Chris’s Clog
Christopher’s Clog -
Apparently, it is deemed sad that my role model in life is Sir Andrew Davis; even more sad, evidently, that when younger, I would pretend to be him giving the speech at the Last Night of the Proms.
Interestingly (minus the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the commandingly suave facial
hair) I now find myself in the position of actually GIVING the speech at the Last
Night of the Proms! I would argue that, had Sir Henry Wood been aware of the erstwhile
non-
Of course, the lofty burden now placed upon my head is to actually write the maiden speech! As I’m sure you have worked out by now, I am no stranger to the concept of writing/talking/making noise of any description (aptly demonstrated by my bassoon impression in the rehearsal last week, which I believe was pretty accurate!) but I must admit I’ve started the speech several times all of which found their way to the bin rather quickly.
I have therefore decided to seek inspiration in the garden, my sanctuary between the months of June and September. I am equipped for all British eventualities; I have a ‘parasol’ for rain, a jumper for ice, sleet, hail, and tornados, and Radio 4 for sunshine (R.I.P. Humph and Mornington Crescent). The great outdoors were the inspiration for a symphony of Beethoven; Wordsworth even managed to write an entire poem about a feeble daffodil, so it has to be able to provide me with enough material for one little speech!
No… the only thing I’ve inspired so far is the neighbours’ cat, to leave.
The ‘cellos of the Pelly Concert Orchestra are notorious! Firstly, when I arrived, they all started giving birth (with the exception of Lynda, who as section principal wasn’t allowed, and Clive, who is more than welcome to try!) Now they’re all getting married! Sarah recently ran away to become Mrs Sarah, and now Lynda is at it! I’m not entirely sure what there is left for them collectively to do, but I look forward to finding out.
In other news, you know you’ve made it when you hit the big time on the radio! Radio Hartley Wintney will be broadcasting our advert for the proms concert at the end of June (if you haven’t heard the extended version, tune in on the website under the Concert Diary section). Unfortunately, EMI studios were busy, so Mike and I had great fun turning the entire top floor of his house in to a recording studio for the afternoon.
Right, back to writing the speech… ‘Friends, Romans, Countrymen’: no, a little too unoriginal, I fear!
Until next time, kind regards,
Chris
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