Lydia will be continuing to play in the Halle Youth Orchestra as well as the NCO so will have a very busy year ahead.

A real achievement and I hope you have a very busy and good flutey year!

The weather forecast looked grim but thankfully the weather wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I was thinking it might. I was quite tamely dressed compared to most of the women in the event today, I had my Race for Life T-Shirt and Hoody with black bottoms. No tutu, pink wig, wings, deely boppers or any other weird outfit. I am not a fan of the sign you pin on your back with the “I race for life for…..” I know some people may get some comfort from it, but although I have lost some family members and friends from cancer, it is just not for me. I don’t know why, it just makes me a bit uncomfortable.

I was taking part on my own this year, as my cousin who was supposed to be doing it with me, has broken two toes!!

Arrived at at the event venue and had cunningly missed the majority of the warm up! Eventually the race started and it was good, weird being on my own and harder than I thought, I hadn’t realised how much easier it is with someone else doing it along with you. It was about half way through I had really wished I had brought my ipod, a bit of We Are Scientists might have spurred me on a bit more.

The Race for Life is a great event and  so well organised and really fun. I cannot thank everyone who has sponsored me I was hoping to raise £150, but have raised £175 so far with some people promising me some more money!

Cancer Research UK is a fantastic charity and I hope that the event made their fundraising target of £127436.

Click here to see the article on the Huddersfield Examiner’s website.

As I work in York on a Friday, it was just too convenient not to go.

I have not seen Deacon Blue play live for years and by years, I mean probably close to 20+ years or so. I loved this band and listen to their albums fairly regularly still. (All cassette’s now replaced by CD copies!) I felt this gig would either bring back fantastic memories from my youth or completely shatter them! No middle ground.

We arrived at the Opera House ( a typical old theatre) and had a drink in the bar. It was a nice surprise to be in the younger demographic at a gig, as at most gigs we usually feel quite old!

So we take our seats! Again, a weird experience as we always stand at gigs. Then a keyboard player and guitarist come onto the stage and then 5 girls dressed in white. The support band! They were called “Angels in White” (Nope, I’d never heard of them either!) they were a 5 piece vocal harmony type of group. In fairness to the girls, they could sing but that kind of music does nothing for me. I find it all a bit dated and sorry to say a bit cheesy, but good luck to them.

Then it was the interval, there was ice cream sellers! Another bizarre gig experience. Beer and ice cream just do not go together.

Well the lights go out and Deacon Blue came out. I wanted to stand up yet everyone else sat down!! The set was amazing and soon the crowd got into it and were up on their feet clapping, cheering and singing along loudly. they played all the old favourites “Dignity, Chocolate Girl, Raintown, Real Gone Kid, When Will You and When Will You and I was not disappointed at all, Ricky Ross’s vocals were still as good as I remembered and Lorraine McIntosh was as superb as ever and looked exactly the same age as when I saw her last all those years ago. I was also impressed that she still wore “nightie” style dresses and Doc Marten boots! I knew I wasn’t too old to be wearing Doc boots still!!

When the band played slower songs, the audience sat down! Maybe at their age they needed to rest their weary legs or something.

All too soon the set was over and they went, but came back to do an “encore”. The crowd were going mad and the encore included really good singing in “I’ll Never fall in Love Again” and the last song was “Fergus Sings the Blues”. It was fantastic!

It was the weirdest gig experience I have ever had but it was one of the best gigs I have ever been to. I am a big supporter of Keeping Music Live and that was one of the best live gigs I have ever been to. Great songs, great musicians, great atmosphere and absolutely great singing!

I will be keeping an eye out to see them again, if you get the chance, go and relive your youth. You will have a fantastic night.

Deacon Blue – Dignity

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Nikki xxxxx

Entry to the Orchestra is by audition only, including the performance of some very difficult orchestral excerpts. This will be a real experience for her being coached by the Wind Players of Northern Sinfonia (based at The Sage, Gateshead) There are weekend rehearsals and residential courses, which will be hard work but very rewarding and fun.

Imogen has worked SO hard and is well deserving of all her success, it has been a great year for he,r including being awarded the Music Scholarship at Huddersfield Grammar School and many wins at The Mrs Sunderland Festival and The Festival of Music, Speech and Drama at Huddersfield Grammar School.

WELL DONE Imogen, I am so pleased and so proud of you!!

We will be arranging the day for sometime in the first half of the new academic year.

All the details to follow soon and we look forward to seeing you there.

T in the Park is a fabulous festival and has an amazing line up this year including Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Chase and Status, Pulp, The Strokes, Beyonce, Jessie J, Beady Eye, Manic Street Preachers etcetc.

I only want to cover what I have spent not rip people off so am willing to sell the tickets for what I paid.

The festival is at Balado Airfield, Kinross, Scotland 8th July – 11th July 2011.

If you are interested, please get in touch

Nikkk

Everyone really did themselves and me proud and should really pleased with their performances.

Congratulations to everyone who achieved a place and to Lydia and Sophie who did really well in their first competition.

There are still a few places left for any flute player who wants to join us for a day of music making.

We are having the event at Huddersfield Grammar School and will run from 10am through to 4pm. There will be a massed ensemble and opportunities to play on bass and alto flutes, as well as smaller ensembles and the “infamous” scale competition with a very generous cash prize.

The day will finish with a short concert at about 330pm.

For more details please have a look at the AIRE website