Foxwood Steel at Tennants Hall Middleton Leeds

"It's short notice, I know", said Tom, "but could you play our AGM next Friday".  Well, out of a possible fifty-odd players [well not really fifty-odd as this is a weekday workday] we got me, Natalie, Georgia, Tim, Gary and a possible Sheeks.


After Gary's boiler burst and Sheeks' night-shift came to an end this left the first four. I think we surprised ourselves with our awesomeness. Nice acoustics in Tennants Hall.



Noone seemed keen on writing a setlist; Natalie suggested I text Bex, but she declined to provide one [can't think why!].

Thus we skipped from one classic tune another, and the man clicking the tables away tried to click in time, none of which woke Patrick up.













Here some very similar pictures of the four of us. The deal of Tim and Natalie sharing kit and pans seemed to have been resolved by Natalie staying on the guitar pans. Well I said "You can decide between you who plays kit on what" and nothing changed. Yo!

Jackie won a trip to Necker Island

I briefly tried the tune!

When Jackie won this trip, she unaware of it, and of the imminent award ceremony that was about to befall her. In fact she had already gone home, and had to be recalled to work. Who knows what she was thinking!

Will was after a small steel band in a small room at Leeds City Station. He got me and Georgia. Rick agreed to have Patrick, but on the day the other two were off school ill, so he got three times what he was expecting!

Georgia and I decided to take a C soprano and the Boat [oversize single second]. We had a quick rehearsal on Sunday evening, and chose tunes with Caribbean titles and/or themes, namely My Uncle John from Jamaica, Coconut Airways [later hi-jacked to be Ibiza Airways], Jamaica Farewell and Brown in the Ring. After we ran a few for rehearsal the camera man asked us if we knew any songs to do with the West Indies. Hmmm. That good!

There's only so many pics you can take of a duo in small station backroom, so here is one of the station platform from the Waterfront from 2013.

Foxwood at Leeds Waterfront Festival

I did briefly try the tune, but, to G's amusement [not mine] nerves got the better of me.

Well, Jackie arrived, more or less in shock, turning to astonishment, at which point Georgia also realised where she and her other half were going. [And G knows a thing or two about expensive purchases]. Her colleagues donned garlands and raised their glasses. We all listened to her phoning the other half, in which belief and disbelief fought for control.

Marina getting down to detail

Me and her packed away the pans. She went back to three children, and I went to watch doing a Carnival costume workshop at Springbank. As you do.