Yes, I'm the one Em was refering too that DIDN'T have an early start at the Singathon!  Well, I'd set my alarm for 6.30 but the next thing I knew, my phone was going off 5 minutes before we were due to start singing!  Oh dear.  The extra hour and half did me good though, because as some of the 'early risers' were beginning to flag somewhat, I was still bouncing around like Tigger.

I thoroughly enjoyed the day and as usual, the incredible generosity of the Centre's shoppers made it a fantastic day for our charities.  Its also a great way to people watch.  You have those that jig along to the music as they walk past, some sing along, some stand and watch while others look at you as if you have just landed in a silver spaceship from another planet.  I love the mums and dads that give their kiddies pennies to put in our collection buckets. Some very little one's cant quite figure out what to do and just stare at us for a while before breaking into a 'toddler dance'.  You have the slightly older one's who so enjoy putting pennies into a bucket, they keep going back for more, which is great for us but completely cleans out daddy! And then you have the older children who go away knowing they've just done something really nice.  My favourite of the day though was the little boy who was given a pound by his dad.  He looked at it in his hand and thought "Champs!" and headed off towards the ice cream van before dad called him back and pointed at our buckets.  He looked rather crestfallen but I'm sure dad bought him something nice anyway.

I love the elderly ladies and gents who applaud when we do something from the 50's.  I have to agree with you, they are GREAT tunes.  And yes, you get the odd few, who (as you get to a certain age, you dont hid your feelings) let us know that its too damn LOUD! 

In fact, I just love the day.  I think the 12 hour Singathon in the summer and the Christmas one's are my favourite fundraising events.  Its a chance to sing the old stuff we've done over the years or try out something new.  My feet were BARKING by the end of the day though, and once I'd stopped talking or singing (yes I was still singing on the way home) to eat some dinner, my voice complete disappeared and it took until Wednesday to come back properly!  I'm sure my family and workmates were delighted but I could have made a fortune on those naughty telephone lines! 

We had a photographer from the paper, and it appeared the following Friday in glorious colour (I was wearing the wrong colour shirt) along with the other events for the Air Ambulance.  People are really getting behind that appeal which is great but we, as the Players, also have to concentrate on our other charity, the Special Care baby unit, which they kindly mentioned as well.  However, Em and I did have a giggle over her 'quote' which made us sound rather up ourselves, which we are not.  And I know for a fact that Em would never say anything like that, at least not in that context, but thats freedom of the press for you I guess.  They did print our pic and they did give us a few lines which is fantastics so thank you.

The last show we did was not so good, well for me anyway.  We did a School Fete and we were without quite a few people whom I missed, not just vocally but emotionally as well.  I didn't quite settle and then this wasn't helped by some rather ill mannered children.  Lets hope they improve when they become adults!  I cant really say too much as I've left my soapbox at home.  Still we have to bad times to enjoy the good times even better, eh?   

Next we have the BOB Open Day.  Now this is another of my favourites. Open air, lots of stuff going on, and when we have a break, I can go and find where the Firemen are!  ...er.. I mean the Model Railway stall...or the cake stall...ahem.....

More to come in my July catch up!  Keep reading Em's blog (hers make more sense) and come on Capel people.......add a few blogs yourselves! 

Yours, Jan Jan