A day in Aldeburgh

Hello!!

Last weekend, CBC and I had no particular plans and we suddenly realised that the Aldeburgh festival was on!  In its 76th year, this music festival in the Suffolk seaside town was founded by great British composer, Benjamin Britten and his partner Peter Pears (pronounced Peers).  CBC and I have been to various events for this over the years. He introduced me to it fairly early in our relationship as he was a Hess student when he was young- these students spend time in Aldeburgh stewarding for it and get to stay with local families.

We decided to try and get tickets for the Sunday events.

The timing was perfect as I had JUST started my final Year 4 music unit of the year on Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra 3 days earlier so I was very much in the mood to go to Aldeburgh!

We left home around 8.45am to drive to Suffolk and arrived just in time for the 10.30am Festival service at St Peter's and St Paul's church 

The service received a sermon from the Rt Rev’d Joanne Grenfell, Bishop of Stepneyand the  Britten Pears Chamber Choir was singing, conducted by James Davyand with Francesca Massey organ.  The service was lovely with music by composer of the festival,  Helen Grime: her Missa Brevis and a piece by Daniel Kidane: Christus factus est.  CBC's old colleague and friend L was singing in the choir as she had moved to Suffolk and it was lovely to see her.

I loved the beautiful Benjamin Britten memorial window by John Piper.  Britten had developed a new type of opera which he gave the name 'parables for church performance.  Three of these were named Curlew River, The Burning Fiery Furnace and The Prodigal son and all of these are evoked in some way in this beautiful window. 

 After the service we headed to Aldeburgh high street for a spot of lunch.  I queued in the epic fish and chip shop queue whilst CBC went to find some coffee and have a mooch around.

After 30mins, I reached the front of the queue and bought CBC a portion of chips (he'd acquired a toastie) and for myself, a Child-sized portion of Fish and chips plus a small battered sausage. 

I met CBC on the beach to eat.

The fish and chips, cooked in Beef dripping, was delicious and my portion was just the right size!

I went dressed for the seaside:

I bought this gingham sailor top in Primark last month. I never shop in there now but I saw this on Instagram and knew a 100% cotton sailor top in Gingham was something I had to see!

The skirt is from Fatface via a charity shop plus my Seasalt sandals from Depop a good 6 years ago or so.

The sea changed colour in the space of 2 minutes when the sun came out:

We enjoyed our lunch and witnessed a fly-by theft from a Seagull who stole a child's battered sausage.  It also tried to steal mine- I suddenly noticed it hovering inches from my hand.

As CBC ate his Tiramisu cake, I had a paddle! It was refreshing but the sloping shingle was hard to stand upright on as I tried to hold my skirt!

We had to hotfoot it back to the car, parked past the church (via a charity shop where CBC bought an old print of a lovely John Singer Sargeant painting) and drove to Snape Maltings for our next musical performance.   This was held in the Britten studio at 2pm.  We crept in late in the complete dark, accidentally bumping into our friend L who was a steward for it!

The concert was a performance by Fu and Betts-Dean: The programme was entitled Solitude with Schubert Lotte Betts-Dean,  mezzo-soprano and George Xiaoyuan Fu on  piano.  It began with a film called Solitude With Schubert (first screening) by Matilda Hay filmmaker. The pieces were Schubert: Einsamkeit, D.620 (17’) Schubert: Schwanengesang, D.957 (selection) (15’) Schubert: Piano Sonata No.21 in B flat, D.960 (40’).  It was wonderful!!! The programme explored how grief mingles with consolation, combined with a film exploring the loss of a loved one. 

After this, we headed out for a walk to Snape Warren across the beautiful boardwalks.

After a glorious walk, we headed into the maltings for a light dinner.

I changed into my evening concert outfit of this Monsoon cotton dress, bought from a charity shop in Hexham.

Funnily enough, I saw my friend from Gamelan who was there to watch the same concert as us by coincidence.  Last time I came to watch an Aldeburgh concert, I saw ANOTHER Gamelan friend!

Amusingly, when we entered the Maltings hall, it turned out out of 1000 seats, we had ended up seated next to each other by total coincidence!!

the concert was entitled Nocturne and Folk, performed by the Knussen Chamber Orchestra.

The solists were  Claire Booth, soprano  and Allan Clayton, tenor.  Ryan Wigglesworth was the the conductor.  The programme was Britten: Suite on English Folk Tunes, ‘A time there was ...’, Op.90 , Helen Grime: Folk (Britten Pears Arts co-commission),  Britten: Nocturne, Op.60, and Beethoven: Symphony No.8 in F, Op.9. I adore Britten's music and I loved the two pieces we heard, both new to me.  The piece by Helen Grimes, a major new commission with soloist Claire Booth, was really intriguing with some very evocative lyrics and musical crafting.

We'd had a fantastic day and it just remained to drive back to  Essex. I helped CBC mark some test papers as he drove (I read the answers and told me if they were right or not!) 

I very much recommend a day in Aldeburgh and a visit to the Maltings, ideally a concert!

xx

TARDIS TUESDAY My favourite Romana

Had a LOVELY weekend!!! We went to Rochester on Saturday and Sunday, went over to Mum's.  All lovely. More on that anon.  For TARDIS Tuesday, I am featuring an old favourite. It was last featured in August 2023 on here.

IMage borrowed from this Pinterest

You can see it in all these different images.

IMage borrowed from this Pinterest

Worn by Mary Tamm playing Romana in her second story, The Stones of Blood, it's very Kate Bush!

Here's my 2025 iteration, worn on Sunday to go over to Mum's! 

I am wearing a charity-shopped burgundy top and an eBay-purchased red tier skirt.  Both are super comfy to wear and good for a warm Spring day.

They are hard to spot but I wore a thin gold chain necklace and a gold bracelet to match Romana's.  The chain was my Nan's.  The bracelet a present from a child.

I added this gorgeous jacket bought in Rochester on Saturday from the Demelza charity shop. It's from a Marbella based brand and I saw it hanging in the shop window and pounced! It's quilted on the inside and features a thick brocade material and embroidered flowers and ric-rac.  I ended up wearing it all day in Rochester as it was cold in the shade and I'd left my jacket in the car. Super pleased with the jacket as I've been wanting something like this for a while! Vix, it's your fault!

 Here's Mummy and I together. We went over to hers to see her as she wanted to give CBC his birthday presents and she's cracked a bone in her wrist.  She made a delicious crustless asparagus quiche using her home grown asparagus!  She served it with her own homegrown rocket and beetroot as well as tomatoes and Sauerkraut. Such a fresh-delicious lunch.  We took over a less-healthy chocolate cake from Waitrose.  We were both sad to leave hers!

If only weekends were longer!

xx

Easter Joy and flowers!

Christ has died,

Christ is risen,

Christ will come again!

Easter Sunday is always so joyful! I didn't know if we were going to be back in time for me to attend my own church as we were in Hexham, which would still have been lovely,  but I was so happy to be at church!  Sadly, I didn't make it up for 5.30am for the Sunrise service but I was there for 9.15 service to worship and play my flute. It was a joyous occasion!!!! The entrance to the church had been set up with a line of knitted flowers of various kinds on sticks.

I came home to find CBC had not gone out cycling which I was sort of happy about as often he's out for a lot of Sunday. 

Went out into the garden to have a look at the new life outside.

There was blossom on all the trees, some of it older than others now.

The Forget-me-Nots were out in their full mist of glory.

The Viburnum is starting to form its snowballs- their time is so fleeting so it's lovely to capture them before their zenith.

The apple tree is covered in Blossom! I am so excited! Please give us lots of apples this year!

One of the blueberries has lots of flowers on it.

My garden is reflected in my outfit for church. I always wear something floral and a dress on Easter Sunday.  This year, I decided to wear the handmade vintage dress which I recently was given from my Godmother. I was a little bit concerned I looked  a bit too dressed up!

I wore it with my Monssoon velvet jacket and Florence blue leather boots.

The dress fits me exactly like it was tailored to my dimensions. I think I'd like it a tiny bit looser but it does fit well

I wore it with my bee necklace.

Later in the day, I changed as  I wanted to veg on the sofa.  Later, we wanted to go out for dinner and it was a bit chilly so here's what I wore then:

My vintage cardigan and striped top plus a M&S silk skirt, a beret and my blue Dr Martens!

We headed out for a Thai meal which was delicious.

xx

Flowing skirts

As I've mentioned before, I  LOVE Summer clothing! This week, thank goodness, I've reverted to wearing more of my Summer outfits as the weather decided to improve!!

This outfit, above, was one of my favourite Summer outfits. I wore it on an extremely hot day and felt pretty cool!

The skirt was a purchased from Zoe Del Mondo in Majorca last April.  It has a shirred back and is really comfortable.

The top is cotton lace and was bought in a charity-shop. I think, I posted about how it reminded me of a shop called Uluwatu when I lived in Bali that I fantasized about buying something from.  Their shops were airconditioned, soothing dark walls and contained beautiful Balinese cotton lace clothing in neutrals (not usually my bag). I felt so calm when I when I entered these serene boutiques. Of course, I was never able to buy anything from there as the cheapest garment cost my monthly rent.  Finding this makes me feel nostalgic.   It's very light and airy also!

The shoes are Huaraches made by philanthropic brand, Toms.  I bought them in TK Maxx a good few years ago. They are leather and cotton cord and remarkably cool and airy. Are you detecting a theme in this outfit? 

The necklace was made by Ladybird Likes who made my Clara Oswald moon collar clips!

Here was last weekend's Sunday outfit, worn for church! Again, cool and comfy.  The top, from Tescos, has been in my wardrobe since at least 2013 if not longer (I remember wearing it in a photo in my childhood home on this blog).  My belt was another Majorca purpose and the skirt from Polperro this Summer! My shoes, charity-shopped in Maldon by German brand Rieker are another Summer footwear staple! I think my Swarovski heart necklace was either a present from the lovely Lin, my mum's bestfriend, or Grandad! I can't remember which one!

This week has been tiring but ok.  We started back at KCO, my regular orchestra, playing 2 pieces I am very familiar with, Haydn's final symphony- his London Symphony (number 104 out of his outfit! He wrote more symphonies than any other composer and did so much to develop that particular form and structure of music that he gained the nickname, "The father of the symphony!".  I only discovered recently that he ONLY used clarinets in his 101st symphony onwards!

This orchestral piece has a few memories for me.  The first being, we played it in my the Intermediate Orchestra at my local Music Service that was my life for so many years. As a viola player, I never got to play my flute in the senior Symphony orchestra, since the Viola had so many fewer players than played the flute.  This meant my only time playing flute in an orchestra, as opposed to a windband, at this music centre, was when I was in the Intermediate orchestra for one year.  This piece we played in my final concert and I had a little solo where we dropped down to just one player to a part as opposed to 2.My next memory of it was it is was one of my set works that we studied for A'level Music.

Coming back to it with Kensington Chamber Orchestra a good few years ago, as an adult was lovely, but to come back to it again with the same orchestra but with a flute player I actually like sitting next to me, was a delight! It felt SO familiar and easy! I joked to the first oboe player (who was covering for our regular oboe) that I could probably do an Aurora Orchestra on it and play it from memory! Take a listen. 

The other piece we are playing is Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture. It's also very familiar!

The third and final piece in the concert was really disappointing for me.  It's by a music camp friend, Ian Stephens, who is a superb composer. It's a Double Bass concerto written as a response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  Ian talks about his piece below.  Worth a listen!  

But why is it a disappointment to me?  

Well, because I didn't realise that the accompanying instruments are only string instruments and there are no flutes! So I don't get to play it!  I think it will be very beautiful. If you would like to hear its very second performance, you can find details of our concert on the 5th October here.

School has been mostly ok this week apart from the interminable losing of my voice!  The week goes from Young to Old for me, starting with Year 1's and moving up the school throughout the week.  This is actually definitely the best way round for it to be!

I do hope everything is well with you!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- The woman who lived

Hello there!

Today's TARDIS Tuesday has featured 3 times here.  IN 2020, 2019 and 2018.  It's had a 4 year hiatus so it was nice to welcome it back last week. I think this is a nice, smart, work look.

It was worn by Clara Oswald, my favourite Who character, back in an episode called The Woman Who lived.  Sadly, it gets very little screen time which is a great shame as it's so cute!

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-10-24/the-woman-who-lived/ 

My last two pics come from the Doctor Who exhibition, where I actually got to see the Screen worn costume!

Since I last wore it, it has received 2 upgrades

You might recall, that when I wore it here in 2019, although the skirt was riding up a little bit, it seemed a bit too short for my longer legs.  I saw that Topshop did a Tall version of this skirt so I went a size up AND got the tall version which I think makes it a much more respectable length which works better for my height.

I do love the chorister look of this jumper and blouse combination plus the little eagle necklace.

The final item which is different is that I had the screen accurate (but a low heeled version) shoes this time which I have worn before for a different Clara cosplay that features them too!  They're pretty smart and I like them a lot! I am glad I wore this look last week as it would have been way too warm for the weather we have had this week or so!

Did anyone watch the two new Doctor Who episodes?  

Spoilers coming if you didn't so look away or stop reading if you don't want to know. I enjoyed them but I have to say, musically, the denouement of the Devil's Chord episode was rather disappointing.  Maestro said you had to be a genius to work out the chord that was needed to vanquish them.

Well, let me tell you, that a C major chord is the most basic harmony you can play and my year 5 children could have guessed that, so that was a really disappointing, easy chord to have picked. They could have chosen a really interesting crunchy chord, something Wagnerian.  In addition, when the piano teacher at the start played the Tritone, well, composers and players had used that chord before that lots in music so it wasn't really a lost chord. It was a well-known chord. But it was a fun episode and had some really cool moments!

Green Springs

It was amazing to return to sunshine and warmth in the UK yesterday! Apparently, we are to have a few days of sun and warmth before a return to the cold and misery next week, at least it was, according to the Charity shop lady I chatted to today.

This morning, CBC dropped me off to the place where I was to have my ultrasound and internal scan.

I had to drink a litre of water one hour before and then wait until they'd done part 1 of the ultrasound before I could go to the loo.  The appointment was a bit delayed so by the time I went in, I was really struggling!!

After the appointment, I went across the road to the busstop to get a bus to Mum's house.  I had just missed the bus by 1 minute and the next one wasn't for 20 minutes. (It actually didn't turn up for 40mins and there were two of them!) 

Luckily, there was a charity shop by the busstop which I looked in. It was really nice and I found 2 things.

They had a nice Sheffeld Ukelele for £5 which I couldn't resist for school as an extra and I bought a pair of Rieker black and grey heels. 

Mum had made some delicious tomato soup for lunch with sour-dough. It was lovely to see her and to look round her beautiful garden!

I 

The Rowan tree behind me was just a twig when Mum bought it. As usual, her green fingers have made it thrive.

Here's what I wore.

I started with an Anokhi tunic top which I bought in a charity shop a few years ago. I am so glad Vix introduced me to Anokhi through her blog- the cotton is such amazing quality- it's a joy to wear!

I added my green speckled skirt.  This was handmade for me in Bali 19 years ago.  I bought the material from a lovely shop on Jalan Sulawesi in Denpasar, Bali.  It was full of contemporary patterned batik in bright colours.

Since it matched my Monsoon hat, I had to wear them together

The belt was from Landsend and I bought it from a boutique in Cardigan. I cannot believe it, but I paid £30 for this belt!  Utter madness!!!!

Added to this was my charity shopped Denim jacket and some blue pumps from Lotus (bought from Haltwhistle shoe shop), some earrings and my Nan's necklace (which had fallen off in this picture...but I didn't realise!

It made me so happy to wear lighter clothes again like this week in Girona!  So much nicer than Winter clothes!

xxx

Teal Vixen

 I should really publish this post before it gets too far away from when I actually took these photos!

It was back at the start of February that I wore this outfit. It was Saturday and we were playing a concert with our more local orchestra.

We arrived to the venue with an hour before the rehearsal started and dropped off our bags.  The leader and chair of the orchestra was setting up!

"Hello Charles!" I smiled as we walked past.  He grinned at me.  

"You are looking utterly lovely! You always look lovely but especially so today!".

I grinned beatifically  as CBC and I carried on! He always admires what I wear which is sweet as I think he likes vintage style!

When I put on this outfit- elements of it made me think of one of the most stylish ladies, Vix, in Blogger world, as I put it together.  She'd combine better colours and accessories but I know the individual garments made me think of her.

I actually realise that I changed my hat and I was wearing a blue cloche hat when I went out as I decided the Sheepskin hat was too warm.  Worn with my blue cape which CBC bought me one birthday.

Wearing my black wool gilet (£5.99 charity shopped Per Una)

The skirt was a Per Una birthday present from my Stepmum and Dad about 15 years ago.

The top came from Zara (charity shopped of course!) 

My necklace was the best Secret Santa present from someone at school back in 2010!

It's a bit too matchy-matchy perhaps but I was so happy to wear a maxi skirt- I can't do it on a bike as it always gets managled in the gear cogs!!!