Golden Triangle tour

Marshchapel, Lincolnshire, Ilkley, Yorkshire and Bucharest, Romania... yes we have trod the same well-travelled path as others before us:- such a natural triumvirate.

Three very different evenings...
Firstly in the Cathedral of the Marshes in Marshchapel... a beautiful church in which to sing and a delightful crowd of jolly, happy people to be entertained... joys... Thank you, to Paul and his charming wife, Ros for looking after us so well... (marvellous cottage pie)...
An excellent Festival run by keen and conscientious people.
Thank you to Voces8 for suggesting us and giving our concert a plug!

Then back to the Ilkley Playhouse, Yorkshire... where we were last June; wonderful to be back, but of course, sad to be reminded of the sad early death of my old friend, Walter Swan, who invited us for these two shows...
...but after that sting of a reminder, the show did indeed go on, and we had a very fine time with a keen Yorkshire crowd, only a few of whom were old friends from London!
They even were happy with our rendition of a song by local hero, Jake Thackray:- Sister Josephine.
Thank you to Joy for looking after us too...with her lovely family.

Then, naturally, on to the capital of Romania to help celebrate 20 years of BMW in the country:- Automobile Bavaria.  A splendid celebration with many car people and local celebrities...
They tried to join in with the Lambeth Walk and understood our Romanian - hooray...

Then there was the unveiling (for Romania) of the new BMW i8 (an electronic car - sorry, Jeremy!)...

Excellent to see Romania for the third time this year... in glorious late summer sunshine.

Hooray.

Preparations for Kate Dimbleby CD launch on Sunday evening and then Canada... terrific!

Radio Days & Walter Swan

Looking forward to being on the Radio over the next few days...

Tomorrow (Friday PM) we are on BBC Radio 3's In Tune - the show runs from 4.30 till 6; we are joined by the splendid Malcolm Martineau, as we share some of our new album together - Songs of Love and War... four or five songs and chat - can't wait!

Then on Sunday afternoon we are on the Gaby Roslin show on BBC Radio London  -  where we will publicise our imminent shows at the Crazy Coqs - 29th & 30th April & 1st May...

Can't promise we'll keep the red flag flying on the last night, but there is at least a tube strike for most of the run to help us into that mind-set...

Very sad news at the beginning of the week; another far-too-young death.  My old English teacher, now a writer and someone who has booked us twice to work at Ilkley Playhouse, Walter Swan has died at 59 - quite awful and such a waste; such a decent, caring man - we send lots of love to his wife and sons...
Yorkshire Post Obit.

Yorkshire idyll

Beautiful weather greeted us at Ilkley station, where we performed at the excellent Ilkley Playhouse...
Delightful, as ever, to work in the UK, and also for me to meet again my English teacher (from when we were both very much younger!) Walter Swan, who is in charge of the Playhouse.
We were looked after tremendously & despite all the railway companies best efforts, our journeys were excellent.
Lots of old friends who have escaped up north were in the audience - hooray; and of course many local people too.
Ilkley is clearly a place with a great deal going on, lots of choirs, venues & arts are in evidence as you wander the town...
Our audience showed the northern warmth we would expect, and a glorious time was had by all...

Off back to Romania next, but don't forget our London outing with St Edmund's School...
...July 9th, btw...