Liverpool October 13-15th 2017

Liverpool was bright, sunny, warm and welcomed us with open arms – we all had such a
fabulous weekend. A huge thank you to Elspeth for arranging it all – and to her merry
band of helpers who made our lives so much easier.
We were staying, and performing, in the octagonal Nordic Church, and what a lovely
venue – it was an absolute privilege to be able to perform there. Sadly Jane was unable
to be with us – although she was actually also enjoying herself in Nova Scotia! – but
Hannah capably filled her shoes, as ever, and was our patient and ever smiling musical
leader for the weekend, so a big thank you to her too.
As well as the usual rehearsing there were several additions to our “normal” routine. On
the Saturday afternoon we did an hour busking in the local shopping centre in Liverpool
1, which was much enjoyed both by the orchestra and the general public. But the
highlight has to be the lovely little girl who danced non-stop to Rock around the Clock
and then asked if we could possibly play it faster! The mood was high as we left, so a
large group repaired to the Baltic Fleet Pub, where we felt obliged to sample wares
from the huge gin menu. The barman put on some Jimmy Shand music to make us feel at
home, which inspired an impromptu dance, much to the amusement of the locals, and
promised to come to our concert the next day.
Saturday evening saw us at the Baltic Social, where we had a lovely meal and then led a
session - a lot of musicians and singers turned up there to join us and it was a great
atmosphere. A big thankyou to Martin, Poppy and Tom, not only for all their help in
transporting accordions to each of the venues, but for their unfailing good humour and
patience whilst doing so.
The concert on Sunday afternoon was brilliant. The Ladies had definitely upped their
game in the fashion stakes and “the look” is getting better and better each time we
meet. We all particularly liked Frances’s piano keyboard skirt! We had an audience of
60 (and the barman did come) and they couldn’t have been nicer – hugely enthusiastic
and supportive, they lifted our playing with each piece that we did. There were quite a
number of members from the Wirral Accordion Club, so we were really pleased that
they all seemed to enjoy it too. Lots of interest generated and lots of compliments
after, so a thoroughly successful, if exhausting!, weekend for everyone.