Me Sound Cheking at the Town Hall!

Me in my Dressing Room at Falkirk!

Falkirk Town Hall!

Sight Seeing at the Falkirk Wheel!

Hello every – I’ve just got back from a very intense five days away which has taken me to Bonnie Scotland and right down into the heart of Wales. As you might imagine I have decided to split my blog into two halves tonight as I have so much news I wish to share with you all. I’m not quite sure how many miles I have covered this last week  but it must be something in the region of a 1000 miles I’m sure! I’ve been to some fabulous places and it was especially lovely to be back on the boards in Falkirk again. I have some very fond memories of that theatre and when I was checking my records I realised I’d played it three times over three years in 2001, 2002 and 2003.  I was really surprised that the staff remembered me and my shows, in particular “We’ll Meet Again” where I played Lance Corporal Wendy and worked with a singing lamppost called Barty. Thinking about it it’s not every show that has a singing lamppost in it and Barty was very popular!

With so much driving my friend Paul very kindly agreed to share the driving with me and I engaged him to work as my sound engineer. We had two WW1 shows on the way up in the Cheshire towns of Winsford and Wilmslow so we decided to break our journey at The Best Weston Hotel – Pinewood on Wilmslow. I had a lovely room complete with balcony and then we started on the long drive up to Falkirk the next day. The road to Scotland up the M6 and M74 is a good one once you get past Morcombe and the Lake district. Although its many miles and North of Edinburgh the drive is a very enjoyable one as the traffic starts to thin out and the tarmacing is of a much better quality on Scottish roads. I was due for my sound check at 3pm and the theatre had very kindly booked us into The Park Hotel opposite.

It’s a funny thing but playing at the Town Hall in Falkirk was a little like coming home. It was wonderful to feel those boards under my feet again and I confess I do miss being in  variety and that way of life. I love to hear and feel the busel of back stage and being around other artists while watching their acts from the wings. I was engaged to perform for the first half the popular tunes of WW1 and then for the second half they had the Strathcarron Hospice Singers, Kevin Mc Lean the Scotish piper, the Strathcarron Singers and Trilogy – 3 students who presented 3 moving stories about the first World War. Then there were 3 dedications presented by Kevin Gray, Major Maurice Walsh, Rev George Mc Donald and Father Kevin Dow. For the finally I changed into my evening gown and closed the show with “Requiem for a Solider” and the national anthem. Perhaps the most moving part for me was Trilogy and when the piper played the Lament with the poppies falling  from the flies thanks to SM Ben.  A big thankyou to Billy who engaged me for the concert and who also did a wonderful job as compare. I would also like to thank Greig, Brian and Julia who all remembered me from my last visit and Ben for being a great SM. The Town Hall had also put on a wonderful exhibition of posters from the Great War

tomorrow I shall tell you more about my tour as Paul and I travel on down into Wales for the Llandrindod Wells Victorian Festival. In the mean time do click onto my facebook page by clicking onto the star and you will be able to see my photos. Time for bed – Keep Watching and Toodle Pip!