Ascot Beer Festival & Racing

Went down to Ascot with Julie, and met up with Ian and Janet, Martin and Jenny, James and Doug as well as lots of friends of Julie's - quite a good crowd from Surrey Brances as well as Berks LOL!
BRRRR!!! Is all I can say. So much for the posh new Pavilion! It obviously wasn't built with the British weather in mind. There are huge gaps in the wall on the bottom floor where the wind whips through, also huge automatic glass doors and lots of glass frontage, yesterday was also more of a typical, perishing cold March day. I felt sorry for the poor Beer Festival volunteers who had to stand in the howling wind serving beer all day - I could barely stand queueing for a beer! There were two folk musicians who were so cold they could barely hold their fiddle and piano-accordion, playing fast tunes to keep themselves warm. The fiddle player was Paul Sartin whom I recognised from Bellowhead - a pleasant surprise!
Beer of the Festival for me was the first one that I tried - Lovibond's Henley Dark, a delicious, well-balanced porter. The Twickenham Naked Ladies was very good, but the Crane Sundance somewhat medicinal. Loddon's First Gold also in good form. Unfortunately I had a bit of a tummy upset so couldn't drink much.
I wasn't lucky with the horses again, only winning £1.33 on the first race. Janet and Ian seemed to be the luckiest, winning on almost every race!
I'd definitely go again, enjoyed the horse racing, the beer and the company - but I just hope it's a bit warmer next year!

Salsa Celtica at South Hill Park, Bracknell

A superb night with Salsa Celtica the Hispanic-Celtic 10-piece band, consisting of 2 drummers (trad and bongo), saxophonist, piper, impassioned Latin vocals, keyboard, fiddle, guitars. They include musicians from Venezuela, Cuba, Scotland, Ireland, amongst others. There was a big area at the front for dancing, at first the crowd of mostly middleaged folkies were shy to dance but after a few drinks at the interval the floor was packed with people doing a bizarre mixture of Salsa and Scottish Ceilidh! Jane, who knows how to dance Salsa, was amongst them - I was trying to teach a Spanish lady to dance the Highland Fling (or something approximating to it!)
Last year I reviewed their album El Camino for folking.com and was pleased to hear lots of songs from that, especially the beautiful 'Esperanza' and the energetic 'Pa'l Rumberos'. Superb musicianship and great fusion music, can't wait to see the compadres at Gillingham Festival!

London Irish v Wasps, 18/03/07

WHAT A MATCH! To start with, there was a brilliant St Patrick's Weekend atmosphere in the Madejski Stadium, with the gate numbers at a record-breaking high of just over 22,000. The tannoy was blasting out the inevitable Irish folk songs such as Molly Malone and The Fields of Athenrye - should it be Peckham Rye for the London-Irish version? ;-)
The team came on to thunderous applause, I was disappointed Mike Catt wasn't there, but he'd been playing at international level that weekend. Irish started off playing really well, but missed a few conversions that should have been straightforward. By half time they were 10-0 up.
In the second half Wasps seemed like a different team, swarming round the Irish players with far greater energy and purpose. They were soon level on 10-10, then just ahead 10-13, but then Irish pulled themselves together to get level at 13-13. With 10 minutes to go the Argentinian player with the long hair and difficult name made a superb run down the pitch to get over the try line, but got carried away with his success and failed to touch down! What a wally! Luckily Riki Flutey saved the day for the Exiles with a goal, giving them a 16-13 win.
Had such a good time at the match, am definitely a London Irish fan now and shall go again sometime!

Climax Ceilidh Band at Godalming Ceilidh

As a member of Guildford Vox there was no way I could miss seeing our leader Anna Tabbush playing with her ceilidh band. I'd already seen Meridian, her trio, and had enjoyed the gigs a lot so I guessed I was in for a treat with Climax Ceilidh Band who are Meridian plus two.
I'd arranged to meet Linda from morris dancing at the Borough Hall, but she was a little late so I asked a nice-looking bloke if he fancied a dance, which he did! What is is to be (almost) single. Linda and I joined in with several dances, the caller Fee Lock was very good, teaching us quite complicated dances but always making sure that the beginners knew what they were doing. There were inevitably quite a few of us from Guildford Vox there, but also two people from Anna's other choir in Brighton! It was also good to sit out a few of the dances and just listen to the band, which were excellent. I am a fan of Chris Walshaw's pipe playing, and he has a beautiful set of French pipes inlaid with silver, lending a continental feel to quite a lot of the tunes. It was also amazing to see Anna playing fiddle and dancing in her stilettos! The skill of the woman!! They played many songs from their album, Come Dancing, which is of course highly recommended.
Had a pint and a half of the Hogs Back Tea from the polypin but mostly water, as I was perspiring somewhat from all the dancing. Then it was a long walk back to Linda's house to stay the night in the spare room.
Many thanks to Linda for her company and hospitality!

Racing at Sandown

Why Sandown? After my first visit to Esher I was walking back to the station when I chanced to see a banner advertising a health and safety exhibition at the Grandstand, Sandown so I popped in to get a few freebies, I mean get some useful information for work. As well as a free smoothie and a good haul of pens, keyrings, bottle openers etc I also acquired a free Grandstand ticket to the race meeting on 10th March, worth £15! Patrick had never been to a race meeting before so he came along too.
The Grandstand at Sandown is far less grotty and sleazy than most racecourse stands, and we were pleased to find a stand selling Hogs Back real ale and Mr Whitehead's scrumpy cider. We also couldn't resist the salt beef sandwich stand for a mid-afternoon snack! The course itself is very attractive, with views stretching as far as the Wembley Arch, and the weather stayed fine and clear. We didn't make a killing on the betting though, it has to be said - I made the princely sum of 50p on the first race with an each way bet, and Pat made £1 on the last race! On the second race I was most disappointed to watch my horse leading all the way round the track, only to jump the last fence badly and unseat its rider. Stupid donkey!!
After the racing we went round Simon and Jane's for fish and chips from the award-winning chip shop in Aldershot - excellent meal it was too. Holly acquired the left over bits of fish skin.
Very pleasant day out - shame Lady Luck wasn't with me though!!