Foxwood Steel plays the Weekend of Wonderful Things at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

We were on the tele last night playing a snatch from Buffalo Soldier [thankfully without the sound!], and now [July 15] we are off with the full band, which really is a much more satisfying sound.

We are me, Bex, Georgia, Natalie, Sophie, Katie, Vicky, Bart, Fehmina.





We were also alternating our sets with tamboo bamboo workshops from Chris from Bamboo Tamboo fame [see his website for details on this wonderful instrument, brought by him to wonderful life in the UK, and is as light as the pans are heavy!]

Katie and Bex showing they can still cut it with the athletics

There were other acts on all round the park, and we are back where Chris and I first tried a bamboo tamboo workshop, and where Tim and I got filmed and snapped.









Three Trinidadian artforms in one place: Zak Ove's statues, steelpans and tamboo bamboo. So very appropriate, and really very satisfying. Georgia came back form the café saying me and Tim had just been on Calender, when I looked later, yes, endless Buffalo Soldier - aloud!

 

Mini-Foxwood previsit Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and play at Harehills Lane Nursing Home

It was our [mine and Diane's] book launch on Wednesday, and I guess Tim was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. From my point of view, he was in right place and absolutely right time.






For a start-off Emma has just asked if we could play the Old Folks Home, and for a second-off, Damon has just asked if Foxwood could do a press call for tele and the papers - for our gig celebrating the Weekend of Wonderful Things, including Trinidadian Zak Ove's statues.

In short, no one else was free, and Tim said yes to the challenge. What a hoot!



So it's a Friday in the school term-time, and only free-lancers and part-timers are free. This is where the unsuspecting Tim comes in. And I am so glad that he did. It was all a blast.

 


On the way to the Sculpture Park Tim asks "Will we be being filmed?".




Well, it was early!

At the park we meet Damon, have a cup of tea [of course] and head on down to X's statues. I have my trusty trolley with me, and we have two pans and a few of my lovely brand new tamboo bamboos [thanks, Chris]. Then we met the rabbits. Here's one.

We got filmed and photographed by the Yorkshire Evening Post, Look North and Radio Aire. It was a lovely fresh summer morning.

Then it was up to Stanningley to teach, then over to Harehills for our little gig. There we met Lamin playing a djembe, so our duo became a trio. And there wouldn't have been room for more. We played for an hour then zoomed over to see Natalie's bands, who were playing an event at City. of Leeds.

Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows and a workshop at Bramham Park Scouts Big Event

It was meant to be Huddersfield Carnival but that didn't happen, so Plan B just blossomed into action and here we are, thanks to Jon's persistance, at Bramham Park, and it is just the most welcoming, professional wonderful event ever.

We were leaders: me and Bex, plus Ella, Karam, Alice, Owen, Claudia, Kirsten, Isha, with guest drummer, Bart.

To say this was a big event would be an understatement. This park is big. I called the day before and dropped off most of the pans, and then on a warm summer evening parents, Amanda, Julia, Owen's dad, and Mick brought their pan-playing offspring to the park, and settled on the grassy bank.

Meanwhile [unknown to me at least] Andy and the crew from this magnificent stage were setting up a huge screen  to one side of us. And in the audience, as it turned were lots of my school-pupils plus Ben, and Ella's brother.

Finishing at 8 ish we left the pans stacked in the adjoining marquee, and the following morning I returned on my own to do a morning of drop-in workshops [I should have brought a tent!]. Here I re-met Natalie's ex-student from Abbey Grange.

Tyler was a tower of strength and stayed with me all morning as the groups rolled in and rolled out. And the stewards could not have been more helpful helping me move, set up and load the van

 

Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows at The Cooperative's Awards Evening

The Bridge, a venue space built on the site of the former Agnes Stewart School,

is the just the best space that I have seen in a while. Parking and loading in was a breeze. The hall was uncomplicated and unpretentious. Users could make of it what they wanted.

And it here that the Cooperative Academy is holding its Awards Evening. The Coop pannistes have already agreed to play for the event, but with the addition of the other Sparrows, Ronita and Ellie are reunited with them and are thus to play all the top tunes: Hold My hand, Symphony 40, Wings of a Dove, plus a couple more

The beginners play Wavin Flag. Natalie drummed. Bex and I played as well. Even Satinder [a Sparrows parent and member of North Steel] jumped in and sight-read a tune or two. Other Sparrows were Isha, Karam and Ella.

Sharleen has unswervingly supported the reintroduction of steel pans to her school. And here she put them, metaphorically again, centre-stage.

me and Nadia

Always good to see Nadia, good friend to me and mine from City days.

Foxwood Steel at Rothwell and North Steel at Gledhow July 2017

It's a tale of two bands at two primary school gigs ten miles apart.

First is Rothwell, and we need to borrow a van from John; secondly we need Vicky to drive it.

tea ladies

We are me, Natalie, Charlotte, Gary Danielle, YiBai, Vicky, later joined by Wanda after she had played her first of three gigs [at her own school [Oulton]].





And we were brought tea before we had even started! Doesn't get more welcoming than that!

The Spoils of Tombola

Lottie and Natnat discovered the tombola early on. I swear they were getting tipsy with anticipation of imbibing their spoils. I could have still been able to drive with what I won!





We finish our sets at quarter to three; Gledhow starts at half past. Leaving the others to pack away, and taking my soprano pan and single guitar with us, Wanda and I make a break for it, and just slide into Gledhow in time. Jackie, who had agreed to count to four if needed sighed a sigh of relief and I counted to four several times

I bought a cake to go with the beer and wine from Rothwell. We were Luke, Ella, Julia, Wanda and me, and small as we were inside that hall, we tinkled beautifully. Plus I got to see Luke's beautiful new chromed single second that he got from Grafton.

Rest of the Best play Springwell June 2017

We started this tour in March but didn't have the full complement for the Thursday, so now in June is that Thursday.

The Rest of the Best is a band as important for the benefits it offers its players as the pleasure and education that it offers its audiences. We formed in the educational year 1996 to 7, in Diane's and my first year working for the Leeds Music Service, and have varied in size from 5 to maybe 15 [now 15 was a bit of a luxury!].

Our raison d'etre is documented in earlier blogs.

On this particular Thursday at the end of June [always one of a music teacher's busiest months!] we were on the small side. Bart the drummer was teaching till 9.10, and then again at 11. He just had time to do our 9.30 gig at the first Springwell site. He found the venue, parked his car in the carpark, parked his wheelchair outside the school front door, and sprinted down on his crutches from door to concert area, no time to consider that the clutch on the hihat was in fact a piece of blutak! Miracle worker!




We were today Bart kit], me [steelpans, bass guitar, vocals, kit], Diane [keyboards, accordion, ocarina, recorder] Julia [flute, piccolo], Joanna [saxophone, clarinet, kit, vocals, well anything really] and Cathy [saxophone, guitar, vocals]

persuaded a staff member up to dance

Maggie had brought her trumpet. Now that was a very nice surprise. We always love it when the school music teacher can join us for a tune or two on the "stage". And Maggie played a quality trumpet! Sadly we couldn't persuade to join us for the next school. Here I played drum kit really badly, not deliberately, but my skills in this area have declined rather than improved. But here we did discover that Joanna could most certainly cut it on a kit!


Obviously, for reasons of child protection,  we can't show you our audiences at these two schools, and for all you know we may have playing to ourselves. In fact  . . . . . .