Dear all

We really hope you're all staying safe.

ROTMG4 won't be happening at Easter, but we'll see if we can come up with some alternative plans. We'll keep you updated with any news by email, as well as posts on Facebook and Instagram.

Copied below is the Facebook post about Carole Chant, aka Finer,
for those who haven't seen it.

You guessed it...it's CANCELLED! 
https://padlet.com/newtchaser/pickinlunchtimes

In the meantime do look after yourselves and watch this space for updates!
If you are finding isolation boring why not check in on our YOUTUBE COLLABORATION PLAYLIST which hosts tune learning suggestions from participants, and you too if you wish! 
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG8XfHWTxr244WaM09DdpNrSABAvOyfTx 

Further to that you can also check out:
Playlists & Tunes
https://padlet.com/newtchaser/musiclearningwall

Pickin Lunchtimes Website 
https://padlet.com/newtchaser/pickinlunchtimes

Pickin Lunchtimes Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/pickinlunchtime
Hoping this emergency is soon over with and we can all resume meeting up again.

Stu & Colm & Cathy

PS Also a chance to listen to some of my 'Colm's Old Time Listening Wall' . I highly recommend checking out Bill Smedley's excellent Old Time Music Hour (weekly 1hr listening to the best ever streamed Old Time Music). https://padlet.com/newtchaser/ColmListeningWall 

Croft Farm Water Park has now informed us they are shutting to comply with the latest restrictions imposed by the Government.

Anyone who has a booking with them for our Spring Camp can either transfer the booking and any payment already made to the Summer Camp week or cancel completely and get a refund.

In both cases please go direct to Croft Farm Water Park.

They have also indicated they are happy to hold a camp/picking weekend when the restrictions are lifted.
We will of course keep you informed on all decisions made.

I have noticed that there are several new members in the Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex region in addition to the existing.  As we are all having to spend so much time indoors and cannot follow our normal pursuits in the usual way I am planning to focus on a selection of tunes, some new to me, some half learnt at workshops but never really internalised and then there are the tunes that seem to have languished forever on the to do list.  It then occurred to me that if a number of people worked on the same tunes then when we come out of this we could all meet up with a ready made repertoire in addition to the tunes that are already well known!!

So if anyone would like to join in this local team effort all you have to do is let me have your email address and every couple of weeks or so a tune will turn up in your inbox.  Tunes chosen will be available from Slippery Hill with other versions probably available too eg on Youtube.   Let's try to get some positive energy out of all this.   Keep safe and well.  My email is aclb@btinternet.com

Arnie Blake

Hello, everyone, I'm afraid we have to cancel if we want to beat this. No Knockdown this year but let's look forward to Knockdown 2021!

Stay well everyone! Take care. Love to you all

Chrys Hendi-Warner

www.facebook.com/groups/1654145124834766/

With the restrictions and uncertainty associated with the coronavirus at the moment we have reviewed our position on a number of events planned for this year. 
Quite clearly we are in no better position than anyone else at the moment to be able to see how far into the future any restrictions will be in place so we have tried to look objectively at the situation and drawn the following conclusions.

Spring Camp:  At the present moment in time Croft Farm Water Park is indicating they will be staying open although this may change after the new restrictions were put in place last night. We however feel that we should not make any plans to run the camp as the present Government guidelines would clearly be breached if we did so. Should the situation change before then we are in a position to be able to react at short notice and run the camp as normal. 

Summer Camp:  We are optimistic that the crisis will be over by August and as such we are planning the camp as normal. We will continue to keep the situation under review and let you know should our thoughts change.

Autumn Workshops:  We have two well known and respected American tutors provisionally booked for the Autumn Workshops and are in talks with a venue. Provided we are out of the present restrictions here and in the USA we plan to put on the workshops as usual.

We will do all we can to keep you informed of any changes that take place regarding our plans, in the meantime stay safe and we look forward to getting back to our music with you all soon.

We are sad to hear that another stalwart of FOAOTMAD Carole Chant, has died. Carole became the voice of FOAOTMAD on our old website and on her radio program and was a huge fan of the music and the people who played it . She will be sadly missed although her memory will I am sure live with us for many years.

As Easter Sore Fingers Week scheduled from 13th to 17th April CANNOT RUN due to Government COVID-19 restrictions, the event has been re-scheduled to take place in December 2020 from Tuesday 15th to Saturday 19th December, 2020.
All pre-booked students have been notified and asked to indicate whether they are able to attend on those days but we do anticipate many will not be in a position to take time off or will be restricted by their working arrangements, people in education for instance. We had little choice with time slot as it was the only one available to us and we’re tied into Kingham Hill School.

We will be appealing to people who may not have been able to attend at the 2020 Easter week to book for the December event to make sure we can run a viable and successful Sore Fingers and replace the bookings we lose. And of course, it will be unique in probably being the only Sore Fingers Week ever with a Christmas theme!

Moira and I have always run Sore Fingers Summer School with the aim of providing a fun and enjoyable event but behind the scenes, we take responsibility for the welfare of students, tutors and our loyal team of helpers. So, if we can protect people’s interests and minimise the impact of this crisis, we’ll work towards that goal. In in this case, the only way to minimise that impact was to run an event in 2020. We fully intend to run Sore Fingers Week at the normal dates in 2021 and we are also intending to run the 2020 October Weekend.

Musicians the world over are going to suffer a pretty lean time with all the festival and concert cancellations that are coming in and their incomes severely challenged. Remember, these folk are mostly self-employed. If we can preserve those paid jobs, then we will,

As a community we need to be pragmatic and flexible and think for the common good and perhaps pull out some stops to d things we don’t normally do to help keep things ticking over. So, if you have to ask your boss nicely for Holiday at an unusual time, then explain why and that it helping others to survive in a difficult period.

Booking are open, please use the existing forms, www.sorefingers.co.uk . It’s still the 25th Sore Fingers Week and it will be spiced up with Christmas Cheer!

John & Moira Wirtz
Sore Fingers Summer Schools

While at The Gainsborough Festival one of our members, Ian Rattray, did recorded interviews with some of the artists and has kindly published them as a podcast available to us all. The full program last approximately 40 minutes and can be here

The interviews are with Emily Schaad, Travis Stuart, Hillary Burhans and Ivy and David Sheppard with the opening overview with our own Tim Rooke.

The government has very recently recommended that everyone in the UK should avoid all “non-essential contact” with other people and stop going to pubs, clubs and theatres to slow the spread of coronavirus.

With this in mind it is our sad duty to cancel the Old Time Session at Out of the Blue 18th March and suspend future sessions until further notice.

We will keep you updated as to what is happening regarding future Old Time sessions and performance.

Stay well and take care of yourselves, family and friends.

With our very best wishes.
                                       
Paul & Kat