Bridport and Charmouth weekend April 2018
After the disappointment of having to cancel the March weekend and concert in
Youlgreave due to The Beast from the East, it was wonderful to be back together again
down South! A huge thank you to Sue for arranging it all single-handedly. We all met up
at Charmouth village hall on the Friday night, had a wonderful meal and some rehearsal
time.
On Saturday we were rehearsing and performing in the Bridport United Church - and
what a lovely venue. It was market day and the town was bustling – lots of people
stopping outside and looking in through the doors to see what we were doing! In the
afternoon there was a Green tea event with entertainment in the hall at the back and
the ladies very kindly invited us through for tea and cake when we had finished
rehearsing. Not only that – several them then came to the concert in Charmouth on the
Sunday! It was such a lovely sunny day that we took every opportunity to have a walk
around the town and down by the river. We had added 2 new pieces to our repertoire so
this was the first public performance of them, and also Lynn’s first concert with the
No1 Ladies – she has fitted in amazingly well with us all. We have also embraced a group
warm-up prior to the performance, courtesy of Debi, and we all felt that this was a
brilliant way to bond, relax and prepare ourselves for the performance, so thank you
Debbie. The ladies who were staying at Charmouth celebrated with a midnight walk
down to the beach, ostensibly to look for fossils, but it seems that a certain amount of
red wine was also involved! These same ladies also had the responsibility of leaving and
collecting the key to the hall from a trellis up a garden path! Hannah performed the
task.
Sunday saw us rehearsing and performing in the village hall at Charmouth.
Unfortunately the weather was appalling so we weren’t able to go for a walk on the
beach in the daylight – although a few of us did go before leaving for home. The pre-
performance warm-up was hilarious, as it had to be conducted silently on the stage
behind the curtains! Such a shame that we don’t have a video of Debi – she is such a
wonderful mime artist! We had a very enthusiastic and appreciative audience which was
wonderful, and we were approached by a lady who would very much like us to perform in
St Ives next time we are down that way. So a hugely successful weekend, thoroughly
enjoyed by everyone and lots of lovely compliments received.
