12.1.25 Music and Connection
Happy New Year! Thanks for visiting my site, lovely to have you here! Here, I hope to share a little more personal insight into the songs and my writing process, what inspires me and how I arrive at lyrics and melody. I'll also be chronicling some of my favourite performances and other sweet musical moments. It'll be nice to reach people and connect in this way and I hope you enjoy finding out a bit more.
Happy reading!
17.1.25 Magic at St James
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In the village where I grew up, among the North Yorkshire Moors, is St James church, the setting for a magical evening of Christmas music last month. I had the idea of a Christmas concert a little while ago, when thinking of ways in which to fundraise for SUDEPAction, an epilepsy charity which means much to my family. We lost my sister Joanna to SUDEP (sudden unexpected death in epilepsy) in 2000 and since then my family have tried to raise awareness of and funding for the charity.
It was a beautiful evening. The church was full, mulled cider and mince pies were ready and the atmosphere warm, as friends, family and local people gathered together to enjoy a festive evening of song. The splendid harmonies from local musicians Faye and Rob were a wonderful addition- 'Winter Wonderland', 'In the Bleak Midwinter', 'Sleighride' and 'The Coventry Carol', to name a few of our collaborations. I loved putting together the set list which also included a few original songs - 'Sunbeam', about the winter dances of years gone by, and 'In December', a song written in the darkest of times, when Winter seemed so long and the Summer so far away.
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I think however, the magic of the evening peaked perfectly when my daughter and niece joined me onstage to sing 'Here we come a Waissailing' and 'When Santa got stuck up the Chimney' - in all honesty they were the stars of the show!
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It was a wonderful evening, raising a good amount for charity and bringing people together in such a special way - I hope we can do it again next year!
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If you want to find out more about the charity you can visit their website here:
For my record 'Winter Dreaming', featuring some of the songs from the evening, visit band camp, here:
