Ness Gardens

Just a couple of pictures, a dragonfly, and the Laburnum arch.

We had a very enjoyable morning, there was plant sale, the weather was wonderful. The gardens were beautiful.

St. Edward's College Farewell Concert

It was a great evening at St. Edward's this week, as the class of 2009 bade farewell to the school, with the best of their musical talent. The Chamber Orchestra performed well, the Chamber Choir were good, and the College Consort sang to a very high standard, but between a small selection of formal program items, most of the evening was taken up with performances from this year's leavers.

Before the interval there were a number of solo performances, largely accompanied by the piano, including the Adagio from Mozart's clarinet concerto, and two pieces from the cello, the first stood out as the highlight of the first half. Each performer was introduced by a master of ceremonies (M/C) who also kept us amused during the necessary shuffling round of performers between the pieces.

This aspect of the evening went up a gear after the interval, the performers had changed from school uniform to evening wear, and the M/C made a dramatic entrance to the music of "Also Sprach Zarastrutha" (used in 2001 a Space Odyssey) played through the loudspeakers. He continued to keep us well entertained between the pieces with a low key humour, ribbing performers in a way that only one of their own number could.

During the second half, there were some group pieces, a duet from a Mozart opera, and a brass group. Several of the solo performers were accompanied by the chamber orchestra, conducted by members of the orchestra so Mr. Moseley, the usual conductor could take a back seat. He did get on his feet in the middle of a piece with a post horn. This wonderfully played piece would have been a duet, had appendicitis not stood in the way, and the sole performer, with brass group accompaniment, took up positions at various points in the hall, playing an impressively wide range of notes on the long elegant post horn.

This was for me the most memorable part of the evening, a high quality, high octane performance, and I wondered how do you follow that? The answer came with a change of mood with two beautifully played piano preludes.

As well as the short excerpt on the post horn, Mr. Moseley also played a solo piano piece himself, as this evening also marked his farewell to the school, after 29 years as head of music.

As the evening went on, it took on more and more of a fun aspect. There was "Live and Let Die", a slide show presentation of pictures of the A level music class, Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, sung with words honouring Mr. Moseley. Eventually the final part of the program got underway some hour or so after the intended finishing time.

Each year's farewell concert features "God Only Knows" what we will do without you, by the Beach Boys, as Mr. Moseley wonders how the school music will fare without the talented crop of leavers. This year it was the turn of the school to wonder how musical life will continue to thrive at St. Edward's without him. What was very clear to all, was that this year's leavers, a very talented crew, are united in holding him in the very highest regard and affection. We all enjoyed the fruit of his work this evening.

Cycling in Sefton Park

All those hours at work admiring the blue sky and sunshine were eventually rewarded with a couple of laps round Sefton Park in the cool of the evening. It had rained a lot this morning, and the smell of the wild garlic along Greenbank Drive was quite something.
Sefton Park was great, with a game of cricket in progress, the usual crop of runners and cyclists, people out for a stroll or walking the dog. There were just a few clouds low in the sky, silvery gray and white against a milky blue sky. The grass had recently been cut, and the park looked very pretty, none more so than the wooded corner near the Dell.
A perfect transition from afternoon to evening.

Sailing a Topper Topaz at Glenridding

The weekend did not start very promising, with force 4- 5 winds there was no hiring a boat, but I did enjoy a trip to Gowbarrow Fell, where I enjoyed some nice views of the water I hoped to be sailing on, and some great views of Aira Force. There had been quite a lot of rain, so the waterfall was quite impressive, and when the sun was shining as well making a rainbow in the spray it was a wonderful view.

Sunday brought a steady force two breeze, gusting to force three on occasions, dropping away altogether at one point, before returning from a completely different direction.  I was sailing a Topper Topaz, with just a main sail, and it was quite good fun. 

I took Anna out on a Lune Whammel a week or two back, and found it a bit cumbersome. The Topaz was very repsonsive, and I had to be quite careful shifting position not to move the tiller without meaning to. 

There were fewer other users on the lake than when we did the initial training, but then the weather was wonderful, and I suppose the rain showers kept them away.

I was glad to have experienced righting a capsized boat in previous training, it meant there was no great panic the two times I did capsize. I probably should have capsized a few more times, I certainly lost control, but I think I benefited from not having a jib, as soon as I let go of things the boat naturally turned to wind.

Steve was impressed that I had listened to the training Neil had given, and paid attention to the trim, (avoiding the boat tipping forward or backward in the water). I was helped in this by two aspects of the boat's design:  The tiller extension suited a fairly forward seating position, otherwise you do not have room to manouver it; and the low stern, that makes it so easy to clamber back on after a capsize, meant that water would flow into the boat when you sat too near the stern.

It was altogether a very enjoyable experience, and I am looking forward to the level 2 training in a few weeks time.