Midlands Meeting - December 8th 2002 at Dave & Jenny's

Dave Clifford

Apart from the Make & Play sessions held in Studley, this was the first Midlands meet for quite a few years. They just seem to have fizzled out for one reason or another, so we were a bit dubious as to what interest there would be. But in the end it was a very enjoyable day. We had 15 people in all, including John & Paul Crocker, who travelled up from Bristol, Nick Foggo & Denise Rudd from Cheltenham, Sally Whytehead, Ron & Mavis Parker, Suzanne & Hannah Weisskopf-Biggs, Rosemary Preece, Tony Napier, old Fred Woodley of course and it was nice to see one of the clubs' longest serving members, Len Kitching, whom we hadn't seen for many years. Jenny had prepared loads of fodder, including a big pot of chilli. She had made it the night before and after tasting it, when we were finally able to speak again, we decided it perhaps needed 'taming' down just a touch to avoid blowing everybody's head off, but it was fine on the day. Thanks to everybody for all the other 'goodies' that they brought with them. Quite a few people went home with 'doggy bags', but we managed to see off most of it!!

So suitably stuffed, we eventually got around to playing some music..........John, Paul and Rosemary disappeared upstairs to play some tunes on their mountain dulcimers......., (or at least that's what they told us!!) while the rest of us bashed out some of the regular tunes and learned a couple of new ones.

Those of you who attended Launde the last two years, will probably remember Hannah, who at 9 years old is, I think, the clubs' youngest member. She can already play several little tunes on the hammer dulcimer and recorder, but whilst at Launde she had taken a liking to the sound of the mountain ones, so unbeknownst to her, everybody's favourite 'uncle', John Crocker had made one for her which he brought up with him. She was over the moon and also rapidly disappeared up to the 'mountain' room. After only about an hour she was back down again to perform the 2, or 3 tunes she had just learned!!!! She's a talented young girl, never seems to stop smiling, and if you ever need any cakes cutting up, she's an expert!!!!! Actually, her and her mother Suzanne are a good example for some of you other parentey types out there......Get in touch with any of the club committee, find out where there are local meets happening and get your kids over there. Most of the club members are only too pleased to let them have a go on their instruments. We need more youngsters joining or we'll end up with the reputation of being a club just for old fuddy-duddies!!! I'm not too proud to sit there playing 'Three Blind Mice', 'Polly Put the Kettle On' etc. It's good fun to get back to basics and also gives you the opportunity to practise your improvisations and 'twiddley bits'. I think we also ended up playing every carol we knew, and some we didn't!!

All in all it was a good session. Hopefully we can keep them going again now, perhaps every 3-4 months to keep the interest on a high.

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Dave Clifford

 

Workshop Report - Last updated 10 December 2002