to smile away the notes as they flattened themselves in the rain.

Whatever, Debs, that was two weeks ago; since then I've been through a bit of life and death. On Wednesday I was on show at the Hospital School Open Day with my little Year 11 rock band, then, in the evening at a lecture at Leeds Met. Here I bumped in someone from my old Foxwood School days, and in comparing people we had known I found out that one of my favourite ever colleagues had died. A bit late, but a bit in shock and a bit like newly bereaved.

On Tuesday my foster daughter gave birth to her third child [and third daughter]; but they all live in Singapore so that made me a bit happy and sad all at the same time. Even if I didn't have my flying phobia, I couldn't even afford the plane fare to visit her.

Going back to Monday I "celebrated" my birthday with a two-hour governors' meeting at my high school.

On Thursday I attended a planning meeting at the Council Chambers, Civic Hall, in an attempt to dissuade the council from allowing yet another landlord to build yet another student block sat the end of my street. Then I wrote a letter which made it into the YEP [Yorkshire Evening Post] a few days later. I mostly moved steel pans around Leeds on Friday. And of course I was at work all of these days as well.

Looking back to Saturday the 26th March, Natalie [Marks] and I took our eighteen of our Silver Sparrows to the Music For Youth regional festival event at St Aidan's School Harrogate. Host teacher, Mark Pallant always makes us feel welcome at his school. The adjudicators thought Buffalo Soldier had "an enticing laid-back reggae groove" and Lay All Your Love "had authentic caribbean feel". We also took Doves and Hyde Park Primary Percussion.

As the day cooled down to a crisp dry evening we waited, full of the joys of, Well we did our best, when a crackly little speaker on the Hornbeam Park platform announced that our train was cancelled. Forty minutes later we boarded at last; this included baby Maya, and were on our way back to Leeds.

East Steel doing Christmas in the New Year

Now then Debs, is this a letter to Carriacou or to Huddersfield?

Who knows? All I do know is that this is still a letter from Hyde Park Leeds where education campaigning is still vying with steel pan teaching for pride of place in my life! Thankfully Foxwood band member, Bex, now has a proper job as a pan teacher [besides her real proper job, that is], so I can go to governors' and union meetings without letting my music centre classes down.

Picture left: Anne and Lynn tying up the banner, and making sure it's straight.

Picture below: Alli and Bex bringing the pans down from the pan store.

In January YAMSEN:SpeciallyMusic reran the Town Hall Christmas Concert. Here all the Art competition prize-winners collected their trophies, and Mavis made the people who had come to watch, now in the familiar surroundings of the wonderful West Park Centre, do a bit of audience participation with the Seven Days of Christmas. I loved the cavalier way she cut this song down from twelve to seven. It was ace. Below: Set up and waiting to play:

We, at East Steel were a bit surprised to find that we were not just a couple of guest spots, but also, at times, it seemed, part of the resident band. What a hoot. We battered our way through carol after carol, and several things less Yuletide seasonal. In fact when the Lord Mator got up to make his speech I asked him what key he would make it in, so we were ready.

This is the gig when we introduced Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man to our repertoire. Below: East Steel playing at last.

Players for this concert were myself, Bex and Natalie as leader-players [running between cellos, bass and soprano, Nat on kit]. Karen, Alli on soprano pans, Ruth, Lynn, Cathy, Joyce on single seconds, Karen also on cellos, and Judy on single guitar. Sue. Diane, Irene, Gail, Mavis and all the rest of the YAMSEN:SpeciallyMusic committee organised the event, and resident wind band included Joanna and Kate. And it all took place in YAMSEN:SpeciallyMusic's home building, the wonderful, versatile and unassuming West Park Centre, which also puts a roof over the heads of the Travellers Education Unit, the National Union of Teachers Office, the Irish Art Group and of course, Leeds ArtForms and most of its wonderful central youth bands. And rents out rooms for a whole load more.

Tropical World, Beetroot and Brie

Dear Debs, I’m in trouble for breaking into the Christmas Brie! It went so nicely with the beetroot from the Organic Man that I had been boiling up all day [beetroot not man that is]. Nobody else in the house likes beetroot, organic or not, so the lingering smell of saucepan full of soil and in seemingly imminent danger of burning dry, plus the incident with the Christmas Brie, well it’s the doghouse for me.

I’ve been on tour in Tropical World, Roundhay Park, Leeds, hanging out with the meerkats and the crocodiles, as, of course, you were, Debs. It wasn’t Carriacou, but it was warmer on our little patch of sand inside the tropical house than it was out there on Street Lane.

We, Foxwood Steel Bandits, had a run of five evenings, from Saturday 18th December to Wednesday 22 December. As this was our third year running, and as each evening ran from 5 till 8pm, I was trying to vary things, if only only for the Tropical World staff! By way of a change I invited some other bands to do guest spots. Plus we tried to vary the non-Christmassy stuff, even arranging Telstar for one of the staff, who had asked me if it could be done on pans when we were here 8 or so years ago.

First off on Monday evening was South Steel, ex-pupils from Merlyn Rees and from South Leeds Schools, leader: Charlotte Emery. [Charlotte does all the illustrstions for my songbooks]. They were Charlotte [herself], Debs [yourself], Andy, Caroline, Neil, Sarah, Holly and Kerry.

On Tuesday, advanced music centre steel band, Steel Rising, trod the beach boards. These are four people who have been playing in main music centre band, East Steel, for a decade or so now. Three of them [Alli, Karen, Ruth] started off at East Leeds Music centre [hence the name] and one [Vicky] began at West Leeds Music Centre. These were hosted at Parklands High School and at Pudsey Grangefield Schools, respectively. Now West Leeds Music Centre operates as a satellite at City of Leeds School [Thursday evenings, beginners welcome if you're interested].

Alli, Karen and Ruth work in the health service, and in education; Vicky is a teacher, who is just adding steel pans to her list of subjects taught!

Wednesday, it was six of my newer Silver Sparrows.

This was Claudia, Jenner, Kurt, Millie, Maisie and Nina, coming from Allerton Grange School, City of Leeds School, Abbey Grange School and home schooling. They were taking on pans they'd not seen before and were sight-reading songs we, for obvious reasons, only play for two weeks in the year. This little group had previously done a couple of similar concerts in Little London, so they are getting used to being thrown in the deep end.

One visitor patted me on the arm and said well done for all the good work. Another was overheard asking his companion if some of us were beginners. Well there were indeed some dodgy notes as we tried to extend our repertoire beyond its normal boundaries.

Whatever. Seasonal Greetings to you all.