Sparrows and Junior Steel at Headingley Festival June 2017

A quick rehearsal first with North Steel at Allerton CE. They have a concert next week without me, so must run through their tunes.





Loading the car, see the car seat, go back for Maya. Lol.


Then over to Shire Oak School. It is busy!





Having threatened, the heavens never opened. Jane opined that people didn't go to the seaside for the day because of the forecast, then came to the Festival because it turned out nice. Nice!

Shire Oak djembe players balancing on a hill!

 Sparrows players were Ella, Bella, Isha, Karam, Maya, Niall with support from North Steel: Satinder, Julia, Luke.




Junior Steel was Arthur, Rosie, Elijah, Lily, Thomas, Noah, Isabel, Phoebe. Possibly [please correct me if anyone knows different!]

I thought I saw members of the audience sighing with relief that I didn't try to drag them on stage to play! Alun agreed to be cameraman with something that almost bordered on pleasure.

Maya and Niall bonded over the tambourines

Hyde Park Percussion at headingley Festival

It felt like it was cutting it fine, but actually it was a piece of cake. And that, with a cup of tea was my first thought when I arrived at Shire Oak Primary the day after the week before, that was Lille. The imminent triathlon was shutting roads so I took a trolley with the glocks, got a lift there and a bus back.


The first act was Avtar's Shire Oak drummers. Who thankfully agreed to be our rhythm section.

As.




The band was Ryan and me.

We persuaded Sting, Alun and Avtar's djembe group to play with us. Ryan played like he didn't understand the meaning of the word, pressure.





We did Drunken Sailor, Old MacDonald had a Farm [for which the audience gloriously agreed to moo, quack and baa], Lightly Row and Careless Love. Unbelievable! So proud.

I jumped on the bus home and changed the turquoise for red to be Foxwood at a wedding near Otley.

Four steelbands, two pan workshops and a guitar duet

Saturday 13 June 2015 and I have three gigs in three separate venues with four bands, a workshop [later turned into two!], and Jordan's first public performance on guitar. I have already taken pans, stands and chime bars to Shire Oak for the workshops, Little Pans Plus and Sparrows. And the basses and kit are at the back of the van ready for the evening.

 

 

 I have invited all Year 6 from 3 local schools to play as Little Pans Plus, but I do know that, without providing transport etc it is just too hard for ten year olds to move off their own patches. One year I did Kirkstall Festival with three children from Sacred Heart; one year, Unity with one girl from Quarry Mount. I wonder who will come to Headingley Festival?

 

 

Twelve noon. I bobbed into Shire Oak en route for NLMC, left the guitar and established a parking spot for the van. Met James from Springbank and his dad, caught his rehearsal, took a photo, and left.

 

 

Twelve Thirty. It is end of the year at North Leeds Music Centre and 1.we are having our second mini-gig and 2. I must collect all the pans and take them away.

 

 

 

 

 

My plan is that the weather forecast is wrong about it raining all day. It was. So we play in the courtyard - good for audience but also conveniently near to where the van is parked.

 

Well our lovely North Steelettes only had nine lessons [and two were mini-gigs!] and were amazing [and thanks especially to Wanda and Pippa for their support when I could and when I couldn't make the lessons]. We played twelve tunes. The players were Annie, Victoria, Isha, Kurum, Dan, Delaney, Nyal with support from Julie and Pippa. The audience was a proper clapometer. Loud when we played well, soft when it wasn't so good. [Thanks to Mark and team for collecting all the detritus that we left in our wake - bits of kit, trolleys etc.]

 

 

 

 

One Fifty-five. Got to Shire Oak School just before two o'clock, met Vicky, Ash and Julie. We set up ready for the first workshop. Jordan appeared. He and Ash went off to rehearse.

 

Various members of the public appeared, as did Eve and James from Springbank and Razan from Quarry Mount. Then we went for the world record of soft toys in single seconds for no reason at all.

 

 

Two thirty. We whip the pans to be used for the performances over to the stage tent.

 

Two forty. Jordan - grandson takes the stage for Apache and Eye of the Tiger. Ash "volunteered" to playing backing chords for him. I thought I have had to listen [and play along] to these tunes for so long now. . . Time someone else had to!

 

 

 

Two fifty. It's Little Steel Plus at which point Razan and I discover that we have left all the Aflats in my car. We are Eve, James on pans, me and Razan on chime bars [minus Aflat] with support from Yi Bai, Sophie [still wondering what she had let herself in for this time!*], Tim, Vicky, Georgia and Julie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Five. We get the tenor basses out of the back of the van, but forget the guitar pans, play with one set of bass, two sopranos, kit and three single seconds. Sparrows were Chloe [taking an A level revision break], Ash and Georgia supported by Yi Bai, Sophie, Vicky, Tim and me. Messed up a coupla tunes, had a laugh.

 

 

 

 

Three Forty. Well, just as we thought it was safe . . . . Lizzie, Daisy and Cherie appeared with Tau, Annie, Maeve and Lola. Time for Workshop Number Two. Did this picturesquely under the trees at the front of the school. Some more people turned up.

 

 

 

Four o'clock. We came to a halt at four and then Vicky decided to accept the challenge of packing an already disorderly van through the side door [I was backed up to the espaliers] while trying to keep workshop and gigging pans apart. I was beyond caring!

[Thanks to Jane Liz, Alun, Mike and their teams for it all.]

 

Four forty-five. At home Rick and I replaced workshop and NLMC pans with Foxwood ones.

 

Six o'clock.  Tim appeared and we all went to the Woodside where by now Jason seemed to have told the surprise to everyone except his bride! 

 

 

 

We sneaked a nine piece steel band in through the back doors of the big room, and played very loudly for nearly an hour! The wedding had a Disney theme. Fortunately Peter had written out Under the Sea. We were me, Bex, Georgia G1, Katie, Vicky, Charlotte, Yi Bai, Sophie and Tim. Foxcubs, looking cute curled up in the banner were James and Mikey. Rick appeared and took the pans away, and some of us settled down for a debrief. [Thanks to Jason and Catherine for letting us gate-crash their wedding.]

 

 Then just as I thought Katie was ordering a taxi she came back with another couple of pints!

 

Sunday didn't happen, and Monday Rick and I swapped the pans back over.

 

[* Sophie, it's another fine mess]

 

If you want to play steel pans, or invite a steelband to your event or a workshop, please contact us at foxwoodpanyard@outlook.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Foxwood East Sparrows play Headingley Festival.

So, it turns out that we didn't play Beeston, but, as Jane said "Beeston's loss was Headingly's gain". Not, I think if you listened too closely to our rendition of Clocks. We were all up for not just playing but opening with it, quite forgetting there was no one to play the harmonies, and I haven't played the tune on stage since 2000 and whatever! Not in this decade anyway.

 

 

It fell to Tim and Bart to be impressive drummers, something I usually have a go at drummers for! But needs must, and they plugged many a gap! By the third tune we were fine. We were Claudia [Sparrows], Wanda and Kirsty [East Steel], Tim [Foxwood], Vicky [Foxwood and East Steel], Bart [Foxwood, Sparrows] and myself [Foxwood, Sparrows, East Steel]. Well, we do have some common repertoire but really there's no point in having three bands with all the same tunes!

 

By the third song we were in recovery, and finished with an encore from the one lady at the front of the audience marquee.

 

Before that we did a workshop in the back playground next to John Davison's footballers. He had promised them that Wayne Rooney was dropping in at 3.45pm, and despite our doubts, thinking that Wayne was actually in Brazil losing us the World Cup again, the young ex-Everton player did in some form appear.

 

You may guess from my comment that I have issues with ex-Evertonians who desert to play for [or even manage] Man U! My great-grandparents had shares with Everton way back in yet another century, and the greatest sacrifice my grandfather ever made was not to attend the Cup Final the year his daughter was born. And, when John finished sellotaping Wayne to his head, it was all too realistic!