Buxton Fringe 20 July 2019

 

We do cake!

The Fringe is alive and vibrant as ever despite the early morning rain. My sat nav brings me  via a crazy route and gets me there twenty minutes early. In time, in fact, to see the East Kent Morris Dancers cross the road in front of the United Reformed Church. Ooh.  Are they going to dance outside the church? Will it be a problem?  Of course it won’t.  We have rhythm and music as well.   

It’s still raining as folk begin to arrive, some anxious that there may not be any tickets left and others clutching the print outs of their advance booking. Meanwhile inside our gang is busy setting out teacups and the cakes, and, of course, rehearsing. 

“Don’t worry,” I say to those assembled in the lobby. “There’s room for all.”   

Our reviewer attends this first concert. You can read the full review here.  (You’ll need to scroll down).

We sing for an hour, an hour which just flies by. There are some songs they’ve heard before and plenty of new ones as well. Jeff puts us through our paces with The Water is Wide, The Blessing, Cool Moon, Poor Wayfaring Stranger, Over the Rainbow, I Say a Little Prayer, Somewhere Out There, I Got Rhythm, One Day Like This, Fix You, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Everything I Do, I Do it for You, Kiss the Girl and Here Comes the Sun. Amanda and Helen are our soloists.

Then the elves get busy again. There are cakes and tea aplenty. We also treat (well we enjoy it anyway) our audience to Sway as they eat and drink.  

The Fringe moves on. Minutes after we’ve cleared up another group arrives with a harpsichord and I exchange notes with their organiser about the fun that is the Buxton Fringe. As we stroll around in the now reasonably sunny Buxton we come across all kinds of interesting performances. 

Soon it is time to make our way to St Mary’s where we enjoy a very warm welcome. The tables are set up ready for the cake and the water is boiling. It’s a lovely place to sing and we recognise some regulars in the audience. 

Again the hour passes very quickly and soon we’re into cake and tea again. “I must help you to clear up this cake,” says one of our fans, taking another slice.

Our audiences are lovely and it’s always great to chat to them after our performance. We’ve also had, as ever, enthusiastic support from local businesses and organisations  who’ve taken and displayed our leaflets. 

Some of us go on to eat at the Tap House. Well it’s a brewery outlet and so it is noisy but the food is fine and the beer pretty good as is the company, of course. The staff are friendly, and hardworking.  

  

And outside the East Kent Morris Dancers are performing.      

Postscript   https://www.buxtonfringe.org.uk/awards2019.html