Extreme Knitting Redhead: Fund-raising can be fun

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Fund-raising can be fun

Last weekend we headed off to deepest Surrey for a concert organised by Levine Andrade, a good friend, in a beautiful church. Levine has been organising an annual concert there for the last 14 years, even though he no longer lives in the area.

St Peter's Church, Hascombe

The inside of the church was spectacular and quite unexpected! It was rebuilt in 1864 in Bargate stone in 13th century style and although it is a small church it is packed full of interesting features. Almost every surface is heavily decorated and I tried to capture its splendour in my photos:

Wow!

Magnificent ceiling

Beautiful ornamentation everywhere

A dove atop the font

Lovely flower motifs

All around the main body of the church there was a wonderful hand-painted frieze of fish behind netting

More fish imagery on the kneelers

The concert this year was extra special for 2 reasons; i) they were donating some of the proceeds to Alzheimer's Research UK and ii) Levine commissioned Mike to write a piece for the concert.

We also had friends staying the weekend so it was nice to share it with them too (Hi Phil if you're reading this!). There was a rehearsal beforehand and so we set off in plenty of time to get there for 3pm when Mike's piece was to be rehearsed. Our friends set off at the same time as us but sadly we got stuck in a massive traffic jam following a road traffic accident and arrived 15 minutes late. Mike prides himself on never being late for anything and he was beside himself when he realised that we would be late, poor love. Sometimes things just don't go to plan.

When we arrived at the church I just dropped him off and he ran ahead whilst I found somewhere to park the car.

Rehearsal in full swing

That's Mike with his head down. It looks as if he's praying but actually he's following the score so he can check the players are doing what he wants them to do (speed, intonation etc etc). Levine is conducting.

After the rehearsal we all headed off to the White Horse Pub nearby to grab a bite to eat before the concert.

The church was packed for the concert and it was a lovely setting for it.

Mike had written a beautiful piece entitled 'Adagio for Strings' which was very popular with both audience and players alike. Many people and players came over to congratulate him during he interval and again afterwards. I was so proud of him!

Mike shaking hands with the leader of the orchestra afterwards

Conductor and composer

I got in on the act too - not sure what I'm doing with the hand-on-hip thing though!

A most enjoyable evening and a lovely way to raise money for ARUK and the church at the same time.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: What a beautiful church :) the fishy frieze is lovely. Thanks for sharing.

Evz.; August 16, 2014 at 6:30:00 AM PDT

Post a Comment

Mum's Story

In 1997 my mother, then aged 81, had a series of minor strokes. Shortly after that we started to notice behavioural changes notably memory loss and confusion over everyday items. We thought it was just old age finally catching up with her. Then she started wandering and had violent mood swings. Although she already lived with us it became obvious that she couldn't be left alone for long and so I left my job to care for her. The next few years saw a gradual decline into the blackness that is 'vascular dementia'. My normally placid mum became violent and aggressive. She had psychotic incidents where she would see imaginary people (children hiding in her wardrobe, Russians sitting on the stairs, women stealing her clothes) and she would shout at them and sometimes throw things too. She was so convincing that we used to go and check that there wasn't anyone there! When my sister died mum did not know who Judy was or that she was her daughter. There came a point when I suddenly realised she no longer knew that I was her daughter and this was a terrible time for me. In the last 2 years that she lived with us, life for us all became almost unbearable as she needed 24 hour care - she couldn't be left alone at all because she would either wander off or hurt herself, she never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time during the night, she became incontinent and incapable of doing anything for herself. Finally my husband and I realised that we could no longer provide her with the care that she needed and she went to live in a special care home where the team did a splendid job caring for her in the last few months of her life. There she lived a zombified existence unaware of who she was, what she was or where she was. It was heartbreaking. She died in March 2005, the day after her 89th birthday.

Thank you for taking the time to read mum's story and I hope you'll dig deep and sponsor me using the link below to help find a way of beating this destructive disease.