September 14, 2017

Cowbridge, Alresford and Oxford

Hello everyone! Welcome to the new season from me, your host, Bruiser. It's lovely to be back singing after a splendiferous holiday, Wedding Blessing and honeymoon!Where do I begin? Well, first thing's first. It's lovely to get married twice...to the same person! Liz and I thought we were having a blessing for the NZ extended family who couldn't make it to our April nuptials. Turned out we actually organized a second wedding! It was fabulous and we had family and friends from all over NZ: Northland, Auckland, Waipukurau, Hastings, Wellington, Richmond, Kaikoura, Lake Moana, Amberley, Rangiora, Christchurch, Dunedin, and even friends from Invercargill (Google maps may come in useful if these place names mean nothing!). We had a beautiful service in the Transitional (Cardboard) Cathedral and then a great reception, followed by dessert and a dance. Won't bore you with details but, needless to say, everyone had a great time and we finished off our three-week trip with a week-long honeymoon in the Coromandel, one of the most beautiful parts of NZ (also worth a google).So it's back to reality and we've now done two gigs. Last night was a tremendous success in Cowbridge as part of the Solent Music Festival. They're in their fifth year and we performed to a sell-out audience who really seemed to love it and gave us a wonderful reception. Hopefully we can return before too long. I stayed overnight with a couple who frequent the festival and it was so nice to not be in a hotel for a change!On the way home today I stopped off at David Hurley's house for a catch up and was treated to a beautiful lunch. It's so nice to touch base with former colleagues and King's Singers, when the opportunity arises. I am pleased to report David is in rude health and thoroughly enjoying everything he's throwing himself into!Touch base next week.Bye for now!