Portmouth November 24-26th 2017
The No1 Ladies were once more on the move at the end of November; this time all the way down to Portsmouth. Hannah had found an amazing Outdoor Pursuits place at Cobnor near Chichester and I think we were all bowled over by the beautiful surroundings. Our practise room looked out over the estuary with amazing views of all the boats and sea birds – we were slightly distracted during one practise by a group of cormorants fishing just outside the windows!
But it made for an extremely pleasant rehearsal space. The weather was spectacular – hard frost at night and blue skies and sunshine during the days. We were able to fit in a walk down to the end of the promontory on the Saturday afternoon – apart from Elspeth who bravely went in for a swim! Without a wetsuit! Indeed without a bathing costume (but she was decent!)
Saturday night saw us performing in the Square Tower in Portsmouth – a beautiful building in the heart of the old town. Built in 1494 it is the oldest surviving part of the fortifications. It was challenging – the lighting and acoustics were a little difficult – but the biggest challenge of all was trying to get up and down the very steep staircase to the room for changing, in all our finery and with a heavy instrument! We had nearly a full house and a delightfully enthusiastic audience which was really lovely. We were very pleased to see Jean there with her husband – she saw us in Bangor in May and was so taken with the accordion that she went out and bought one and is now having lessons! Our biggest success story.
Sunday dawned bright and sunny again. More rehearsing in the morning where we had visits from a couple of groups with learning difficulties who were also staying on site and having a wonderful time. They were an absolute delight – seemingly transfixed by the music and joining in whole-heartedly with the clapping along to Rock around the Clock.
We were performing at the Paterson centre in Swanmore in the afternoon – a lovely hall adjoining St Barnaby’s church. Again we had a really lovely audience and it is so nice to talk to everyone in the interval and get their feedback and reactions. So many positive comments and everyone looking so happy – it really makes it feel special and worthwhile.
And that is it for 2017! We already have our dates for 2018 and will be starting again with a rehearsal only weekend in February. So keep an eye on our website and, if you are on our mailing list you will automatically be notified of all our upcoming concerts.
