Hello everyone!

There are already some exciting plans for events in 2008, and I thought it'd be good to post some of the proposals.

* There will, all being well, be another Adult Learners' concert in the SW London/Surrey area from katyjay in February.

* Unlikely there'll be a Leicester gig in '08. However, I'm in the early stages of planning an event, in conjunction with deviless, in Farnborough (the Kentish one, near Orpington, not the Hampshire one) for April (it won't clash with the Ascot Early Music Festival). I'll update you on progress here.

* Skylark has tentatively earmarked Leeds '08 for May 31st.

* There are lots of exciting plans for music making in Market Harborough next year. Meerkat and I are hoping to return to the bandstand again (pencil 3rd May '08 in the diaries), and we've also got more really, really exciting plans. Keep the last quarter of 2008 free (Oct-Nov time) and watch this space.

* AmandaL and katyjay have, as you may have read, proposed a 'Summer Soiree' at Teddington for the summer. The likelihood is that this will fall somewhere equidistant between Leeds and Stalybridge '08 (Stalybridge is tentatively proposed for July 19th)

* noodle and I have proposed an exciting new venue for a forum concert in Northern Ireland, with a likely date of Saturday 23rd August 2008.

* Keep September '08 free for Woodford!

* Petrat has proposed a forum concert for Anglesey for, in all probability, the weekend of the 8th/9th March '08. This would be the first forum concert in Wales.

Think that'll keep all of you going for the moment. Should be a good year!

Question.... Are we going to have a Scottish event this year or next?

Ohh thanks for that barry, I hope I will be able to come to an event next year, and this makes the planning a lot easier

Goodness, what a lot of events!!!

Farnborough, eh? About 6 miles down the road from me...

Would be really interested in this one. Obviously there are multiple criteria to balance in selecting the optimum date, including people / venue availability, ease of travel arrangements, clashes with other events etc, etc, and not being a particularly active forum member I don't expect my wishes to be very high up the priority list. But , if it were at all possible to make this not on a Saturday during term time I'd be ever so grateful and could probably offer my services to assist in arranging.

Thanks for doing this Barry, it makes it a lot easier to plan things. It looks like it's going to be another great year!



I'm happy to organise another one next year if people want one






and a clarinet smiley ...

I've got two or three dates in mind. It definitely won't be during the Ascot Early Music festival (think that's around March 29th-ish, am I right?).
It will *probably* be a Saturday - hopefully around the schools Spring holiday (can't really say it's an Easter holiday in 2008, as it won't be at Easter this year!)

Hope you are able to come TSax.

Unless someone can come up with a fantastic venue which is available and not exorbitantly priced, and can fit it into the already over-crowded timetable at a time to suit enough of us north of the border*....I guess it'll be next year. Still making enquiries, though .

*not that those south of it would be unwelcome, just that we ought to have first call.

From my own experience trying to get anywhere near a concensus on suitable dates is almost impossible.
As an event organiser I choose a date and venue to suit myself and then those who can will come and those who can't won't.
Not always ideal but I feel it's a case of if you can't please everyone you might as well please yourself.
Hope you do get something going this is one event my husband is interested in travelling to as an excuse to visit Scotland.

Ah, well, if I were pleasing myself, it'd be next year - can't see a suitable time in this one, not least because there's a family wedding which will take up the October half-term week, and I've a strange feeling I'm going to be attempting another exam after that....

I'd love to see a Scotland event. I think it's good to take concerts to new parts of the UK.

There are a few gaps in the '08 calendar : nothing in early March, or mid-late November yet.

If it's in the school holidays there's a good possibility I could make it even on a Saturday, because my music classes work roughly to school terms. I guess I'll just have to wait and see!

The Chester concert was very successful and a super venue but expensive to hold there again. There is a fantastic church on Anglesey that will let us have the place for the day at a very low rate indeed. £!4 including use of a massive second room and a kitchen and wash room. I would happily organise another event there if people would like to travel to North Wales this time rather than to Chester. We could organise lifts from Bangor staiton easily.

Sounds good. Are you thinking of a similar-ish time of year to this year's Chester do?

Stalybridge Adult Learners' concert this coming July is open to non-forum users David.

Barry's right, David. Stalybridge is open to non-forum members. As have been the other specifically Adult Learner events.

And over five of them so far we've had precisely four non-forums participants.

We've had a lot of enthusiastic initial response from teachers in the local areas, from music shops who'll put our posters up....and have had absolutely minimal uptake from actual adult learner musicians.

Not even of the "I'd do it except for a fixture clash" type responses. Absolutely nothing.


Now, if you want to try organising something for your learners in your area, plus others from around and about, then feel free, and I'll support you as much as I can. But don't be surprised if you don't get stampeded.

Yes, I think so. Our winters are never bad and there are plenty of B and B's around offering reduced rates if anyone wants to make a weekend of it.

Yes, for the Adult learners concerts you are quite welcome to print off forms for your adult students.
We have been desperately trying to involve non forum users in our local areas...I spent an hour and a half walking round some schools asking for posters to be displayed in staff rooms last week and also managed to get one on display at the hopsital in a prominent place.

I even have a poster I can email to interested teachers to display in their teaching area and a basic information sheet with application form I can send to anyone who wants something to print off for their students.

I cannot see just what involvement the ABRSM could have in these events really, apart from offering funding of some sort. What did you have in mind David. Also, have you been to any of the forum events. I ask as I have only been to one. Two after Leeds though

Crikey ! The Woodford venue costs us about £300 for the day - and that's at their reduced rate!

Chester was £11 per hour I think, but we had some very generous sponsorship for this from an anon. member. It would be worth the extra few miles I think. It really is a lovely venue. Right on the sea too.

Would there be a possibility for one of these forum concerts to be located in the South i.e. Portsmouth.
Leeds etc. is too far away for me to get to .
Might travel one day.....really want to go!!

Ask who would be interested and get together to organise one. I expect that there are lots of forumites in your area.

Two years ago I was wondering the same thing about a concert in the Greater Manchester area......

Both Farnborough (Kent) and Woodford are proposed southern events for 2008, and applications for the 2007 Woodford concert are now open.

don't suppose you know how far these places are from Portsmouth do you?

Both are London area : not 100% sure of distance, but it's certainly under 100 miles.

thanks - London might be okay (i'll check dates at some point)

I've added this to the first post petrat.

I can understand why non-forum members don't attend. If you haven't played in public before, it's a very scary thought. At least on here you feel as if you're amongst friends, you KNOW you're going to get support, and we all "egg each other on". Out in the real world, I doubt if I would have had the nerve, particularly at my level, to respond to a poster inviting me to go a play in a concert with complete strangers

Hopefully the FAQs and feedback comments on the site will help.
Along with trying to target teachers with concert publicity.
I get quite excited when I speak to peple about this and hope that my entusiasm will rub off.

Hopefully some of those who have attended and lived to tell the tale will pass it on and bring a friend.

Like I've said with the Bushy event if it's held in November, it's more difficult to commit to events during the winter if they're a long distance away (Anglesey 153m according to Google Earth, whereas Chester is only 83m). I'd like to come, it's just more difficult to commit in advance as I try to avoid travelling long distances if weather/travel conditions are bad.

If it involved an overnight stay, I don't think the member I came with last time would be able to come, due to family commitments.

Anglesey is impossible to do from my patch as a day trip, so I'd have to stay overnight, which may make things a little easier, in a way (no long trip on the day of the concert, and less worry about time deadlines to meet on the journeys there and back).

If it were a weekend I can do (and I know I've lost 2 weekends in January already to other events), I'd definitely like to come. I've not been to North Wales for years and I've never visited Anglesey!

I know it's not for want of effort or enthusiasm that non-forum members don't attend, but sadly I don't think that this necessarily does the trick.

In the run-up to the Leeds concert, I've told several of my non-forum instrument-playing friends about the concert, and about the forums, and tried to enthuse them into joining the forum and coming to the concert. The concert is also publicised in the college newsletter and on the college website. But not a single adult learner who is not currently a member of the forum has taken up the opportunity

I think whereas a lot of us have all got quite used to performing at forum concerts, to adult learners who are not used to performing, or have never performed, it's a strange and scary prospect, and only the regular encouragement from forum members overcomes the natural reaction that performing in public, for an adult learner who has perhaps only ever had individual lessons or even just taught themselves, is something which many people don't have the nerve to do - and if it hadn't been for this forum, I would have been one of them

Perhaps, as the various events multiply, more people will become aware of the various forum/AL/playday events, and more people will then 'take the plunge'.

Already 2007 is shaping up to be the busiest year yet for these events, and my guess is that 2008 will be even busier.

Onwards and upwards!

I hope so Barry

I should have posted the possible change of date message here instead of in the 2007 thread. Perhaps a better date for a meeting in Anglesey would be the first weekend in March to avoid the winter weather. Would this suit people better?

I did wonder about the thread - I assumed it was Addy who had posted it


My reply on the other thread was along the lines that given a choice I would prefer the March date and that I thought it wouldn't clash with KJ's proposed event in Feb or Barry's proposed event in late March/April. But if the decision is eventually January, I'll still try and come, but it's more difficult to commit

I think occasionally, people have joined the forum just to be eligible for forum events haven't they? Or did I imagine that?

Nothing to stop someone doing so if they so wish, though as others have pointed out, the adult learners' concerts have not been restricted to forum members.

I know I've already said this on the '07 thread, but I definitely won't be able to do the weekend of March 1/2 , but could manage March 8/9.

Ok. Anglesey forum weekend will be on the 8th and 9th of March. Rehearsals on Saturday morning, concert in the afternoon, something social in the evening and then a possible performance in a local stately home on the sunday morning for as many as can stay overnight. I shall start planning now!

Oh wow! You know how to tempt people to an overnight stay don't you

Will put it on my grid (yes I have a grid instead of a diary or a calendar, I like grids )


Thanks for this, hope lots of people will go

Oooh that sounds like fun, will be tempted!

excited *jumps up and down*.

I'm starting to nail down a couple of date possibilities for Farnborough - when everything's confirmed, I'll post the details either here or on the brand new 2008 forum calendar, coming this way soon.

(might have to compile that calendar sooner rather than later......)

Assuming I'm around weekend of 8th/9th and dependant on where I'm living, I can give lifts to anyone and offer somewhere to stay if needed.

That's a kind offer Nat.

I've got two dates in mind for April's Farnborough do - neither are Saturdays, sadly, as all the Saturdays in April are either too close to other forum events (26th), clashing with other events which'd take out large numbers of regular visitors to forum concerts (5th and 19th), or impossible for me to manage (12th).

The two dates I have in mind are the 13th (a Sunday) or the 18th (a Friday - most LEAs in the south of England at least are on holiday then, I know some though will have gone back to school by then).

Any preferences?

I might conceivably make a Friday (no guarantee) but travel wise I can't see me getting across for a Sunday.

Though of course those who live close by must have "first dibs" on voting for dates

At this stage I think I could make either of those. Sundays are usually free, and although I work full time I'm quite happy to take a Friday off and have a nice long weekend.

Does anyone know when AB publish the 2008 exam dates? I'm thinking particularly of the Theory exams which have an unchangeable date ....

2nd half of the year skylark, but with Easter very early in 2008, I'd think the three theory dates will be, roughly, in February, mid-June (last few years it's been the 3rd Saturday of the month) and early November.