Hello!

I am just back from the first ever DIY festival and so glad that the rain held off until now. The festival was held on an undisclosed beach close to Inverness and the idea is that its free for everyone. The location was legal to camp on with beautiful surroundings and the musicians all friends that played a short set for free. Singing songs on a white sand beach looking out to the sun setting over the sea was payment enough! I am excited to see how it will evolve next year.

Last week I had the absolute pleasure of being a tutor down on the Hothouse Summer School held down in Halsway Manor. There were about 30 participants and the week focused on composition, arrangement and performance of folk music in a big band and small groups, all culminating in three performances at Sidmouth Folk Week. We took a few American tunes (ofcourse!) and arranged them as a group into something really special. Everyone worked really hard and played really hard, and the outcome was three brilliant performances……not to mention team Salter winning the first ever Halsway Games. I am looking forward to hearing more music from the Halsway Hothousers in the future, they are a group to watch.

After a few days hanging out and having tunes with good friends at Sidmouth I headed back to Glasgow to do my first ever cyber gig! Emma Beaton and Mcmillan organised a run of Concert Window gigs called ‘The Scottish Situation’ and Jenn and I were asked to take part. I’ll leave you with one number from it, our arrangement of ‘Shine,’ a tune which I wrote for my New Voices. Cheerio for now, LB x