Seafarers' Charity Concert

One thing I really love about the Welsh is how they love their music! Of course, at times, appreciation can be a trial at say, 11.30 pm when one is putting one's head on one's pillow and tuneless wonders are walking by sharing their joy, but it is cool to hear an audience begin softly singing along to great songs, like A Spoonful of Sugar, at a band concert. And it gets louder and louder... until it's like you're in the middle of a choir (especially during Rule Britannia).

Llandaff Rotary's President, Jack Ayles, and his wife invited me to a wonderful concert tonight. It was a fundraiser for Seafarers UK (or King George's Fund for Sailors as it was formerly called -- which name change appears to have caused some displeasure -- and performing were Her Majesty's Royal Marines, B.R.N.C. Dartmouth and The Pendyrus Male Choir. The Marine Band celebrated its centenary this year; the performance by the drum corps was amazing! How precise can you be? An 80 voice male choir is really lovely to hear -- my favorite song was a sea-shanty, What shall we do with the Drunken Sailor? This choir was founded during a period of poverty and mass unemployment in the 1920s by out-of-work coal miners. (Did not have camera with as was formal occasion and would have been foolish of me. Not to mention the fact that at the Christmas carol concert, I did not notice signage indicating the forbidden nature of film equipment of ANY SORT -- so, you are all lucky that i took my little flashless pictures inside St. David's Hall when i did.)

David Worrell and his wife Sonya collected me and we were invited to the VIP reception before the concert, which was hosted by the Lord Mayoress and Deputies, and in attendance was Lord-Lieutenant Norman Lloyd-Edwards (who I met at Llandaff International Evening earlier in the year). Our seats were VIP section as well and, along with welcomes to groups (like Rotary, etc.) was a special welcome to the guest from Louisiana! (blush).


Some crucial things I learned this evening:
The Indian was a more powerful & important motorcycle than Harley Davidson in early days. It's speed record on some salt flats somewhere has never been broken. Or maybe that was a person's record... anyhoo... when we start talking engines and 1800 ccs, I begin to glaze. Although, with polite and inquisitive smile on face.

Who knew that Heart and Oak had words? Why must we torment that poor composition at every graduation in the States? :) Why do we call it Pomp and Circumstance? I really hated that song until I heard it tonight.