"Gigs!"
Gig One:One gloomy evening last week, friends and I parked at The Bickerton Poacher. The Cheshire pub glinted its welcome, but we waited outside in darkness ( eating humbugs) until a car approached flashing headlights. Inside this car were more friends.
Then, in convoy ( do 2 cars make 1 convoy??) we drove off, turning up steep country lane until we reached a wood, where we stopped and "dismounted" and wondered where on earth we were...
We were in pitch dark. Two of us had torches, the others grabbed arms (and coat tails ) and squinted between birch trees as we made muddy descent down a woodland path.
No owls actually hooted and no foxes actually bayed but I bet they did a few minutes later...
But " This way, folks!" said reliable AP ( who'd recently done a recce) and yep, there in the near distance was a timbered village hall which we reached across a wooden footbridgebridge over a brook ( at least I think it was a brook, but it was hard to tell...)
Hmm. We'd arrived at Peckforton/Beeston WI; these are two Cheshire villages, both of them boasting a Castle**. We'd come to the WI to do a story/poetry gig. And we're glad we went. The women were fun and they were welcoming (not all are) and they enjoyed stories and we enjoyed cakes. We've visited lots of WI's and their members can vary from women in tweeds/brogues to women in jeans/trainers. There can be farmer's wives/accountants/solicitors/stayathome mums/librarians; a whole cabooodle of womanhood!
SO once again, we sang " Jerusalem" in our best voices ( I actually know the words now!) and we pictured Mirren and Walters looking beautiful in " Calendar Girls" and we heard about our hostesses rural interests and their future plans and we hope to see them again...
** A walk betwixt these 2 Castles is one I've taken many times over many yrs and always enjoyed..
Gig Two:
Chester Theatre Club have Tuesday Club Nights throughout their season. 2 or 3 times each year, I gather friends together to "entertain" Club Members with stories/monologues/poems. We did this again on Tuesday; it's fun and the audience are great. And there's free drinks in the bar for everyone when we finish. For more info on Chester Theatre Club, see http://www.chestertheatreclub.co.uk/
Their next production is Noel Coward's " Hay Fever" running from Nov 14th to Nov 22nd. See the website for details.
The picture above is a glimpse of cast in Arthur Miller's " All My Sons".
posted by Jan at 2:16 pm
10 Comments:
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Sorry, I was the delete ... didn't put my brain in gear before posting!
I do think 2 cars form a convoy, don't they? :-) It sounds like your two gigs were fun. :-)
Your evening through the woods sounds great fun. I would have no doubt tripped up at some point.
Happy belated blog birthday.
Do you know, I've never been to Chester even though it's been on my must-visit list for years. I really must visit.
I'm glad to read from a few posts ago that 59 is a good age, since I'm not far off that. I was thinking that 60 - retiral - might be better, though I imagine my pension is now worth about 89p...
Chester often sounds so appealing... These outings are, certainly. Did I ever say that my little village has two castles? One rises out of the lake's edge, and the other is hidden in a forest nearby.
Odd. Follies. A bit disorienting.
Both events sound great!
Both events sounds wonderful, though I'm not so sure about crashing through the woods in the dark! *shiver*
;-)
The gigs sound fun. I always think of Chariot's of Fire when I hear Jerusalem even though we sang it at school before the movie. Impressive to know all the words.
Happy 2nd Birthday for your blog! I'm coming up on my second in January. Only in blogging can we be old timers. I love how it's catching on.
Annie:
Yes, they were!
Good seeing you.
Debs:
WE nearly did ( trip up!)
Hmm.
Isabelle:
Hmm.
IT's all very sticky worldwide, isnt it?
THere's SUCH stuff to learn from what's happened, isn't there?
Marly:
I am picturing it and loving it. Thanks Marly.
Liz:
THanks and good to see you.
Vanilli:
Probably " crashing" was the exact word..!
SArah:
It was quite moving actually.
It took me back to my mother and grandmothers time, to different generastions of women...
I once did an audition for the WI. It was almost impossible to park, and as I dread the whole parking/finding my way anywhere thing more than talking to people, I decided it wasn't for me. Going with others sounds like much more fun.
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