Duke of Edinburgh Awards

Gosvenor House Hotel GuitaristOn Saturday I played for the annual Duke Of Edinburgh Awards fundraising event at The Grosvenor Hose Hotel on Park Lane, London. There was a Venetian theme this year so theatre masks were aplenty and a whole host of entertainers were booked for the evening including Matt Rawle (who I last worked with on Zorro the Musical), Incognito and my new friend Archie (more about him later….)

Roger Taylor from Queen was also at the event to introduce acts, give an after dinner speech and hold a couple of the main auctions.

The event was held in The Great Room of the hotel, one of the only hotel rooms in London able to accommodate 1000 diners. The last time I played here was for an evening dinner hosted by Michael Portillo wen my quartet played. Zorro the Musical also attended The Olivier Awards Ceremony where one of our leads, Leslie Margherita, picked up a best actress award.

….. so who’s Archie?…. Amongst the many entertainers booked for the evening was a wooden puppet called Archie who played the violin, let me introduce you:

 

Archie

Sandwich Guitar Festival

sandwich guitar festival

Last weekend I had the pleasure of performing a solo concert for the very first edition of The Sandwich Guitar Festival in Kent.

The festival was great with lots of opportunities for taking classes with professional musicians and a whole extended weekend of all things Guitar!

Preston Reed, Gary Ryan and Larry Miller where among the other Srtists performing at the festival this year.

Sandwich is a beautiful town to hold an event like this and I think this festival will continue to expand and grow each year with more and more people cominf from all over the country to learn and listen to guitar music.