Someone Singing Along

With less than five weeks until the beginning of the silly (and best) season, it doesn't feel so ridiculous to be practicing a collection of Christmas pieces each week. Instead it's kind of exciting and who doesn't like to feel a little bit festive once a week? And this year we get the double the festive cheer. We have our traditional Carols with the City of Armadale on the first Friday of the month but we will also be joining the Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale two weeks later for more festive fun!

A great part of these events is the involvement of the whole community. Not only do the local councils and ourselves get involved, local school students participate, as do musicians and choristers. It’s always a magical evening and we trust that our second gig will be the same. As members of the band, I always say we have the best seat in the house. Not only can we see everything that is happening on stage, we can also look out and see the audience. Until the sun completely sets and then all we can see is a sea of lights, gently moving through the night.

You will definitely want to make sure you come and join us as it is always a wonderful evening and our second performance is shaping up to be the same. We love all the performances we do throughout the year but there is always something very special about the Christmas ones. The fact that so many people come together to put on a wonderful program with something for everyone, filled with old favourites and new pieces that are destined to become favourites, does have something to do with it. Adding to that, of course, is the audience themselves. Without them we would be performing to an empty park. Which would seriously hamper the sharing of Christmas spirit. The wonderful part though is when everyone joins in. When we begin to play, the choirs begin to sing and the audience joins us. Now that's Christmas magic.

It's not just someone singing along. It's everyone.

Cake by the Ocean

Or cake at break will do just as well. For the uninitiated the first Wednesday of the month is cake at break (which is a phrase that means exactly what it says). At break we have cake. Of course this leads to an extended break (because you can’t hurry cake consumption) while we all get our social on. We’re a pretty friendly bunch at the worst of times (e.g. 5am in the cold and dark while the wind dashes about, 35 degree days where there is no shade but an abundance of flies) so with a slice of cake in one hand and a cup of tea in the other, you’ve got no chance of bumping into someone unfriendly (plus you try being uncivil with a piece of delicately baked goodness smothered in butter cream. It’s impossible).

Yet despite the great distraction we didn’t spend the whole evening chomping away (tempting though it was). There was something else (or rather someone else) present which made this cake at break extra special. A special guest! Joining us for part of the evening was Tony Buti, the member for Armadale. And he didn’t come alone. While he might not have brought along a cake to share he did bring along a very lovely cheque from the Community Improvement Fund. As a non-profit community group, extra funds are always very welcome and we’ll be sure to put it to good use.

After all the excitement it was a little tricky to settle down (which by saying that does imply that we ever do – we don’t. It’s entirely possible the school teachers among us go back to school for a break) so we didn’t. It was high spirits all the way to the end of the rehearsal.

And don’t worry, all the leftovers went to a good home. But not by the ocean.