from Romford Road to the Wharfedale Festival

It rained and rained in London. I got lost as I got off the bus, entered the New Stratford Centre, finally managed to find an exit, for which there were no signs! I had entered the Brave New Shopping World, and there was no escape. [Could you only leave on production of a receipt, evidence of money spent?] In the rain I set off the wrong way. . . . [and one very wet hour later] . . .

I think that the stair carpet of Hotel X might once have featured on an investigative programme about infestations, but my room was clean and cheerful, and had a tele. I watched Morse till I dried off and fell asleep. Next morning featured the bare trees of Forest Gate as they rose before me and I headed for a daytime Stratford, King's Cross and back to Leeds.

That same weekend Cockburn High School became the latest Leeds school to own a set of steel pans when Rick collected their new tenor basses from Grafton. While the van was down there we had tuned a set of cello pans that had been languishing in the store at the West Park Centre.

And as Sparrows, Doves and East Steel have relocated to the West Park Centre, I can now put the cellos back to good use. They are too big for any school to house, but West Park was built when rooms were rooms.

One Thursday evening it's the wonderful Quarry Mount Yr 6  steel band playing their International Evening. Melting your hearts and eating them out!

With the untimely death of Davy Jones from the Monkees, I have been mostly teaching I'm A Believer, which I did with my ArtForms  colleagues on May's training day. Sixty massed musicians to teach. What a treat! Daisy had her final degree performance for which she needed a green wheelie bin. Here she is with her mates heading on down Moorland Avenue with said bin.

Then suddenly it's mid May and  the Wharfedale Festival. Ilkley Kings Hall is well-placed just opposite the railway station. Wanda brought her band from Cookridge Primary School, Natalie brought Seacroft Grange, Nat, Carrie-ann and I brought the Steel Siblings from City of Leeds, also the Silver Robins hastily reconvened themselves and reprised Land of the Silver Birch. Sparrows and Doves did their Music For Youth thing; then all bands togther played Price Tag; then we removed one ton of metal from the stage, repacked the van, bought chips and took photos of each other at the railway station. Doves entered non-competitively but accidentally won a cup! Hmmm! [And as you can see, our hoodies and t shirts have not yet arrived. That saga will get a post all to itself!]

Gamelan, Friday Picnic, workshop, Dancing on Ice, Allerton Grange Showcase, Anti-Acadamies Steering Committee Meeting

Oh my goodness, back to work and it's one thing after another! On Thursday Diane organised some gamelan training with Kate. Loved it. Converted. My new best instrument. Watch this space.

Friday, and Culture Vulture, Emma has these Friday picnics - this one's at the Corn Exchange. They give me a table; I take some songbooks and some pictures for display; I also have Maya. I re-meet Lizzie the Photographer, plant-sellers from Oakwood Farmers Market and Jane from Loving Leeds.

Monday: I'm in Skipton at Brooklands Special School with a pan workshop. Obviously no pic, but it was ace. Thank you, Rachel for finding me.

Wednesday: it's me and Gig in Sheffield for Dancing on Ice. I don't easily make heroes of living people. but I make an exception for Torvill and Dean. Also Nelson Mandela, but he's not on ice at Sheffield this week. Here's the audience at the Sheffield Arena to the right and below are the extraordinary Chris and Jane:

On Thursday it's the Allerton Grange showcase. Well, my pan-players are shaping up nicely, but nothing prepared me for Glassbody, their Yr11 rockband. I'm thinking, if I collected autographs I'd be collecting theirs now. Actually I do have autographs, two, in fact - Peter Perritt from the Only Ones in early eighties, and also same vintage, Feargal Sharkey from Bradfrd St George's, when he was an Undertone.

On Friday Diane and I unexpectedly find ourselves at York University for the gathering of the gamelans. And the debate is opening up between the culture, the perceived culture and those who would do what they want with it.

And Saturday it's the Anti-Academies-Alliance Steering Committee meeting in London. That story for the other blog. I also meet Grafton at the Crooked Billet in Clapton, and we discuss pentatonic steel pans, which he agrees to make for us at YAMSEN: SpeciallyMusic in Leeds. 

One night in Kirkby Stephen

Well Debs, second half of the Easter Hols, and I'm having that -it's-the-holiday-and-what-have-you-done-to-show-for-it  feeling. I helped Walt celebrate getting older down at the Brudenell; I got a new mobile from Sarah. It's a touch-screen one, which, at a touch, can take what you have just typed and re-arrange the letters to form meaningless and sometimes foreign words with strange Scandinavian accents. Well, Debs, it's me or the phone!

I decide to find something within my budget on the Settle to Carlisle railway and end up passing a refreshing two days in Kirky Stephen, investigating viaducts and wild flowers. And inadvertently going on massive walks. These pictures might bring back some Dales memories for you.

No gigs or rehearsals for a week, so here's picture of Foxwood and co at Leeds Carnival in times past. Charlotte's dancing, so it's probably Swan Lake!

Foxwood Steel and Foxwood Doves at Gateway Church Easter Sunday at Notre Dame

Well Debs, it's the last lap this Easter break, and when I'm getting the 20 to 11 train from Harrogate last night, I know, and so does Bex, Joe MC, Varshika, Amy and Sophie, that there will be no Sunday lie-in. It's the thought of tea and hot cross buns at 10.30 that keeps me going. And now it's Sunday morning and now we are joined by Vicky, Katie and Lizzie. Helen, from Gateway agrees to guest on one song, which was probably an ask too far,

she ends up standing/sitting there for all the sets.Sorry, Helen.
There's some pictures of Bex still on the walls of the hall at Notre Dame, from when she was at college here. Does this mean she was very important student, or that they don't change their displays very often?

We play all our top tunes. We have realised that, in the absence of yourself, Gig, Danielle and Charlotte, it's up to me and Bex to play most of the melodies, and sometimes on one of our owns. Eek. Lizzie and Varshika take a couple of numbers. It's Matt from Gateway Church who is responsible for our lack of lie-in, but who does take some nice pics of us. And the hot cross buns were plentiful and lovely.

Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows play Harrogate International Festival of Performing Arts, and Victoria and Daisy get a bit older

Now then Debs, it should be the Easter "break", but now we have the small matter of the Harrogate International Festival, and all my family's Easter birthdays. Did I say "small"!

Monday: Down the Brudenell Social first to raise a glass to me and Daisy. We were Cherie, Liz, Bex, Natalie, Gig, Danny, Katie and Vicky. And Rick!

: Lionel comes up from London toattend a conference which is actually on Wednesday next week. As you do.

A few Sparrows were able to gather at West Park to show Lionel how it's done in Leeds . [Lionel is band leader for Nostalgia, London marching band that finished my knees off a few years ago at Notting Hill Carnival]. Available Sparrows were Millie S, Ashley H, Evie, and leaders: me and Bex.

After that we took the cello pans and two sopranos down the steps to collect the day after; and I went to Daisy's to eat cake, Rick took Lionel to Beckett Park so he could cycle round where he studied his B Ed; I went to pick up my mother from the dentist, only by the time I found out where the dentist was, she'd taken a taxi home; I called on her . . . . .

I made Daisy a cake; took Lionel back to the station, and then back to Daisy's . . . well, it was a long day.

On Saturday Amy, Ashley and Evie got the one minute to at Leeds City; me, Bex, Varshika, Millie C, Millie S, Nyla, Nina, Maisie and Joe got the same train at Burley Park at two past the hour and then Sophie jumped on at Horsforth a few minutes after that. [I left my bag on the platform; Nyla picked it up and put it on the train - even before I had time to feel sick about leaving all the music, spare sticks and diary of everything. . and whatever.

We watched a German brass band in the square opposite the station in Harrogate: same square that we had played in two years ago, walked down to the Royal Hall, met Rick and the van, Fehmina appeared, loaded in, set up, had a cup of tea, [looked up to see the band looking in the cafe window] did a sound check, went for chips, did the show. Got moved from ending first half to starting second half. And thus got to see the band from China. Thus went from 8.40 train home to getting the 10.40. We said, if the other bands can come all the way from Canada and China, then we're sure we can manage a late train back to Leeds.

We were on form, on fire even; and the Chinese band was mesmerising.

Would have slept most of Sunday, but we were to play at Notre Dame for Gateway Church.

Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows BTEC Music Classes play for the Poetry Slam at City of Leeds School, and it's still my birthday

Well, it's still my birthday, and Jane's been giving me a hard time about celebrating it. She's waved a gift bag at me in a sort of cross between theatening and a promise. Okay, I have agreed to "do" the happy birthday thing at lunctime.

But worse, I am so hyper about how well we played, were received and danced to [no greater honour], at the Grand Opening at the Clarendon Wing that I decide to go home and bake buns for my colleagues. So now it's load the van, hand over all my strawberries to Maya, and go home to make 20 small buns. Obviously they are still hot when I jump into car and zoom [never above 30mph of

course] up to West Park, but I make it in time, ice them, and settle down to be serenaded by Diane, Jane, Aretha, Jo, Ray, Joanna, Helen, Rosie.
I just get to City of Leeds School in time to whip through Price Tag with Rukhea and co, which they had taught themselves it anyway without me, and collapse in small heap in Music Office.
. . . and onto the next gig, which luckily in just down the corridor in City's Drama studio. This time there's only five Sparrows: Ashley H, Georgia, Evie, Claudia and Antonio, and it's Antonio's first time being the drummer. After a rocky start we invite the BTEC Music class who seem to be most of the poets to join us, and agree on the tunes that they know in common.

As it happens this Year 11 class [from City of Leeds] presented their final BTEC performance, only two days before [and in the same studio]. I had been helping them with the steel pan tunes, but I hadn't expected all the rest! Such stage presence and confidence, and pieces thought through, and then they were there when we needed them. And, as in real life, loading up and packing away at the end of the gig.

And, bless us all. It translated into a real life gig! Yo. Organisers of the Slam at this venue were Liz and Cath, artists were Michelle, Stella and judges were Amanda, Becky and Rob.

The poetry was wonderful. And it was a wonderful vehicle for school students to tell us like it really is. As one of the comperes pointed out, how can our students learn with all this inside.

I have always believed that education should be about the individual student, about their needs their hopes and their fears. There's stuff that should be let out before any stuff is put in. In my opinion. Not just mine. And this poetry festival is perfect for that. Here's a pic of Stella and Michelle doing a turn themselves.

Foxwood Steel, Leeds Silver Doves and RJC Youth Dance Company at Clarendon Wing Grand Opening

I thought it was nice of the Countess/Duchess of Wessex to come up for my birthday. Yes, it's Wednesday 28 March. And we've worked out a rough version of Breakaway for Kathy's dancers to dance to.

When I say we, I mean, when I realised that Peter B from Crawsahw also played the organ in church, I thought he might be just the person. "I bet you've got a degree in Music, " I said. Actually most music teachers have. So I wasn't exactly taking a wild guess here. And he did. I gave him the CD, and while I was wobbling away with the BTEC pan class with Jar of Hearts or Oh When the Saints or whatever, he extracted the bones of the melody, the chord sequence and little brass riffs. "But", he said, "it seems speeded up," "Nope. That how fast we have to play it." OMG.

Katie got to the Clarendon Wing first. Actually, punctuality seems to run in this family [sister, Bex is always on time as well. Natalie is the other punctual band member but she's not the same family and she isn't actually playing today. Also you Debs, but you're not even in the UK]. Organiser Debra W has the store room keys where we find the pans and kit that Rick the driver and I brought here last night. [Although I don't actually do punctual I do do getting ready the day before]. We are set up and ready. Play some tunes. Kathy's troupe dances to some, in the end prefering Dead or Alive to Breakaway. Joe Mc and Tim just about manage the speed. Eek!

The Lord Mayor is here. He just can't keep away from us. He probably knows the chord sequence to We Nah Going Home by now. It being a hospital I try a little subtle Harry Potter theme, but it seems that everyone wants loud and Carnival, so after it's more or less soca all the way.

I am not a royalist, Debs, as you know, but Duchess Sophie, is great at what she does. Great with the kids, great speaking, looks the royal part. Today we are me, Daisy, Georgia [and Maya], Katie, Sophie, Varshika, Tim, Joe Mc, Nina and Maisie. Dancers are from RJC Youth Dance Company. And, after we have played and packed the van, there is a little buffet for us [all of us: organisers, dancers, band], which is just perfect. You can't beat hospitality like that. After the wonderful feeling of playing together with nine other great players, taking food together like this seals an event.
Maya befriends a small dog, and eats all my strawberries.