Monday 3rd August

The earliest start yet for Mandie and myself, as we have to get to Buxton by 9 am for the first rehearsal of "our" Trial By Jury. We leave home around 7.20 am, and are delighted to get to Buxton with sufficient time to spare to enable us to sample the coffee and toast at the Safeway supermarket on the outskirts of the town.

The weather in Buxton is filthy, driving rain, high winds, and it feels much more like February than August. We park the car at The Palace Hotel and scuttle inside to escape the elements.

There are many hellos to be said, old friends to be greeted, names to be put to faces. There is a keen sense of anticipation, but it is soon pointed out that although the hour is near to 9, we have no piano. Investigations are made, but no piano is immediately forthcoming. A delegation is dispatched to The Pavillion complex to try to acquire one.

In the meantime, thanks to the wonderful efforts of Roger Turner, we are not left kicking our heels whilst we wait. Roger had taken it upon himself to design, make and bind programmes of the music we are scheduled to sing tomorrow at Poole's Cavern. We then have an impromptu rehearsal for the cavern sing whilst we wait for a piano and one or two stragglers to arrive. Presently, the piano search party arrives, utterly soaked and freezing cold, but their efforts have not been in vain. They have procured the electric piano which was donated to the festival by the "Friends" organisation. Although electric pianos are anathema to Clive Woods, he manfully agrees to play without a second thought, and it's over to producer Mike Nash, and we're off. Two and a half hours hard work later, the show is all but set, and we end the first rehearsal.

Many of us go to lunch in the Pavillion restaurant. The food here, as in subsequent and previous occasions, is fairly reasonably priced and at best, fairly reasonably cooked. In single word, unremarkable. However, it is very convenient, so it'll do.

After lunch several of us go to The Paxton Theatre for fellow Savoynetter Stephen Turnbull's talk, entitled "From Lady Tenors to Groucho Marx", which I have previously described elsewhere.

At this juncture, Mandie and I leave Buxton for the day, forgoing that night's entertainment in The Opera House, Abbots Langley's "Gondoliers".

Tuesday 4th August

This morning's TBJ rehearsal begins more or less on time, the electric piano having remained insitu from yesterday. The rehearsal goes quite well, and the Hotel seem much more prepared for us to-day, as coffee and biscuits are served at around 11 am. Mike completes the setting of TBJ, and we start to polish. Breaking at around 12.30 for the day, it is a question of a quick lunch and collection of costumes for those who haven't already done so, before this afternoon's cavern sing at Poole's Cavern. Suitably refreshed, those of us who have chosen to walk to the cave begin our trek. It's been called a "ten minute walk" from The Opera House; the only conclusion I can draw from this is that anyone walking it in ten minutes has a much faster/longer stride than myself and the other perambulators.

It's apprciably cooler in the cave than outside, a constant 7 degrees (Centigrade) all year round, the guide informs us. We sing a "Hail Poetry" before entering, then make our way to the first observation point, where we sing approximately half of our programme. Our audience is most appreciative, and the sounds made are, to me, surprisingly good. We descend to the very bottom of the cave, where, though squashed together somewhat, we again acquit ourselves quite well. Emerging once more into the daylight, we go our separate ways. For me, this is back to The Old Hall Hotel. Mandie and I have tickets for this evening's Opera House performance, and have decided to take the civilised option. Mandie arrives in good time, and we get to The Opera House well before the start of the show to discuss the afternoon's events with friends. Tonight's offering is "Ruddigore" by Oxford University G&S Society. I have posted a review of this show elsewhere, so won't repeat myself here. Suffice it to say that at the by now customary half-time discussions over ice creams there is a marked difference of opinion over what we have seen so far. (In retrospect, I think Ben Newhouse-Smith (Robin) and Martin Lamb (Despard) were unlucky not to have been nominated for any awards.)

In the club afterwards, and during Oxford's extremely entertaining cabaret, I am coerced into writing a review for Savoynet, which has previously been posted, so no repetition here. We retire to The Old Hall at some early hour, a journey of about three fall-downs, which is a great improvement on the hour's drive back to Barnsley.

Wednesday 5th August

The final rehearsal for TBJ occupies the morning. Things are progressing well, we do three runs-through. Everyone seems satisfied with the progress so far, but we are all well aware that we only have one more rehearsal, tomorrow, and it's our dress rehearsal.

After lunch, I make my way over to The Old Hall Hotel. Andrew Nicklin, who is guest Musical Director for Lincoln's "Cox & Box", has kindly agreed to give an hour of his time to have a run-through with myself and Tony Smith (Bouncer & Producer) ahead of tomorrow's dress rehearsal. It proves to be very fruitful, and we agree to try to have a further run-through at 10 am tomorrow, by which time we hope to have been joined by John Carter, who is to play Cox. We make our way back home at 5pm, for an early night. Tomorrow is destined to be a very busy day indeed.