Songwriting

It was hot (some suffered from sunburn), busy (more people than ever) and the quality of songs shot through the tree canopy. I can't get The Windmill and the Orange Tree out of my head, but there were some great songs and some very funny stories (especially Ivan's tale of doing his washing in a stranger's house in a small town in Sweden, thinking it was his mate's house). Claire and Ruth stunned us with their beautiful voices; Liz wrote a charming song about her guitar; Alan Boyd inadvertently became some kind of God and we promised to teach the guinea fowl to chant his name, next time; Martin and Scott were just great to work with and the hotel staff were lovely.
We didn't even mind the midgies on the Friday night although John had an exotically decorated forehead for the weekend. Nice to see Mike, June and Laura, and of course thanks to Andrew Bailey for organising it- and to everyone who came, without exception 'up for it' and achieving personal bests as songwriters.
Have a good year everyone- see you again next time or at gigs before then.
I will be posting news of a London songwriting course later today for anyone local!
Pix: Tim shows how it is done: active, dynamic, draft after draft, practicing till the fingers bleed etc etc. Not. How come his song was so brilliant?
Martin in the magic spot where scattered rhododendron blooms and pine-cones litter the floor of the woods, illuminated by the morning sunshine.