It's really rather rare to be invited to play in a castle - at least, none of us could remember ever having done so before. Of course, musicians in Tudor times would often be asked to play before the King in one of his castles, though the consequences of a poor performance were potentially fatal! ... fortunately, on this occasion, no such retribution was likely, though we still made sure we gave of our best - just in case! ... The occasion was a family celebration of an 80th

We were really delighted to be back (at last!) at Cheap Street Church in Sherborne, where we have not only enjoyed playing many a concert over several years hosted by Raymond Wood and his splendid team, but where we have recorded our last two CDs. In fact, it dawned on us, while we were setting up, that tonight's concert was taking place twenty months to the day since we recorded Old Man Blues. The recording was made on that notable Wednesday in March 2020 which preceded the

In the glorious annals of SCS history there can be no event more astonishing than a second rehearsal in less than two months! Perhaps inspired by the very lack of playing together over eighteen months, we arrived once more at Somerton Towers - Pete Ward's ancestral mansion - and proceeded to re-familiarise ourselves with a long list of numbers which our Glorious Leader feared we may have forgotten ... not so! ... It was certainly an action-packed and hard-working rehearsal ..