Early rising is not my thing, so having to get up in time for a taxi to pick me up at 6.40 for departure from the coach park was not good! The two coaches left soon after 7.00 and met up with the third coach carrying the rest of the “Wessex Warblers” at Exeter services.
So who were the Wessex Warblers? Basically those of Fiona’s Choirs who had opted to go! The choirs? Babes and Ballads, Guys no Dolls, Coffee Choir and the Devon ones – Seaton Babes and Ballads and Beer Seriously Occasional Singers (SOS).
The coaches continued on to the Minack Theatre, but had to park at the bottom of the hill. I joined the “loo queue” and was at the end. We then walked up to the theatre, having no idea how far it was, but as I was now near the end I found myself encouraging the slower and less active members of the group. When we actually got to the theatre we not only found more loos, but also that the choir were half way through the first song! By the time I got down to the stage area, they were half way through the second…. This was totally accidental and not planned, even though I don’t like the first song – Kom. When I say I don’t like a song it usually means that either it is too high for me to hit some of the notes, I don’t know the notes well enough to be confident with it or, if it is an African one, that I don’t know the words. It can be a combination of any or all of theses!
Anyway, I then joined in with all the other songs. I think we sounded great – the acoustic at the theatre was pretty good – not that I am an expert…
All the choirs have their own individual songs as well as the ones we do together. We had a list of songs and Fiona chose which ones we would do, depending on the time and weather. It was very sunny at the Minack and the stones seemed to reflect the heat so it felt as if we were cooking! I would have burnt badly if I hadn’t put on suntan cream.
When we had finished, we were supposed to hurry back to the coaches so they could take us for our cream tea, but inevitably some people went for a paddle so we hung about for ages down by the coaches. There was fortunately a nice shady tree. The first coach eventually went, taking some from the second coach to fill the gaps. When the rest finally arrived we drove to where we were having cream teas – and then found we had to wait about half an hour while the other coaches finished and they could seat us! It was quite a good cream tea when we got it – wonderful scones, but the cream was a bit second class and only one cup of tea when we were all dying for more!
On finishing, we drove to Falmouth University where we were staying. It took us a while to locate our flat, but that helped us get to know the others a bit. On finding it, we had time to chat a bit more over the much needed cup of tea, collect money for the fish and chips and find the person we were giving it to. Then time to fetch and eat the fish and chips – good ones – chat some more and the day ended.
Day 2, was a free day, but I had opted to take the coach trip to The Lost Gardens of Heligan. This was a very good move and a wonderful day. I had originally decided to go there because I wanted to see the pineapples grown using the heat of horse manure!
That was what I found first, (after a coffee) but walked through some flower and vegetable gardens to get there. The vegetables were pretty good, and the pineapples were fascinating, as were the tool shed and potting shed. I wish I had a potting bench like that. After finding the Italian Garden and some of the original gardeners’ earth closets (!) I decided to head for the woodland walk (I am not much of a plant person) and the living sculptures – Giant’s Head, Mud Maid and Grey Lady.
Continuing round the outside, I found some tamworth pigs, little brown ones, that are used to help clear the ground of brambles and such like. Three were sleeping, but the largest was very busy and the others a bit busy. There was a man there scratching their backs who I realised worked at Heligan, so we got chatting and I got lots of interesting information as we walked on. He was actually head gardener of the Northern Gardens, which includes most of the formal bit. I left him where I turned off for the Jungle, heading slowly back towards the entrance and lunch.
I took a somewhat devious route back to the cafe where I had a Cornish Pasty (necessary at some point on the trip), which was somewhat filling (!) and then some fresh (very!) local raspberries, which were really yummy and so tasty they had to be eaten slowly and individually. After lunch I bought postcards and then wandered round some of the other closer places that looked as if they might be interesting, including the wildlife hide.
It is hard to pick out highlights, but I think the Fern Gulley, the Ram pump display (pity one can’t see the pump, but the explanation was fascinating), the pineapples, of course, and the pigs.
I also found it fascinating talking to the gardener and to the wood-turner and seeing the photos and reading the explanations of the things they have uncovered and restored, such as the Italian Garden and Northern Summerhouse. I know that I saw less than half of the grounds and I only scratched the surface of what I did see. I could easily have spent another 2 days there, but we had agreed to leave at 3.0 p.m……..
Back at the flat I had time to write most of the postcards before the others came back. I was still rather full of pasty(!), so had a roll for supper after a stroll into Penryn.
We had a free morning on Day 3, so I strolled into Penryn with some others and we had coffee overlooking the harbour.
The afternoon was the Workshop in a church in Falmouth. We were joined by Pip Wright and some of her Cornish choir people and Fiona and Pip jointly led the workshop. Pip leads in a totally different way to Fiona and although some people didn’t like that much I found it very interesting. Pip takes things much slower and makes sure that we have all got every note – which was helpful for my slow learning – but she is more serious. I liked the first song she taught us – “Cornish Lads” (become a bit of an “ear-worm”) – but not the second and Fiona’s first was an African one which I didn’t pick up and I have no recollection of the second at all! (Sorry, Fiona.)
I rather liked being able to sing the men’s part in the Cornish songs – I think I am really a tenor not an alto! Perhaps I should join Guys no Dolls instead of Coffee Choir, but the name does suggest maybe not! Perhaps I could do our warm-ups an octave lower than everyone else; I am sure Fiona wouldn’t mind (unless she would miss laughing at my attitude when it all goes too high) but I would have to persuade some of the other altos to join me, I think.
I was wondering if I would have stayed in a choir for 18 months if Pip had led it. I would probably have been more confident about what I was singing, but it would have mattered more when I did it wrong. And with Fiona, when I have a bad day and feel I have got none of it and most of what I have done was wrong, at least we have had a laugh (those jokes!) and a chance to chat.
We had cups of tea and cake provided by the Cornish people at half time and a buffet meal provided by the Warblers later on. I don’t know what I was doing – chatting to some of the Cornish people? queuing for the one loo? helping set out the food for the meal? – but I turned round and there were Coffee Choir starting to sing to everyone! I honestly didn’t hear or see that we were being called up. The other choirs each sang their songs, too, and I managed to miss the calling up of all the Warblers, too! How did I do that? When it got to performing the songs we had just learned (failed to learn, in my case), I just gave up. My reputation for missing these things started to build up…..
After the meal we had a Ceilidh, which was good fun, even (especially?) if we were fairly useless at going in the right direction at the right time.
Day 4 also started with a free morning. I was going to take it easy and read for a while, which I did, but then decided to walk into Penryn. I got lost on the campus on the way back, so it took much longer than I intended and I very nearly missed the coach to St Michael’s mount – but I didn’t!
On arriving at Marazion, we either had to get the boat out to St Michael’s mount or wait for the tide to leave the causeway. The second seemed fine to me, so I wandered round and bought the last postcards I needed and when the water was mostly off the causeway I walked across. Did roll up my trousers and take off shoes and paddle a bit, but I did have a towel to dry my feet! And I was on time for the performance!!!!
The weather stayed dry and sunny, if a bit breezy, while we were singing on the green at the bottom. We had a fairly good audience, too.
When we finished, some people went up the mount, but I went into the shop with another lady and then dropped into the loo on the way to the cafe. This turned out to be a ‘good thing’ as it started to really tip down with rain, and we could stay sheltering, but I fear that some of the others got soaked, especially those who had started back across the causeway because they were a bit slow and needed time. After it stopped, there was time for an ice-cream (essential when at the sea-side) before going back across the causeway.
We then found a place for a pot of tea, but had to rush it a bit to get the coach to go back to the university.
After we got back there was not much time to get ready for the hog roast as our attire was to be on the theme of “exotic birds”. Some people really went to town on this, and produced some amazing, excellent costumes – I was really impressed. I am not up to that standard, but like most people made some effort, by wearing as a cloak a long scarf with a picture of a peacock on, that I had found in the charity shop.
Fiona had found a costume that made her look like the picture on the banner. Her T-shirt had a picture of 2 great tits on – bet you will never guess where they were!
The food was wonderful, although getting about 130 people fed took a while. Pork in a roll, with various chutneys, apple sauce etc. and with salad, followed by cheesecakes.
At the end there were naturally songs to celebrate and thank Fiona as it was, sadly, our last evening.
The final day started with breakfast, as usual! Then we had to strip our beds, pack and hand in our keys by 10.00. Cases and us were loaded onto the coaches and we drove to Truro. There was time for a coffee before we had our rehearsal. Now Fiona had told me that I wouldn’t be able to miss the performance in the Cathedral – now would you see that as a bit of a challenge? As I was with others they made sure I got to the rehearsal on time (early?).
I think that it went OK – but who am I to judge? Naturally, we only did our “respectable” repertoire in the Cathedral.
After the rehearsal we had a short time and I needed to put my things down in the choir vestry and go to the loo. And yes, I really did need to go and had been doing so for the last 15 mins or so….. I might have allowed a couple of other choir members to go ahead of me in the queue, but 2 others wouldn’t go – they knew me! We three were all a little late for the start! (I do so like a challenge, don’t you?) I did say I don’t like Kom, didn’t I? And I wasn’t deliberately late – honest. The queue was just too long….
I was asked if I was actually singing and the answer is yes. Not every note in every song, but some notes in every song and all the notes in one or two!
The actual performance in the Cathedral was definitely our best. Some of the ragged bits were smoothed out and it seemed to go really well, including the Community Choir version of the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah.
Then it was time to quickly get some food for lunch and wait for the coaches. It really tipped down with rain as we were waiting – Cornwall crying because we were leaving?
We were home soon after 7.0 pm, having had a stop at Exeter services again.
So was it a good trip? YES! YES! YES! Many, many thanks to Fiona for all the fantastic organisation. Everything seemed to go really smoothly – but I do wonder if it was like swans – lots of furious paddling under the surface. And of course thanks for the permanent good humour and for all the fun and the amazing way she leads the choirs.
Would I go again? Maybe…… The hesitation is the hang-up I have about performing. Not quite sure why, but found myself really gripping my song folder in the Cathedral, which shows how up-tight I was. I keep saying that I don’t sing in public, but that is not strictly true. I sing in church, but that is as part of the congregation; and in my last school I invented and taught some songs to help the pupils learn some facts – but pupils do not count as “public”. (One song turned out to be a real “ear-worm”, which was excellent for learning the fact, but very annoying…) So what is the problem? Mostly I don’t feel I know the songs or can stick to my part; I can read music well enough to know that what I am doing is not right but not well enough to correct it. I think I worry about letting everyone down and however much everyone says it doesn’t matter, it does to me! I can’t even pretend that I am a perfectionist, because I am not. Probably failing an audition for the junior choir at school 50 years ago might have some relevance…. Anyway, now I have done it a few times perhaps I won’t mind so much again -maybe? But it will probably depend on how many of the songs I “don’t like”!
And finally……. I managed a cream tea and a pasty because we were in Cornwall and an ice-cream for being by the sea; I met and talked to lots of new people and caught up with some I had known years ago; I got to know some of the Coffee Choir much better and we had a lot of fun.