As has been mentioned, I sing with the Hull Freedom Chorus, and enjoy it enormously. For the press launch event for Hull City of Culture we were very proud to be invited to sing a special arrangement of Caravan of Love on the stage at Hull Truck (more details here). We could never sing it again, because the performance rights were a nightmare to obtain, and very limited.
And then BBC Humberside decided they’d like to broadcast a performance on the local television news before Christmas, sorted out another set of rights, and we all got together on Monday night for a three hour (!) rehearsal and blocking out, with a 3.5 hour (!!) recording on Tuesday 13 Dec. We rehearsed, as we often do, in the Reception Room at the Guildhall, but the recording took place in the Council Chamber – very grand, although we toned that down a bit with plenty of red tinsel.
So that was a long evening, made even longer by two gigs with Bandanarama, to celebrate the launch of Back To Ours, another City of Culture event.
We pitched up initially at Hull Paragon Interchange, played a few tunes for the slightly puzzled travellers, and then posed with an assortment of councillors, volunteers, etc, beside a helpfully labelled bus. Then we polled off to the Freedom Centre to do it all again. Except this time, it was in the rain, and nobody was about, but we did at least get a free lunch.
The rest of the band then sallied off to North Point at Bransholme, but the Guildhall was calling, so I cycled home for a shower and change, then off I went. I did nine miles on my trusty bicycle yesterday, the longest I’ve done in ages, and was properly knackered by the end of it, but a fun time was had.