Kettle Bridge Concertinas

 

Paul's invisible baton is working well!

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Report by Karen.

This event has become an annual one and it’s a friendly collaboration between Kettle Bridge and SqueezEast Concertinas, a concertina band based in East Anglia. We meet in Marks Tey, near Colchester, as this is approximately equidistant from our two bases in Kent and Norwich. Both bands provide some music suitable for all to play and Paul Barrett leads the day. Unfortunately, on this occasion he forgot to bring his conductor’s baton but he had a very commanding hand that worked well to keep us all in order!

Our music selection included Ain't Misbehaving, Dambusters, Jungle Book, Do You Hear the People Sing, and Magnificent Men while SqueezEast had selected Paul’s brilliant arrangements of We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Rag Pudding Rag, Inisheer, and The Lass of Aughrim with the addition of Sharon Pointer’s arrangement of The Old Bazaar in Cairo.

There was a great variety of musical styles and ability levels, so there was something for everyone to enjoy playing. In addition, the full sound created from a bigger band was most rewarding.

Cake once again featured throughout the day; our thanks go to all the bakers, particularly Sharon, a SqueezEast player who made a fabulous celebratory cake to mark our clubs’ special friendship. Thanks also to Paul for all his hard work not only on the day but the preparations beforehand. It was really appreciated by Kettle Bridge; we’re already looking forward to next year’s KettleSqueeze!