I hadn’t really heard of Emily Smith before September. The brochure from The Stables arrived and I was looking through it to see who was on and the write up caught my eye. I typed in the link to her website and then listened to the tracks on the jukebox, I was hooked. We ordered her latest album ‘Too Long Away‘ and then became annoyed as it looked like the date she was playing was the same as the Classical Spectacular, typical! It was a couple of weeks before I realised my mistake, they were Saturday and Sunday, and ordered tickets for The Stables. She was playing Stage 2 at The Stables, which was going to be a new experience for us.

Since ordering the tickets, we had listened to this album a lot, it had become a firm favourite, both with us and the kids. At the beginning of October, we ordered the new album by Emily Smith and Jamie McClennan, ‘Adoon Winding Nith‘. This is released to celebrate the 250th  anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, and consists of songs written by or collected by Robert Burns. I had an email from Jamie letting me know that it had been posted mid October and soon that was also in regular circulation.

We headed up to Milton Keynes fairly late the evening of the concert, as it was a later start (at 8:45). I guess this offset the crowds; the main stage had Talon The Best of the Eagles, which was sold out. It was only going to be a small audience, Stage 2  holds 80 seated or 120 standing. When we went in, Stage 2 is a small venue, there were four seats either side of an aisle and I guess if my maths is right, 10 rows of seats. At the back of the room is a bar. We were in about the 4th row on the left, so a good view.

Jamie and Emily came in about quarter to nine and started their set. To be honest, I cannot remember all the songs or the order they were in; I was too busy enjoying it. They played some of our favourites such as Caledonia, Audience of Souls and Winter Song from Too Long Away, from Adoon Winding Nith, the title track, Silver Tassie, The Plooman and my favourite, Whistle Ower The Lave O It. They also played tunes from Jamie’s album ‘In Transit‘. At the interval I took the opportunity to buy Jamie’s album and some greeting cards. I was hoping that they would have Emily’s older albums, ‘A Day Like Today‘ and ‘A Different Life‘; I would have probably got Emily to sign them, oh well, I bought them from the website when we got home. I think the only song I wished they had sung and didn’t was ‘Old Mortality’; I think this is a lovely song. The second half added audience participation to the songs, which was great; the songs just cry out to be joined in with.

Emily and Jamie have a few more dates in Scotland this year and mid January before they head off on tour to New Zealand (Jamie’s birthplace) and Australia. They are back in the UK in April, so we might be able to catch them in Hitchin on 25th April.

Check out their music, you could be surprised.

Last Saturday A couple of weekends ago, we went down to the Royal Albert Hall in London to see the Classical Spectacular concert. We got the tickets back in April as it always sells out very quickly. It seemed a long way off at the time.

Anyway, on Saturday we went to the Music Centre as normal for the first two sessions and left at break time to take the instruments home. Then we drove over the Hemel Hempstead to catch the train. It takes about 25-30 minutes, which is similar to the time it would take to get to Luton Parkway station, however Hemel is much quieter and there is a huge carpark, so parking is never an issue. After buying our tickets, we only had to wait about 5 minutes for the next train to Euston; we were able to get seats without problem. The train was quick and clean, only stopping at Watford Junction on the way to Euston.

When we got to Euston, we headed for the Underground. This was the first slight variation to plan. I had already looked at the underground map and worked out we would pick up the Circle line at Euston and then get off at South Kensington, however, I didn’t look closely enough at the map. The Circle line stops at Euston Square not Euston. Now I know it’s only a couple of hundred yards between the two, but it was easier to just change our plans and take the Victoria line to Victoria and then the Circle line for two stops to South Kensington.

The tubes are always busy and still have a very Victorian feel about them, no matter what modernising occurs. The trains aren’t pristine and have a certain grubbyness about them. They are always overcrowded! I dread to think what the rest of the world will make of them in 2012 when we have the Olympics. We had to stand on the Victoria line for the 4 stops we needed and then changed onto the Circle line. We only had two stops to go, so standing wasn’t a problem. At the first stop, Sloane Square, some people got off which left seats for the kids and Jo. The man who was also sitting on that row of seats insisted that I have his seat, so that ‘Daddy can sit with the whole family’, even though I told him we only had one stop to go. Then, that thing that makes us Brits uncomfortable, he started to talk to me! He was talking about what I did for a living and about Romania where he comes from. I could see the looks on the people opposite me, it was ‘I’m glad he didn’t pick me’. He was pleasant enough, but we were glad to get off at the next stop.

When we came out of the underground at South Kensington, it was time to get something to eat. Before we travelled I had used Google Street View to explore the surrounding streets, so I knew that there were many eating options. We looked at the Pizza and Pasta restaurant next door to the tube station and liked the look of the menu and restaurant, so went in. We were going to order 4 garlic bread with cheese as starters, but the waiter advised against that and we just had 2. When they arrived they were like 8″ round pizzas, just made of garlic bread and covered in cheese; 2 were enough. A very nice start. The kids both had margherita pizzas to follow, Jo had lasagne and I had the Risotto di Mare. All were excellent. I love risotto and this was one of the best I have had, on a par with the one I had in Rome. The restaurant filled up very quickly, so I think we timed it well.

From here, we just had to walk straight up Exhibition Road. We passed the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum, must get back to take the kids there some time. Outside Imperial College there was a ‘living status’ and a fire-eater, which we watched for a minute or so, but had to press on. Passing some large wall height windows at Imperial College, the kids spotted a racing car by the window. When I got home, I read a tweet by Claudio Von Planta about the car. It seems that it will be converted to be an electric car and is part of Racing Green Endurance, a flagship project of Imperial College. They plan to drive the car up the Pan-America highway.

From the world’s southernmost city, Ushuaia, all the way to Prudhoe Bay on the north Alaskan coast, we will become the first electric car to travel the full 26,000km of the Pan American Highway!

We carried on part the college and kept going up to Kensington Road; we could have cut through Kensington Gore to get to the Royal Albert Hall, but I want to approach from the front. When we arrived, it was about 2:10 and the doors didn’t open until 2:15, so there were long queues outside it. We crossed over the road to see the Albert Memorial. I hadn’t seen it before and hadn’t realised how large it was. We met up with the friends that were going with us here and then I took the kids to walk around the memorial, before we headed back over the road.

We headed round the side of the hall as we had seats at the back in the choir (the ‘cheap’ seats). When I booked the seats, there was very little choice left, so we ended up with the back row of the choir. This turned out to be much better than I had been told(, and imagined). The choir is in a couple of blocks of seats, with one row at the back. The first block is 3 rows (which were filled by the Royal Choral Society), then a block of 5 rows, then our row. This meant that we were very close to the orchestra and had a clear view of both the orchestra and the conductor. We were also on the same level as the pipes of the organ. If you look on the virtual tour of the Royal Albert Hall, we were in the choir on the right of the organ, in the middle of the row behind the top barrier. This worked out to be a excellent place, we had a barrier in front of us, so we didn’t feel like we would fall onto the seats in front and there was an exit at the end of the row that we could use rather than using the stairs by the organ.

When the first piece ‘Sunrise from Also Sprach Zarathustra’ started, you could almost taste the low notes from the organ, they came up through the floor and you resonated with them.

The first half consisted of:

Sunrise from Also Sprach Zarathustra – Strauss

Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre – Wagner

The Liberty Bell March – Sousa

Zadok the Priest – Handel

Hungarian Dance No 5 – Brahms

Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffman – Offenbach

Great Gate of Kiev from Pictures at an Exhibition – Mussorgsky

Duet from the Pearl Fishers – Bizet

Rhapsody in Blue – Gershwin

Pomp and Circumstance March No 1 – Elgar

After the interval we restarted with O Fortuna from Carmina Burana and then there were some announcements. There were a couple of birthdays, a golden wedding anniversary and then someone sitting down in the arena proposed to his girlfriend (she said yes).

The second half consisted of:

O Fortuna from Carmina Burana – Orff

Song of the Toreador from Carmen – Bizet

Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco – Verdi

La donna ̬ mobile from Rigoletto РVerdi

Galop from William Tell – Rossini

The Blue Danube Waltz – Strauss

Jerusalem – Parry

Rule, Britannia! – Arne

Nessum dorma from Turandot – Puccini

1812 Overture – Tchaikovsky

During the 1812 Overture, Jo was listening with her eyes shut and nearly jumped out of her seat when the indoor fireworks went off.

It was an excellent show and thoroughly worth going. The acoustics were brilliant, and we had a good view of the orchestra, actually able to watch them, not just seeing the music stands in front of them.

When we came out it was raining and we headed off to get something to eat. Unfortunately everyone else had the same idea. Most of the restaurants were full or didn’t appeal to us. In the end we found another Italian restaurant down a side street. We ordered pizzas for the kids and I had a risotto again. The waiter said something about the pizza being rectangular in one pizza as it was easier for them to make that way and something about half a meter long, so I imagined a long thin pizza. No, this was enormous, about 0.5 m (20″) long and 0.25 m (10″) wide. The kids had a good try at it, but it was just too much. I wish the waiter had explained better, we would have only ordered 1 serving. My risotto was nice, but not as good as lunchtime.

We headed back onto the Underground and got to Euston about 8 o’clock. The next train that stopped at Hemel left at 20:34, so we had plenty of time. This was just as well; we got seats and settled down to wait. By the time the train left, it was absolutely rammed with no spare seats. We got home about 9:30, with two very tired kids.

KK let me know about his new album, The Magic Lantern and asked if I was interested in listening to a copy. I’ll be honest, I hadn’t heard of him before, so I started checking out the website link on his email, 21stCenturyGenius. He has worked with many artists including Bjork, Kylie, Britney Spears and of course the Mediaeval Baebes.

I googled ‘The Magic Lantern & KK‘ and found some samples on the Amazon website. After listening to the short samples, I liked what I had heard and went back to investigating KK’s site more. While reading the FAQs, I followed the link to KK’s blog, Thoughts from KK.. and got sucked into reading the posts there. I also checked out KKthemusic, which has details of his previous albums. Anyway, I emailed back and a couple of days ago the album arrived. I didn’t really get chance to listen to more than a couple of tracks as during the last couple of days I have been busy in the school installing software of the new computers that were installed over the summer and come the evenings I have been shattered.

Anyway, back to the album. The tracks of the album relate to the story written by KK on the inside of the insert. The story is of a girl, Aoide, who doesn’t speak words, only pure song. Esther Dee from the Baebes is the vocals for Aoide. The first thing that surprised me was how electronic a sound the album had; nothing wrong with that, I just wasn’t expecting it.

• Aoide. An almost bell like accompaniment is provided to Esther’s single vocal notes.
• Carousel. This is a lively track, very upbeat. As it progresses the music grows.
• Pioneers. I’ll be honest, I don’t like this track. For me the sound is too synthesized and penetrating. A couple of minutes in it slides into another tune for 30 seconds and then returns to the original.
• Cirque Du Lac. This is a mutilayered layered track, with a fast beat. As it moves into the violin accompaniment towards the end, it quietens and slows down.
• The Magic Lantern. This is more an accompanied vocal track with Esther’s vocals returning lightly supported. It is a much slower track than the previous few.
• Mermaid. This starts off fairly quiet until a minute in when the drum beat takes a more prominent part. The vocals return after a couple of minutes as the piece swells. Three quarters of the way through, the whole dymantics of the piece changes, the beat slows right down and it fades away to nothing.
• Rhapsody. The violin starts this piece and I really like this. It has a slow flowing rhythm that grows in volume throughout.
• Desert Isle. This has a fast beat and guitar and has a Spanish feel to it. It sounds like a trumpet as well, but I’m not sure.
• Into the Jungle. I don’t know what to say about this piece. It was too busy for me. Too many competing tunes and rhythms.
• Lazarus. This piece starts off slowly and quietly, before building. The vocals come in after a couple of minutes and the volume of the piece increases as it heads towards the finale. Just over halfway through, the original vocal theme is briefly reprieved. At the end it slowly fades away.

Would I have gone out and bought this album off my own back? Probably not. Did I enjoy the album? Yes, overall, yes I have. There is one track that just doesn’t work for me, but overall the album works. The more I listen to it, the less electronic it sounds. I guess you just have to persist with it and not take it at first impressions. I’ll have to investigate KK’s previous albums at some time.

I wish him best of luck with the album and appreciate the opportunity to listen and provide my feedback.

The album is released on 9th September 2009 and is available for pre-order from KKthemusic.

We bought a copy of the new DVD (Live at Gloucester Cathedral) that has just been released when we got there; I figured it would be quieter early on. It was a lot busier last night than when we were first here, but we still had good seats, the first 2 on the second row. While we were waiting for them to come on, we were looking at the selection of instruments on stage. On the microphone stands were their recorders. We tried to work out what was there. The closest to us, on the left end of the stage had a descant and what looked like a treble, further round there were what looked like other trebles and finally at the right side, where Katharine usually is, there was a descant, treble and what looked small enough to be a garkleine. As we have seen her play that before, it was a certainty that Katharine would be stood there. In front of the closest microphone was a drum and a violin. At the back of the stage from left to right there was a drum kit with a pair of large drums one on top of the other in front. Then there were a couple of stringed instruments, I’ll admit I don’t know what they were, maybe a mandola? Next to this I could see a bass recorder and something else a bit shorter, maybe a tenor recorder, it was difficult to see, and finally a guitar on the right.

The baebes came on dressed in long white flowing dresses, even Katharine. The last time we same her at the Joust, in 2006, she was pregnant, but this time it was a case of only days to go. I’m not sure she looked too comfortable in the fairly tight dress. There are currently six baebes; from left to right we had Emily Ovenden, Bev Lee Harling, Claire Rabbitt, Esther Dee, Melpomeni Kermanidou and Katharine Blake. This is a change from my last post with the line-up. In September 2007, Sofia Escobar left the baebes to join the West End production of the Phantom of the Opera and Esther Dee joined. In December 2007, Maxine Fone left to pursue other career opportunities. Anyway back to the concert. I can’t honestly remember which songs were sung in which order; I went to enjoy myself not provide a concert writeup. There was a good selection of earlier material, all beautifully sung. When Claire introduced Undrentide she talked about them all dressed in white pretending to be virgins, that brought a laugh from the audience, even more so when Katharine, remember nearly 9 months pregnant, said ‘Rabbitt, why are they laughing at me’.

Katharine was on the right side of the stage and whenever she was playing recorder she faced our way, more or less looking straight at us. It was great to watch the recorder playing as well as listen to the singing. I think their recorder playing is partly what inspired me to start again. After the break, they came back on in red flowing dresses and part of the way through, while the excellent instrumental section was provided, they changed into very dark green. The last dress looked most comfortable for Katharine.

As I mentioned there was a selection of earlier material including Salva Nos, Foweles in the Frith, Kinderly, How Death Comes, The Snake, The Rose, The Sour Grove, Musa Venit Carmine and Return of the Birds. From the new album we had Desert Rose, The Blacksmiths, I Sing of a Maiden, The Undivided, My Lady Sleeps, Yonder Lee, Sunrise and Myrie Songen. I might have missed one or two others. Yonder Lee makes a great alternative to Dringo Bell, it’s that same sort of lively beat. We had audience participation in Sunrise, joining in with ‘Sunrise’ in time to Claire Rabbitt’s cues. I was really glad that when they came back on for the encore they sang my current favourite, The Undivided. I don’t know what it is about it, I just love it.

I must at this point compliment the musicians who provided the accompaniment to the baebes. Ben Woollacott on drums, Frank Moon on the fretted instruments (still don’t know what – Cittern, and Oud from the album credits), Rebecca Dutton on recorders, mediaeval fiddle and psaltery and Kavus Torabi on guitar. They were excellent. I’ll admit that I didn’t watch them much, too busy watching and listening to the baebes, but I did watch Rebecca accompanying on recorder a few times.

After the encore, we left our seats quickly to get back out to the reception area. I bought a copy of Celtic Legend’s album Lyonesse and just as I was finishing paying for it the baebes came out to sign cds and as they put it ‘anything else within reason’. I was quick off the mark and was second or third in the queue, so I got the cover of the DVD signed (I already had a signed album) and I got Emily to sign the copy of Lyonesse. I did ask when we would see another song book and Katharine answered me. She is working on a songbook of her a cappella works and it will include some of the baebes material. She estimated it would be about 3 months time – she’ll be a bit busy before then. That’s understandable! It’s a shame that there isn’t a book of the recorder parts for the songs, they would be great to learn. I guess I’ll have to listen harder to the tracks and try to work them out. About 5 minutes later when we finally left, the queue for signing was about 15-20 minutes long I guess. I’m glad I got there when I did.

We put the Lyonesse CD on for the drive home and enjoyed what we heard of it. A brilliant night out. We’ll have to keep an eye out for anything that they will be at during the daytime, so that we can take the kids. They really enjoy the music and have missed seeing them at the Joust.

Just a brief aside on the history of The Stables.

Wavendon Allmusic Plan Ltd (WAP), a registered charity, was founded in 1969 by the world-renowned jazz musicians Dame Cleo Laine and Sir John Dankworth, with an aim to provide a centre of musical activity which would break down barriers between music genres and introduce music to as many people as possible regardless of age or social background.

The vision was realised with the development of The Stables Theatre, in some outbuildings at their home, as a venue for concerts and education activities. In October 2000, the new Stables Theatre opened its doors on a 398 seat auditorium which now presents over 200 concerts and over 200 education sessions each year.

So about 5 minutes before it was due to start, we went through the entrance to the auditorium and made our way down to the front row. We had seats one and two and were sat about 5 foot from the stage. The stage was only slightly raised, about a foot, so you felt that you were almost on stage. They weren’t fully booked for the event, only the main seating area was full, the side areas weren’t used.

Anyway, we were here to see The Mandolinquents, who I had described in an earlier post as a quartet of mandolin players. I had subsequently, done some more reading about them and realised that that was not quite right. The Mandolinquents consist of Simon Mayor, Gerald Garcia, Hilary James and Richard Collins. Before I booked the tickets, I knew nothing about them, so I had to check out their website to find the following:

Simon Mayor is one of the world’s leading mandolinists as well as a fine fiddle player, guitarist, composer and wit. His live performances are a riot of humourous anecdotes and off-the-cuff wit alongside dazzling musicianship. Gerald Garcia’s reputation is confirmed as one of the world’s finest guitarists. In September 1995 he toured four Chinese cities in a duo with guitarist John Williams. Hilary James may be best known for her fine singing, but she also takes her place in the Mandolinquents pounding the mighty mandobass. By his mid-teens Richard Collins was much in demand at bluegrass festivals and arts centres in his native Hampshire. Now highly regarded as a mandolinist and guitarist, he is also one of the hottest (and subtlest) 5 string banjo players around.

They came out on stage and without so much as an introduction, started into their repertoire. Wow, they can play. It was stunning. They started with Apanhei-Te Cavaquinho by Nazareth, but after that, I can’t remember what order anything was played or in which half, but it was a full selection crossing many genres. We had Pizzicato by Delibes, Song of India by Rimsky-Korsakov, Loch Lomad wonderfully sung by Hilary James, Rigaudon by Grieg, Will You Come to the Bower by John Clare sung by Hilary James, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy by Tchaikovsky, Beat Out That Rhythm on a Drum from the musical Carmen Jones, Cheek to Cheek by Irvin Berlin, Russian Rag and The Piccolino.  The songs were interspersed with bit about the tunes and songs from any of the members. There was also a lovely Chinese tune lead by Gerald Garcia and a banjo and fiddle piece with Simon and Richard.

They finished off with an encore of The Spider in the Shed. This is one of over fifty pieces that Simon and Hilary had written for children and is available through their website ChildrensMusic.co.uk. They even had us, the audience, joining in with the chorus.

At the break half way through, we bought some of the CDs and DVDs that were available. Jo wanted a copy of the New Celtic Mandolin and ended up getting the CD, DVD and book. We also got a copy of the current album Dance of the Comedians and Hilary James’ Love, Lust & Loss album. Jo asked Gerald Garcia about a support he had on his guitar. It is a gitano, and allows you to play with your feet flat and without a footstool by raising the guitar. He said it takes a bit of getting used to, but it is worth trying. We’ll have a look around and get one to try.

It was a very enjoyable evening and I would thoroughly recommend going along to see them if you get the chance.

I have finally got around to putting up a piece of our work, so here it is.

Scarborough Fair & When I’m Sixty Four

Urban Orchestra is a large community musical project involving South Bedfordshire District Council, Orchestras Live and Bedfordshire Youth and Music Services, working together with the Orchestra of the Swan to deliver high quality community work in towns and villages in South Bedfordshire.

Although the programme of events is diverse, ranging from a full classical concert at the new Grove Theatre, Dunstable to workshops in primary schools, a major feature of the activity is the evolution of the Urban Orchestra. This was launched on 2 November 2008 at the Grove Theatre in a concert by Orchestra of the Swan.

The Urban Orchestra is made up of groups of young people who work together with the professional musicians to compose a piece of original music, culminating in them performing it alongside the Orchestra of the Swan at the Grove Theatre on 18th April 2009. These groups will include Gifted and Talented young musicians, students with Special Needs and local young people who are sometimes hard to reach or difficult to engage.

It is an exciting way for local young people to explore classical music, and a Youth Steering Group has been working hard to organise the project. You can follow their progress on www.myspace.com/urbanorchestra08

A parallel strand of activity, Rural Rhythms, will see small ensembles from Orchestra of the Swan perform in village venues across the district. Over 2,000 young people and rural residents will be involved in the project over the next six months.

Orchestras Live forged the Orchestra of the Swan residency in South Bedfordshire in 2007, and has supported its development throughout the detailed planning, delivery and evaluation process, as well as building a funding partnership and leading on the fundraising strategy.

On Saturday 21st March between 10am – 2pm at the Grove Theatre Dunstable, the Urban Orchestra have an Open House.

There is an invite to drop in and see local young people from the Urban Orchestra project rehearsing their music with The Orchestra of the Swan. Chat to the orchestra’s players, Artistic Director, and the young people taking part. Have a go at drumming and music workshops with Beds Music Service.
Two groups from the Dunstable Music Centre have been invited to play during the event. We have a slot between 1pm-1:15pm.

The two groups are handchimes and recorder consort, the later both Jo and I are involved in. We have been practising Scarbourgh Fair and When I’m Sixty Four for the music school concert the following weekend and will play these pieces at the Grove next weekend. I’m still getting the grips with the bass recorder and remembering the treble/bass fingering, but I’m sure it will all be fine on the day.

Also at The Stables are The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. We saw them last year in Aylesbury and they were brilliant, so we knew we had to get tickets again. As they were playing in June, I didn’t check this morning to see if I could book tickets. I was surprised this evening to find the tickets on sale already, and knowing that they will sell out quickly, I have snapped up a pair of front row tickets.

While checking out other acts on at The Stables, we came across The Mandolinquents, who are a quartet of mandolin players. Jo plays the mandolin and one of her tutor books is by Simon Mayer who is in the Mandolinquents. It looks like they will be a good evening as well, so the final set of tickets for tonight. I think we might be the first to order tickets, seats 1 &2 on the front row.

Before Christmas, I ordered 2 books from the Aikido Journal website, Traditional Aikido Volumes 1 & 2 by Morihiro Saito. These were books that Jo and I used to clarify our techniques many years ago; we never owned them, but were looking after someone’s library for them. The originals were printed in the 1970s and had been out of print for many years. Occasionally, you would see one or more of the 5 volumes on Ebay, but they would go for in excess of £100, usually a lot more. In early November, Aikido Journal announced that Volume 1 was available immediately. This was a brand-new edition done in the exact style and format of the original books by Saito Sensei. These are hardcover volumes made for durability featuring a semi-gloss paper like the originally published volumes. Anyway, back to the problem, after completing the order for volume 1 and confirming my credit card details, instead of a confirmation, I got a series of database errors displayed. I left a message detailing the problem on the contact form and within a few hours I had received an email back from Stanley Pranin, the editor-in-chief of Aikido Journal, confirming that they had received my order and that it should be shipping on the Monday. I had the same problem when pre-ordering volume 2 and had the same swift response and confirmation.

For Christmas, I bought Jo a wooden treble recorder. About 2.5 years ago, when we were at Joust 2006, Jo bought a wooden descant (soprano) recorder. It was a Mollenhauer Adri’s Dream in pearwood and has a lovely tone. She has been playing the treble (alto) for a couple of years now and decided that she wanted to get a nice one; the Adri’s Dream one would be just right. I checked our normal source of musical instruments, Hobgoblin, but they didn’t have it listed. So I turned to Google and that turned up Elida Trading in Hudderfield. This is run by husband and wife, Elizabeth and David Ward. I had already come across Liz’s name on recorder/music forums when I had checked out an Ebay seller ‘elizabethward’ a few years ago. I dropped them an email and had a response within ten minutes suggesting a convenient time to ring that afternoon. Within a few minutes that afternoon, the recorder was ordered and credit card details were left. A couple of weeks later, the recorder arrived and it was exactly as expected. The little problem was noticing an extra charge on my credit card bill a week later. It turns out that someone with a similar order added an item to their order, but it got charged to our card – an honest mistake. Within about 3/4 of an hour of being notified of the problem, it had been refunded. Great service, both for the original order and the customer support.

Then there is how not to do it!

I replaced the Manfrotto 115 head on my photographic tripod with a better Manfrotto 488RC2 ball head before Christmas and decided to treat myself to a new monopod and head so that I could use the same quick release plate on the camera. After much research into the different options, I decided on the Manfrotto 681B monopod with 234RC tilt head. Being 6’1″, I needed a monopod that provided at least the same height as my existing Velbon monopod, 165cm, and the 681 fitted the bill at 161cm plus the head. I looked around to find the best price and found that although most places were about £70, Bristol Cameras were £10 cheaper. The site looked professional and I got an automated confirmation of my order that evening. On the Monday morning, I received another email confirming that my order had been printed off and that I would be updated if there was any delay or when the parcel shipped. In the details for the monopod is the following Q&A:

Question: Is the Manfrotto 681 Monopod in stock?

Bristol Cameras Answer: As per most accessories listed on this website we do not have the resources to maintain stock info on several thousand smaller items. We keep many of the accessories on our site in stock and even if we don’t have the Manfrotto 681 Monopod in stock, it is likely that it will be available from suppliers within 48 hours. However, If there is a problem obtaining this product, we will inform you of the delay within 48 hours.

So this was looking good, it should be shipping on Wednesday unless I hear otherwise.

Friday 12th December

Having had no confirmation of delay or shipment, I replied to the confirmation email asking for an update on my order. At the same time I started googling Bristol Cameras to see if there were any posts about them. I wish I had done so before placing my order. The posts on about Bristol Cameras on Review Centre seem to fall into two camps, those who had a great experience (the item was in stock and they got a quick delivery) and those who had a bad experience (the item was out of stock, they were told nothing and kept waiting for their goods).  There are other posts on forums about people being let down by Bristol Cameras, so I should have done my research first from the look of it. Oh well, maybe mine will be fine.

Tuesday 16th December

I received the following generic reply to my email:

We are experiencing a very high amount of orders during this very busy period of the year, there “are” delays with both goods being sent to our customers as well as suppliers sending goods to us. We will inform you of any “major” delays” e.g. if you will receive your order for Christmas. If you have not heard from us within 1 week of placing your order, please phone direct to query. Online and mail order is not open on weekends.

Yes there are delays but the majority of our orders will be sent in the quickest time possible.

Please call us to query further…the lines are very busy we are aware of this, but as it stands this is the best way to get in contact with us

So that didn’t really answer my question then.

Wednesday 17th December

I rang them, they weren’t joking about the lines being busy, it took over an hour to get through. I was told that they were expecting a delivery from their supplier that day and that my order would be shipped within a couple of days, so OK, not brilliant communication, but at least I knew it was imminent.

Thursday 18th December

Then I got the following email:

Apologies we have run out of this item and have been informed by our supplier that this item is out of stock and is on back order with no E.T.A, we will keep your order live unless you wish to cancel sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Great, so I’ll have to find another source.

Friday 19th December

I rang them and cancelled the order. By 11:00 I had confirmation that the order was cancelled:

Your order has been cancelled and no funds have been charged to your card. Sorry that we could not help you on this occasion.

I placed a new order with Digital Depot, who had confirmed by 12:30 that my order would be shipped that day. Finally, it’s all sorted.

WRONG! At 16:50, ten minutes before they closed, Bristol Cameras sent an email saying that the items had already been sent that morning and that it was too late to cancel.

Saturday 20th December

The order from Digital Depot arrived in the morning, so at least I finally had my monopod and head. It was well packaged and complete, good communication and service. Thanks.

Sunday 21st December

The order from Bristol Cameras arrived. On investigation, the printout of the credit card transaction enclosed with the order showed that it hadn’t been shipped in the morning, the transaction didn’t take place until 12:31, over 1.5 hours after it was confirmed cancelled. Not happy again!

Monday 22nd December

I rang them again to get it resolved. They agreed that an error had occurred and that they would give me a full refund including return postage. I was to ship the package back by Recorded Delivery, so that there was tracking on the package. Fortunately, it was the week before Christmas, so Jo had already finished work and would be able to get it posted on the Tuesday. I enclosed a letter detailing the issues and what had been agreed.

Tuesday 23rd December

Jo took the parcel to the Post Office for me. In the end it was too long to go Recorded and so had to go Parcel 48. I sent an email that evening confirming the letter and letting them know the cost and tracking number.

Friday 2nd January

I checked the Parcelforce website and confirmed that it had been delivered back to Bristol Cameras on 29th December. I checked my credit card on-line and confirmed that I hadn’t received the refund. I rang them and eventually got through (…beginning to see a pattern here) and was told that it was a busy time of year and that they had a large pile of returned and exchange goods to be dealt with (with their customer service, I’m not surprised) and that I would get my refund by the end of the following week. I wasn’t happy, but accepted that it would occur.

Tuesday 20th January

I checked my credit card on-line again to find that the refund still hadn’t occurred. I sent an email that night requesting an update, but decided that I needed to also ring up and speak to someone.

Wednesday 21st January

I rang them only to be told that the pile of returns had been cleared, but that the person dealing with them was out for the day. If I gave it a couple more days I’d see my refund.

Friday 23rd January

I rang again, they must have had the phone off the hook as I tried continuously from 2pm to 3pm and it was permanently engaged. When I got back from picking the kids up from school I tried several more times before finally getting through at 4:30pm. I was told that it takes a few days for a refund to show up on the card and that I should give it a couple more days.

I know by now that I am being given the run around, but will give them the benefit of the doubt, one last time. If my credit card is not showing a refund by Tuesday evening, I will contact the credit card company to dispute the transaction.

Monday 26th January

This afternoon, I got the read receipt showing that they had read the email I sent last Tuesday. About par for the course. I checked the credit card, but no refund yet, the only pending transaction was the service for my car that afternoon.

Like anyone who has a issue with an order, I accept that sometimes mistakes are made or things go wrong. It’s how this is dealt with that makes the difference. If someone takes ownership of the problem and provides good feedback, it gives you confidence in their abilities and understanding of the situation. Swift resolution gives you the confidence that if there are issues, you won’t be the one doing all the running around. Although I had minor issues with my purchases from Aikido Journal and Elida Trading, their professional approach to dealing with these issues inspires confidence and I would use them both again in the future without any doubts. On the other hand the total ‘ignore the customer’ approach of Bristol Cameras is inexcusable in any company trying to maintain a customer base. I know my order was small, only £60, but any customer should be important, not just the ones spending hundreds of pounds. My experiences with them have been communicated at work with all those into photography. Some of the people had seen the prices and considered using them, but no longer. Although the hassle dealing with them was immense, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have prevented some other people from befalling my fate.

Sorry about any weird changes of tense, this post has been written retrospectively and over several days as the lack of resolution progressed. I didn’t want to spoil any chance of a successful resolution by posting before the end. Any updates past this point will be added as they occur.

Tuesday 27th January

The refund is not showing on my credit card, so I will need to contact my credit card company to get this resolved. Their department for dealing with unrecognised transactions closed at 17:00, so I will probably have to wait until Friday afternoon to call them. I’ll try ringing Bristol Cameras tomorrow.

Wednesday 28th January

The number was engaged when I tried calling them and I didn’t get another chance.

Friday 30th January

I checked one last time to see if the refund had occurred, no surprise to find it hadn’t. I then tried for 30 minutes to call them one last time; it was permanently engaged. I then rang my credit card to dispute the transaction. I got through to a very helpful person who took the details of my problem and tried to ring Bristol Cameras herself. They have to give it 30 days before they get involved, but as that has passed they are able to help. She had no more luck than I did, so in the end she is sending me a claim form that I have to complete and return with copies of any documentation that I have. They will only be able to refund the £59.99, the £10.99 postage will be what I end up paying for trying to save £10 by shopping with a dis-organised and unprofessional outfit.

Wednesday 4th February

The claim paperwork arrived from MBNA. Looking at the declaration I have to sign, it indicates that I have a refund voucher from Bristol Cameras. I am therefore unable to sign this as it is incorrect. The form says that I must not change the wording, so I will have to ring MBNA on Friday to clarify what I have to do.

Friday 6th February

I tried ring Bristol Cameras again in the afternoon to see if I could get resolution, you have to give me points for persistence. As usual they were permanently engaged. I rang MBNA and explained my problem with the declaration. I was told to explain the situation on the back of the form and sign that instead. I did this and posted the form back recorded delivery with printouts of all the letters and emails that I had related to this.

Thursday 12th February

I had a phone call from MBNA to say that need a refund voucher to credit the card, it’s Mastercard rules. They had spoken to Bristol Cameras and Simon was investigating what had happened. She would call him back and conference me in so that if he had any questions we would be able to resolve them. Needless to say, they never answered the phone, so we had to give up.

Friday 13th February

MBNA rang again and reconfirmed that without a refund voucher from Bristol Cameras they would not be able to refund. She had been trying to get through to Bristol Cameras before she called me and was unable. As I had placed the order and then cancelled it, the refund is in Bristol Cameras hands. So if they carry on ignoring me, there is nothing MBNA can do. She would put the dispute on hold for another 14 days while I have to try to get a refund voucher from Bristol Cameras.

With nothing to loose, I tried ringing Bristol Cameras until I got through after about 10 minutes. I spoke to Richard who took ownership of the problem. He took all my details from the original order number, to the ParcelForce tracking number and the cost of return postage. He apologised for the problems with the mail order department; evidently they have now employed more staff. He went away to investigate, and true to his word he rang me back about an hour later. He confirmed that the goods had been received back and was most apologetic as somehow the paperwork had been overlooked. He confirmed that the refund was being processed that day. He could not confirm if the return postage would be covered as the cancellation was on the same day the order was shipped. Apparently the way Bristol Cameras work is at 4pm they enter all the shipment details for the day on their computer system. This of course makes a mockery of my confirmed cancellation as no-one checked this before the end of the day. I am sort of hopeful that this time the refund will actually happen.

Sunday 15th February

I checked on-line to find that I have really had a refund from Bristol Cameras. Unfortunately only for £54.99, the cost of the goods. So as it stands I am down the cost of outgoing and return postage, £15.99. If I hadn’t been told to return the goods for a full refund including return postage, I would have been better off selling them on Ebay. However, I was originally told by Bristol Cameras that I would get all my money back, so I’ll have to ring them again.

Monday 16th February

I rang Bristol Cameras again today and explained my issue with the refund of postage. My details were taken so that he could investigate and get back to me. That was at ten past 11. As I’m now at home writing this up, it’s safe to say that it didn’t happen before the end of the day.

Wednesday 18th February

After giving them another day to get back to me, I rang Bristol Cameras again this morning. I spoke to the same person as Monday (and several previous calls) and asked for the update he was going to provide me with on Monday. He explained how busy he had been and that he would investigate and get back to me later in the day. I pressed him for a shorter time-scale and he said that he would investigate and get back to me within the next 30 minutes. I was quite surprised when he rang back after about 10 minutes. I was told that ‘I didn’t get a refund on the postage as according to the letter I had enclosed with the goods I had returned them because I no longer required them’. When I read out the letter I had send to him over the phone, he admitted that the wrong details had been entered on their computer system. They would have to find their copy of the letter to confirm and then sort the refund. I asked if this would include my postage cost for returning the goods and was told that they would need to see proof of the costs. At this point I offered to email them a copy of the letter that I had enclosed as well as a scan of the proof of posting (with the postage cost on it). This was agreed as a good suggestion and I was provided with an email address and told what to include in the email. I sent this off this morning and hadn’t heard anything by the time I left work this evening.

Thursday 19th February

I had an email from Bristol Cameras to say that this was being discussed with management today as he had been out yesterday.

Monday 23rd February

I emailed Bristol Cameras for an update.

Tuesday 24th February

I had an email saying that my refund was being done today and apologising for the way it had been handled. I was assured that if I ever chose to order from them again, it wouldn’t be the case in the future.

Saturday 28th February

I had a sales receipt today from Bristol Cameras for the refund of my postage. It was for £13.94, not quite the £15.99 that I was due, but close enough that I can’t be bothered to pursue this any more. After checking on-line, this has also appeared on my credit card, so it’s finally over.

I’ve been shopping online for over 10 years now and can safely say that this has been my worst online shopping experiance ever. I did eventually get most of my money back, but all in all it took 10 weeks and numerous telephone calls and emails to resolve this. I pity anyone else who buys from Bristol Cameras expecting more than cheap box shifting of in-stock items.

First we will start with the smallest member. I have had my Aulos sopranino recorder for over 30 years, since I played it at lower school. It isn’t the smallest member of the recorder family, that honour goes to the garkleine which is only 6 inches (16 cm) long. At 10 inches (25 cm), it is quite small and high enough pitched for me though. It isn’t without it’s injuries, I managed to break the foot joint within a week of getting it and it has been glued in the set position ever since.

Next up is the descant recorder, also known as the soprano. It is about 13 inches (32 cm) long. I still have my original Dolmetsch descant, which wasn’t new when I got it about 35 years ago. However, compared to the tone of modern plastic recorders, it leaves a lot to be desired. When I started going to beginner recorders, I borrowed Jo’s Aulos descant and got on fairly well with it. One day I borrowed her plastic Mollenhauer Adri’s Dream, this is the plastic equivalent of her pearwood recorder. I really enjoyed playing it, the holes are slightly different to a usual plastic recorder and I found it easy to play, so a couple of months ago I treated myself, after all it wasn’t expensive. The descant is the recorder most people (at least in the UK) start to learn on and is the one I’ve played the most.

The next size up is the treble, also known as the alto. It is 19 inches (48 cm) long. Again, my Dolmetsch treble is no spring chicken, being over 30 years old, probably more. Also again, it doesn’t compare to modern instruments. When Jo started to learn the treble, she asked me to get her a cleaning rod for a treble, as mine didn’t have one. As I started looking around, I found that I could get a secondhand treble (with the requested cleaning rod) off Ebay for very little cost. I managed to pick an Aulos 309-E up for about £10 I think and the tone is so much better. I haven’t played more than a couple of notes on the treble for about 30 years, although at the time it was my favourite recorder.

About 7 weeks ago at music school, we were working out a harmony to Jingle Bells for the concert and it was suggested that harmony 2 would sound better on a tenor. Next thing I knew I had volunteered to give it a go. The tenor was bigger than anything I had played before, 25 inches (65 cm) long and the one I borrowed wasn’t a keyed version, which was a real stretch on the right hand, especially as the piece had low c and c sharps. Oh well, in at the deep end. During the following week, I looked around and ended up getting myself a Aulos keyed tenor. It has made the low notes easier to reach, but my hand still aches a bit after playing. It’s getting better. Playing the descant seems very small at the moment.

At about the same time as I started on the tenor, Jo mentioned that the music school had a bass recorder. Hmm, that sounds like fun. We tried to find it a couple of weekends ago, but couldn’t put our hands on it. I thought about it and looked about and thought some more, before splashing out on a Woodnote bass recorder. It is matt black which I think looks great. It is slightly offset and has sling to help support it. As it has keys to make playing easier, it is actually easier to play than the tenor, less of a stretch. Overall the bass is about 3 feet long, mine has a bent or ‘knick’ neck which makes it easier to reach.

Well that’s the end of my recorder family, but not the family itself. That continues on down with the Great Bass (about 4 feet tall), Contra Bass (6 feet tall), Sub Contra Bass (8-9 feet tall) and Sub Sub Contra Bass (the pipe if straight would be about 12 feet long).

It is a bit sad that the recorder is seen as a child’s instrument to be given up when they are old enough to play a ‘proper’ instrument. I am thoroughly enjoying playing it and am suprised how much has just clicked back into place after so long a break. On Saturday, we had the Music School Christmas concert, which was held this year in the Priory Church. This was a great experiance for the kids (and adults). The 2 recorder groups both played, with the junior recorders accompanying the beginners for Jingle Bells before we played De Virgin Mary on our own.