I know it’s been a bit quiet from this end recently. It’s mainly because my husband, Tony, has been ill and had surgery just before Christmas. He had excellent care and he is going to make a complete recovery but will be off work and unable to do much for another 4 – 6 weeks. We are all delighted of course, but it has been a very taxing time since early summer. I’ve experienced many doctors, nurses and paramedics – most of them have been superb. It must be great when the medics realise they’ve done something to make someone really well.

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Stephen with some of the Flutewise choir before our performance

Last night some Flutewise members took part in a concert at Cranleigh Village Hall with the Slinfold Concert Band. It was a Christmas Concert in aid of Chase, the hospice for children. It was a fabulous evening.

We played three pieces on our own and then joined in with the band and a bagpiper for the finale. Stephen, who had come along to help me out, was particularly excited about the finale as it was a medley of Scottish pieces.

Our pieces were Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (arranged by James Christensen), Hodie Christus Natus Est by Jerry Randalls and Ian Clarke’s Walk Like This. Our choir wasn’t very big but it was supported by some members of the band and the whole band helped us out in Walk Like This with the scat calls. I was so pleased with the performance, everyone really worked well, it was great.

We’d met to rehearse at Forest Green Village Hall for several weeks since mid November and I think everyone deserves a big pat on the back for acheiving such a high standard of performance. We’d been invited to take part by Sophie’s mum, Jo, who plays with the band.

A couple of weeks ago, Jo asked me to collect a coloured flute from Jonathan Myall, as he had donated it for a raffle prize at the concert. The raffle raised over £350. Stephen and I bought loads of tickets in the hope of winning the red flute. We didn’t, we won a box of chocolate mints, but Sophie won the flute. It’s good that it’s kept in our ‘Flutewise family’.

So many thanks go to everyone for making it all so special. I nearly forgot to tell you, I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers, they were a real surprise.

Flowers at the end of the concert

The journey there and back was quite horrendous due to flash flooding, but it was worth it.

The computer screen

Have you any idea what is going on with my computer?

Last night Stephen and I were sitting here in my office looking at the Fluteise bookings diary after he had written his blog entry. My computer suddenly came to life and iTunes opened. We watched in amazement as the cursor scrolled through the various albums and then selected Gareth’s “Sounds from Home” and selected it to play! I then pressed pause, which it did for about 10 seconds and started again!

We were flabbergasted. If Stephen hadn’t been here I would have thought I had imagined it all. I phoned Gareth and he was impressed that my computer has such good taste.

Has anyone got an explanation?