The annual social evening was again in the style of a wine and cheese party this year. The musical entertainment being provided by fiddle player Bob Beckford and three fellow musicians from the Oddpiece band, of which Bob has been a member for nearly twenty eight years.
Bob opened the evening by giving a brief history of the development of the band and an indication of the music played and, after the first set of tunes, introduced his fellow band members who, by pure coincidence, all have a Christian faith.
Singing for us we had Annie MacCallum. Annie is a member of the Roman Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception in Stroud where she leads the singing. On flute we had Melody Sleggs. Melody attends the Cirencester Baptist church and has also undertaken missionary work in Nepal with her husband.
Christopher Hall, the band leader, is the original member of the band. He played guitar, mandola and Northumbrian pipes during the evening. A solicitor by profession, Christopher is also a very busy lay reader in the Benefice of Brimpsfield with Birdlip, Syde, Daglingworth, The Duntisbournes, Winstone, Miserden and Edgeworth.
A wide variety of music was provided during the evening, ranging from Irish and Scottish folk tunes to "They’ll Never Believe Me" written by Jerome Kern in 1914 for the musical "The Girl From Utah" and
"Love is the Sweetest Thing" written and sung by Ray Noble in 1932.
We then stopped the entertainment in order to sample the fantastic selection of cheeses again provided by David Long, accompanied by a choice of wines.
The entertainment continued in the background whilst we enjoyed our cheese and wine and concluded with the song "Wild Mountain Thyme" where we were encouraged to join in with the chorus.
Bob Beckford