blog| Otterbourne Wedding Ceilidh | |
|
|
 0
|
|
A wedding that was running almost on time, that was a good start.They were finishing speeches when we arrived, so we closed the stage curtains and started setting up.They went for coffee, the caterers cleared the tables (all of them) and we sound checked- 8.30 ready to go. Mike McDaid was our guest box player tonight and he put in a superb performance bringing with him some fresh, lively tunes. Harriet and Richard did their own thing for the first dance and I think a bit of practising had gone on, as they were very good at waltzing around the dance floor.It was a lovely large hall with a big stage and good acoustics, perfect in all ways. It was a warm and muggy evening so Lisa kept most dances short and despite the heat they kept getting up, until about 10.00 when they did a small "Strip The Willow" which was a requested dance.We took a break and gave them some cooling down time and returned for a hectic 30 mins finale and the guests responded well by filling the floor for this last "dash for the tape". Lisa called a Circassian Circle and went into a grand tunnel for the final fling.One large circular tunnel all the way round the hall was a great sight as the Bride and Groom made their way around, to lots of smiling,clapping and cheering well wishers.Fantastic!! Congratulations, Harriet and Richard. |
|
| Sue's 60th birthday | |
|
|
0
|
|
We decided to give everyone a chance to say hello while we played some tunes and songs but halfway through the first song everything went rather quiet as we became a casualty of the hall`s noise limiter which cut the power to the P.A.! We thought this could be a problem for the whole night so found a clandestine way to avoid it (sorry to any neighbours if we disturbed you!). Once Gary our caller had made his way through the weekend traffic from Devizes, the dancing began. As usual, Gary directed things with humour and a great sense of fun, which rubbed off on the dancers. After a break for some excellent food (thanks must go to the caterers for a great job!) they continued to dance the night away. The bands performance was only slightly marred by the fact that the amplification for the accordion kept on inexplicably cutting out, despite Alex and Richard`s best efforts to find the problem. The evening ended with our usual Snake Dance with variations provided by Gary. Congratulations again to Sue and as she is the eldest of four, we hope this will become a family tradition. By the way, the next day Richard realised that the reason the power to the accordion kept cutting out was that he was still plugged into the noise limiter......oops!! |
|
| Paul's 50th Birthday | |
|
|
0
|
|
Although the evening was a night of music and song and not a ceilidh, that certainly didn`t mean there was nobody dancing. During the evening we saw performances of everything from Irish jigs to impromptu Morris dancing with serviettes and even a table cloth! One of the highlights of the evening was seeing a full dance floor, all learning a dance taught to a class of 5 year olds by Paul`s wife Sue as part of her degree course, which she has now completed. Our band for the evening included Bob Smith who added a valuable contribution by singing some requests including "Black Velvet Band" and "Dirty Old Town". Congratulations again go to Paul and we hope to be back to play at your 60th! |
|
| Langton Arms | |
|
|
0
|
|
Arrived in plenty of time on a lovely Saturday evening, catering running a bit behind as is fairly normal for wedding do's.Had a lovely pint of Langton Ale whilst waiting for things to get tidied up (Ceilidh was in same room as reception and due to lack of space couldn't get in at all to set up) We managed to set up in just under 40 mins and there were no problems at all with the sound, it was great. So we kicked off only about 35 minutes after predicted start time. The Bride and Groom (Tracey and Richard) started the evening off with a Waltz and they clearly had been practising as they twirled and spun on the floor. After that there was no looking back and most of the guests including a small army of kids danced the evening away. Lisa was calling and as ever she kept them busy with an array of different dances and even when we played tunes, Lisa and the kids did their own thing, combining Disco, Line and Ceilidh moves into one (has a new form of dance been discovered?). The whole crowd were extrememly enthusiastic and danced well all night, the room wasn't huge so it was full at all times and we could see how clearly it was being enjoyed, all those grinning faces makes it well worth it. Congratulations to the happy couple, we wish you a good, happy and long time together.
|
|
 |
