Fudge, Fauld and Family-Friendly Jazz

As you may be able to tell from the title, November was a varied and interesting month.

Family-Friendly Jazz

The first Family Friendly performance of "Family Jazz Allstars Featuring Juliet Kelly" for the EFG London Jazz Festival was a huge success.  We had a sold out Purcell Room audience who were very much up for joining in and singing along.  A crowd of children (and some parents!) rushed to the front of the stage for our encore and entertained us with their dance moves.  Hopefully this will be the first of many and that 2015 sees us performing this show around the UK - and even abroad.

Fauld

Then it was back on the rural road with Celebrating the Divas of Jazz.The first of two shows took place in the tiny hamlet of Milton.  

I am so grateful to Live & Local and Arts Council England for supporting these performances.  It's such a pleasure to perform at these village halls and community spaces at some of the most beautiful spots in the country.  Unfortunately due to the time of year we didn't see as much of the scenery as I would have liked but this was more than made up for by the warm responses of the audiences.

During the show I mentioned the fifties and how much I love the fashion of the era. After the first show a lovely lady called Ann came up to me and said that she had a vintage cigarette holder that she would love to give to me as it was something she inherited from her aunt and had no use for.  She kindly dropped it off at the hotel the next morning and what a beautiful thing it is!

Anne told me about her glamorous aunt Patricia Makin who even up until the day she died a few months ago, was the height of glamour, always immaculately turned out and wouldn't leave the house without her make-up!  It was a interesting co-incidence that the day of the performance coincided with the 70th anniversary of the RAF Fauld explosion. According to Wikipaedia (yes I know - but it's usually mostly right!) it was one of the in history and the largest to occur on UK soil.  Aunt Pat was one of the people working at the underground munitions storage depot at the time but fortunately was unhurt.  At least 70 people and 200 cattle were not so lucky.

Aunt Pat, tall, slim and elegant lived well into her nineties.  She was never married and one of the things inherited by her niece was this glamorous cigarette holder; unused because she could barely afford it and certainly couldn't afford to smoke but longed to own something that projected the glamour of her idols, Princess Margaret and Sophia Loren.

NB:  I don't intend to take up smoking although I love the idea of cigarette holders.  Am trying to think of an inventive way to use it... perhaps in a promo photograph - ideas welcomed!

Fudge

I seem to have become a fudge connoisseur!  This is the third bag of fudge I've bought during my travels this year.  But this time I have a foolproof excuse.  It's the perfect flavour - so much so that it would have been rude not to!

This beauty was bought in a fabulous Olde Sweet Shoppe in Eccleshall (I was practically squealing with delight when I saw the cornucopia of sweet delicacies on display!) where we spent the day before our performance at the lovely Broughton Parish Room in Wetwood.  This was one of the smallest places we've played - just 40 people live in the hamlet (mostly farmers) - but we had a full house of nearly 100 due to people coming along from the neighbouring villages.  A fabulous night!

Limited Edition EP

Just a reminder to get your limited edition Spellbound Stories EP soon as it will be removed on 31 December 2014.  Thanks to those of you who have kindly supported me so far.  It's really appreciated.  Every sale means I'm closer to releasing the full album next year.  Buy it here.

Rural Touring, Mediterranean Chicken Stew and Fantastic Fudge

I've just returned from the latest rural adventure and am thinking how fortunate I am to be able to visit such beautiful parts of the country - doing the thing I love!

All of the gigs were well attended and we had a great time. Should be back on the rural road again in the spring - can't wait!

Kirk Langley Village Hall

We had a sold out audience on our first night with a waiting list for returns!  A great audience too with two encores.  And before the show we were invited to a lovely dinner at promoter's home.  Beautiful scenery, interesting venues and a warm welcome from both the promoter and the audiences are just some of the things that make rural touring so special.

Bramshall church

The promoter of the gig in Bramshall was also the vicar of the beautiful church above.  Again a good audience and we were told that he had the best turnout ever over the five years they have been running.  A very appreciative audience once again.  And to top it all, the vicar's wife made us a Mediterranean chicken stew as they'd seen on my website how much I love Italy.  It was delicious!

The Fold in Bransford

The Fold in Bransford, Worcestershire is a very special and inspirational place.  It was set up to encourage sustainable living and is home to designers, artists, complementary therapists and several little shops that sell everything from organic wine to leather goods.  I bought some lovely pear and ginger jam here.  Also some of the most amazing fudge I've ever tasted.  Can you tell I love food? :-)  The venue itself was also wonderful with great acoustics and it was a lovely gig.
 

Padded applique wall hanging in Yoxall Parish Hall

We spent out final day in Yoxall which was very beautiful and winner of Best Kept Village 2013.  Sadly as it was a Sunday and raining there wasn't much to see/do.  Another great gig though.  Extremely well organised by a promoter who was a retired salesman and who did a great job with promoting my CDs!  We drove straight home to avoid the storms.  Just made it.