Edition 12 Monday 15th June 2020 Welcome to the Twelfth Edition of our Newsletter I suppose really this is the thirteenth edition but I think last week’s special edition deserves a spot of its own. In this edition we have some photos of John’s birthday celebration and letters from Pat and John on our new letters page. John loved the celebratory newsletter and the album with all your greetings and photos. This is a bumper issue – I will have to start including a contents list! In this issue there are, of course, our regular articles – and a couple of new ones. I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to this issue and please don’t forget to send in any articles, jokes, recipes, interesting news or anything you think might be of interest to other members – especially any tips on keeping busy or any community news. Please send any contributions to Karen: [email protected] 1 Music in Our Time This is a regular item so if you have a relevant piece of music which reflects either the season , an event or our wonderful land, please email [email protected] Celebrating The Summer Solstice by Alan Malloy In a few days time, the longest day of the year will be here: Saturday, June 20th is the Summer Solstice. Dawn will break over Tain at 04.17, with the sun setting 18 hours later at 10.19pm. In his opera ‘Peter Grimes’, Benjamin Britten skillfully depicts dawn breaking over the sea in the first of four sea interludes. Britten was born in Suffolk and had a strong affinity with its people and places. He returned there to spend the last part of his life in Aldeburgh. The opera reflects the tragic tale of an Aldeburgh fisherman Peter Grimes, and to my ears, is in parts challenging to hear, but there are sections which are more reflective. This first sea interlude, Dawn is one such piece. Britten’s music expressively captures the sun’s rays breaking over a calm sea. Dawn from Benjamin Britten’s ‘Peter Grimes’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=692noeACXrs For many people, the Summer Solstice is a special day. Crowds gather around Stonehenge, with druids and pagans celebrating the day, often in their hundreds. Closer to home, on Orkney, people gathered around the Comet Stone near to the Ring of Brodgar, with modern pagan and Orcadian traditions being celebrated, some people spending the whole night there. All over Europe, one of the traditions on the night of the Summer Solstice is the lighting of bonfires on the tops of hills. This tradition dates all the way back to the Middle Ages. Manuel de Falla wrote his ‘Ritual Fire Dance’ as part of his opera ‘El amor brujo’ (The bewitched love). Originally written for piano, it has also been transcribed for orchestras, which I think is more powerful. Ritual Fire Dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbx5i4A_XMc Back to Orkney, the St Magnus Festival is an annual event (apart from this year, due to the pandemic), lasting around a week in late June, celebrating the arts. The festival was founded in 1977 by a group which included Sir Peter Maxwell Davies; ‘Max’ to his friends. Max moved to the Orkney Isles in 1966, where he lived for the rest of his life (He died in 2016). Max was amongst many things, a keen environmentalist. When plans were being considered to open a Uranium ore mine on Orkney, he wrote and performed music to protest. - The ‘Yellow Cake Review’. One of the most famous pieces from this review is ‘Farewell to Stromness’, which depicts the residents from the town of Stromness having to leave their homes as a result of the dangerous Uranium ore contamination. Sadly, I couldn’t find Max playing this music. Simon Mulligan is the pianist here: ‘Farewell to Stromness’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpJB-XXE9Xg I also enjoy this music played on the guitar, so it’s included below - played with great expression by Matthew McAllister. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N_YJhE3vmw 2 Karen’s Crafty Corner Please remember to send in your craft ideas!! Paper Mache Bird This idea was sent to me by a member of our Craft Group I had such fun with this - so I made a flock!! Here are the materials you will need: Corrugated cardboard Template (at the end of this feature for you to print out) Scrap paper torn into strips (newspaper or low grade photocopy paper). Paper Clips Sticky Tape PVA Glue (or flour & water 50/50 mix) Glue brush Paints (I used acrylic paint but watercolours are fine) Paint brush Instructions: Cut out 2 bird bodies and one small square in corrugated card from the template (picture 1). Attach the small square of corrugated card to the bird bodies (picture 2) Bend the paper clips to form two legs and feet picture 3) Glue the two cut birds together at the nose and the tail. Position the two legs slide them into the – corrugated cardboard and glue in place. I used a glue gun but any glue is fine (picture 4) Dilute the PVA glue with water – 50/50 (picture 5). Glue the strips of paper onto the bird using the diluted PVA glue (pictures 6). Allow the paper mache to completely dry then add another layer (picture 7) When dry decorate your bird! (pictures 8 & 9) 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 4 Please ignore this page if you are not following the instruction for the paper 5 Each week we will be publishing a member’s Desert Island Disc choices This week it’s Alan Malloy’s selection Do you choose your eight favourite tunes to recall happy memories, family or friends - or do you choose music which will help you endure this mythical desert island, by lifting your spirits? Ideally, we choose music which both makes us feel happy and brings back strong memories of our ‘nearest and dearest’. I’ve included links to my choices so you can enjoy these too (hopefully). From Handel’s Messiah: ‘For unto us a Son is born’ I hope you remember that ebullient feeling on a Friday evening when work for the week finishes. This piece of music reminds me of this happy time: Rhoda and I used to sing along to this rousing piece, while preparing our Friday evening meal. There’s nothing like a good sing to lift your spirits too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS3vpAWW2Zc J.S.Bach: Badinerie from Second Orchestral Suite This is such a fast and joyful piece: you can’t help but feel exhilarated when listening to it. This has happy memories for me as our daughter Claire played the flute, so it reminds me of her. She’s still got the flute, but alas doesn’t play it at the moment… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zcTKhohtJg Bon Jovi: ‘Its my life’ We’ve always loved Scotland, having visited on so many occasions. The decision to move here was easy, but not without concern. Driving up the A9 on our way to Ullapool, this song from Bon Jovi played and it crystallised our decision to make the break and move ‘up North’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx2u5uUu3DE Parisienne Walkways - Gary Moore I love France. I’ve been there countless times for many different reasons: family holidays mostly. Claire spent a year at Bordeaux University. We happily visited and enjoyed our trips to restaurants and auberges in the countryside around Bordeaux. This song reminds me of those wonderful times - and while it isn’t French in any way, the guitar playing of Gary Moore is sublime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98eIW6CN62k 6 Alan’s Desert Island Discs continued ..... Asturias by Issac Albeniz I’ve had a love affair with the guitar for decades. I still play (badly), but one of my favourite pieces is It was originally written for the piano, but it sounds so ‘Asturias’. Walter and Meggie are much better on the guitar. John Williams plays this to perfection, while I still struggle to play parts of it recognisably. Siberian Forest cats owned https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDAHl54V0CUby my daughter Claire who lives in Milton Keynes. Walter is ginger in colour What A Beautiful - Oklahoma, Rodgers & Hammerstein ‘Oh Morning’ with black paws, while At the school where I taught, I organised many residentials, which for many students was the highlight of their school careers. Trying to get 40+Meggie teenagers has darker out of markingsbed on a morning is never easy, so to rouse them I used to sing variousand her songs, paws are one of which was this one. white.They are brother and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5APc0z49wg sister, chosen from a litter of six kittens, and are two ‘Tomorrow shall be my dancing day’ - arranged by Johnyears Rutter old. I’ve sung in many choirs; most of them connected with my time at college and later, in school. I sang this Christmas carol with Tain Choral; directed by Lydia Jackson. Thank you Lydia for so skillfully coaching us to sing this,The at timesSiberian frustratingly Forest catdifficult is song. the national cat of Russia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRitP2EB9QAand their dense triple fur coats are waterproof and capable of withstanding ‘Ne’er reject a tender lover’ - Handel: Guilio Cesare Handel is my favourite composer and this for me is oneextremely of his most cold enjoyable tunes.