Saturday 28 May 2005 . How to throw a party.

If I wanted to throw a party, I think I would erect a huge marquee on the Recreation Ground, get a good local band in - like Walter Shortage - hire a good caterer - like Jim - and invite most of the village to come along and let their hair down.

Yes, I know. I've been beaten to it by Paul and Fi who even had to go the extravagant length of getting married to provide an excuse for their tremendous party.

Ah well. I have missed my chance but at least I know what fun it would have been. I hope the pictures here speak for themselves as evidence of that.

I do have to apologise to Paul and Fi though because my two brothers and sister and some of their families were down that weekend and, looking for me, they gate crashed the party. Very embarrassing; though in truth no one seemed to mind a bit.

Saturday 21 May 2005 . WI Cabaret.

I was surprised to discover that there are people in this community who do not know that Ron ( Hurst ) is the world's greatest jazz trombonist. I have known this for years and it was no surprise to me when I enjoyed his, and his band's, contribution to the WI Cabaret night.

I do not know the name of Ron's clarinetist, but the band decided to do Acker Bilk's number "Strangers on the Shore" with the clarinet lead. We all know it perfectly don't we? Every nuance, every pause, every tiny slither of that haunting melody. If you don't get exactly that when you hear it, then it simply isn't right, such is the power of recorded sound. That night we did get that sound with complete accuracy, and memories of other occasions when I have heard that emotive song slipped into my mind, and I suspect others' as well.

Ron's jazz was preceded by Mike's junior jazz. At first I thought that the gleaming brass I could see had a life of its own, rather like the sorcerer's apprentice, as there seemed to be shiny instruments wobbling about producing sound without human intervention. After cleaning my glasses and squinting a bit I could discern that there was a scrap of a person underneath each substantial piece of metal struggling to hold it up and to play it - instruments almost as large as the individual in some cases.

We were all greatly impressed by these young players and full credit to Mike for pulling it all together and finding the time and energy to do that. Alas, I have no pictures.

The food was to the high standards we always get from the WI and Tony Beard held the evening together with his usual aplomb and great humour.

Sunday 19 June 2005 . Garden Open Day/Moor Harmony/Scout Barbecue

This website is awash with very good pictures of gardens from the Garden Open Day - but no mention of us - Moor Harmony and our traditional and amazing lunchtime 30 minute concert. Do not let the fact that we slave away for months to produce our music for this occasion make anyone feel guilty about this lack of recognition. We suffer in silence. (Yes, I know: if only we would.)

There are some wonderful people out there though and St Mary's Chapel was full. It all went pretty well. For those who do not know, we sang an extract from Fiddler on the Roof, some Gilbert and Sullivan, a couple of sacred pieces (including the Ubi Caritas by Durufle which I hated at first but now grasp and appreciate) and we finished with The Mermaid, an entertaining nautical piece which is quite difficult but which, if it goes slightly wrong, it doesn't really matter - not that I am saying it went wrong of course.

We followed this with a trip to the Scout barbecue in South Tawton which included juggling, unicycles and plate whirling; an enjoyable well-attended event.

We then had our annual Moor Harmony barbecue at Simon and Jane's house in Belstone and we had a lovely time thanks to them. Simon and Jane have a tennis court, and I know just how much all the children, including Issy and Clemency, appreciated my tennis tips. I offered Bob Weaver a bit advice too and I could see that that went down really very well with him.

Saturday 25 June 2005 . Summer Event

A great fun day. The pictures tell it all. Less water than last year though. Shame!

Trafalgar Day Saturday 10 September 2005

Having been imbued all my life with Nelson, Haig, Wellington and Beatty and all that they stood for; and being brought up at a time when there were still real sailormen whom I knew sailing Thames Sailing Barges around the east coast, this celebration strikes a chord.

The Parish Council is planning to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the battle. This involves many working group meetings at the Ox or The Kings Arms to organise the event. We want the day to be fun, but let me say that any humour we might inject into it is not intended to detract from the significance of the historic event.

The weekend closest to the date of the battle would be 22/23 October. However, the weather is so notoriously bad at that time of the year we think it best to bring the date forward to Saturday 10 September when most people will be back from holiday. Please note this date in your diary!

 

Robin