I had to stop the last Post when I did, Lucy just could not be followed.

What a few weeks we’ve had, a new UK government with a record 300+ new Members of Parliament, football didn’t come home, and an attempted assassination on one of the US presidential candidates. What next? I’m not sure I want to know so let’s press on with our show.

Meeting Lucy (Post 160) was not our first time at the House of Commons this year, you’d think we were regulars. Not that I’d ever consider standing as a prospective MP. In March we attended an LPO event at Speaker’s House. A very different occasion and atmosphere to the one in Post 160, especially as then actual MPs were in situ, whereas in June there were none due to the General Election being called. The place was empty.

Now we’ve had the General Election and with any luck the chaos of the last few years will cease. It does appear that we have some grown ups in the place once again. Time will tell. For those who didn’t go back to Post 135 of April 2022, the song I referred to was Flanders and Swann’s ‘The English, The English, the English are best’, which I’m sure should be the rallying call for the Reform Party and their five MPs. Its official title is A Song of Patriotic Prejudice.

Back to the LPO and the three F’s. Not, for once, JD’s grandchildren, who you’ve heard about and seen a number of times throughout this blog, but the LPO’s Foyle Futures Firsts, young musicians hoping to become professional players. We are supporting the percussion player Tom Plumridge (we love a bit of noise). He’s also in a band called Big Smoke Brass – UK (not to be confused with Big Smoke Brass based in Canada). I’ve given you the link in case you fancy them for your next event. Certainly something different to impress your friends and family. I think their ‘roaming band’ could be fun. You can spot Tom in this link: he’s the one with the drumsticks!

Foyle Future Firsts

https://www.bigsmokebrass.co.uk/

Sticking with the LPO, we also attended an event at the newly re-opened National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in April. We were split into small groups with a guide and told about some of the sculptures and portraits in the gallery: Ralph Vaughn-Williams, Thomas Beecham (who founded the LPO in 1932), Samuel Coleridge Taylor, Edward Elgar, Henry Purcell and George Frideric Handel. You’ll have noticed that they were all musical. We’ll need to sponsor another charity to get to know about the non-musical people immortalised at the NPG.

Having faced the three-hour film Oppenheimer last year, we decided to go bigger, so in April we saw Gotterdammerung (Twilight of the Gods) by Wagner (the composer Richard, not the group operating in Russia). We entered the Royal Festival Hall for a 3 pm start and left at 9.30 pm. Admittedly there were two intervals, one of 75 minutes and one of 25, but it was a mammoth undertaking. We ate before, at Bentley’s, a very famous fish restaurant favoured by the good and great. And us.

In 2021 I had booked to see all of Wagner’s Ring Cycle over a week, a performance every other day, but circumstances meant no theatre going and since then they’ve gone through the Cycle on different dates which we’ve not been able to attend. Next I think is the full operatic presentation rather than the semi-staged performance we saw. I’m not tempted (yet?) to go to Bayreuth to the full non-stop performance which lasts about 15 hours. See Post 121 of 23rd April 2021 for more details. I think we need to train for that one. If one semi-staged part needs this many performers, how many for the full Cycle?

I’ve already told you about attending the LPO Gala Dinner last year and ‘winning’ four prizes. Our trip to Sotheby’s and being on stage at a final rehearsal with the LPO (Blog Post 154 dated 20th December 2023) were the first two.

At the dinner was a tango demonstration, a photo of this is today’s header. The third event we won was JD having a tango lesson with Lauren Oakley. We, being ignorant of celebrities, had never heard of her but if you watch a certain show on the BBC every autumn you might know of her. With all the fuss that’s been around it in the last few months, I’m not sure if ‘Strictly’ will be in the same format this year? If so I guess we’ll now feel obliged to watch and cheer on ‘our Lauren’.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/49659smpn858hH9FM9dVVJ/lauren-oakley

As someone coming for the North East, maybe the Northumbrian Rapper Sword dance is more JD’s style? (Not to be confused with rappers who make a sort of music. I do try to confuse you on a regular basis). I might just have to get him a session with them one day. As long as I steer clear of the swords they wave around.

https://www.rapper.org.uk/history.html

The final event was meant to be a cocktail making one-to-one lesson at Soma in London, close to Zedel mentioned at the beginning of Events Part 1 (Post 160). Due to commitments on both sides, we never managed to agree a date, so finally we decided just to go and try their cocktails out.

https://somasoho.com/

One afternoon recently we went to a matinee of ‘A View From The Bridge’ with Dominic West, a tragic play about obsession by Arthur Miller. Superb acting but we needed a drink to help us recover from the intensity, so continued to Soma. We sat at the bar in front of a really informative mixologist so we almost had our lesson, without the hard graft. They had twelve cocktails which were specialities of the house so we had to try them, right? We were very reserved, shared each one and missed out on two we didn’t much fancy. We did not manage to get any photos as it’s a VERY dark dungeon (club). So dark I had to use my torch to navigate down the stairs.

We went to this year’s LPO Gala Dinner, held at St John’s church Waterloo. I’d seen it occasionally when passing but never ventured inside. It has quite a history, if you can read this.

Inside was very airy and not at all as I’d expect of a church, although pre-dinner drinks in the vaults were more atmospheric. I’m pleased to say we resisted all temptation and did not attempt to win any of the auction lots. What am I going to write about next year?

While JD and I are blasting our brain cells with cocktails, Adie is trying to set us an example by practicing her yoga and doing the downward dog. And Polly.