29 September 2010

Update on the Mayor's Special Fundraising Session - 11th November


The Mayor and Mayoress, John May and Marion Jarvis, have come up with lots of ideas for 11th November, including some special requests for their favourite songs by particular musicians, which they will make known to those people in person.

The Mayor will outline the kind of evening he envisages during the interval at this week's Session. For anyone who won't be there, a summary of the issues discussed at today's meeting can be found on the Facebook discussion page .

Audience tickets will be on sale at the Coast Inn from Thursday onwards at £4, all proceeds from which will go to the Mayor's special charities, Essex Air Ambulance and St Helena Hospice.

There's going to be a raffle on 11th November, too. John is asking local businesses for prizes, and has already received some generous offers (eg a meal for two at one of Mersea's favourite restaurants). But so that the raffle table is absolutely laden on the night, how about everyone involved donating something - even something very modest? - perhaps a box of chocolates or a bottle of wine or beer or bubble-bath, a home-made cake, a jar of marmalade, a pot-plant, an unwanted gift. Let's see see what we can come up with to make a really good display and sell the maximum number of raffle-tickets.

Hope all the regular musicians and audience will feel inspired to come along and help make this a really memorable one-off fundraising night for two charities especially dear to local hearts.
 
(If you're not a musician and fancy helping with a bit of organising on the night (furniture shifting, selling raffle tickets, ushering people to their seats, etc), please let me know.)

25 September 2010

Thursday 23.9.10

This week's pics are by Juliet and Juliet. As usual - a few tasters here and lots more in the Gallery .








20 September 2010

The Mayor's special Charity Fundraising Session - 11th November

Update on Greg's announcement following a meeting with Belinda: The Mayor's Charity Fundraising Session on 11th November will take place in the restaurant and tickets will be £4 (available from the Coast Inn from 1st October, or on the door).

All proceeds will be split between the Mayor's chosen charities - Essex Air Ambulance  and St Helena's Hospice  - both of them very popular and immensely worthy local causes.

John May has been one of the Session's most loyal and regular supporters right from the start, so please do come along and support his charity fundraising initiative in return. A raffle will be held - all donations of prizes, large or small, will be very welcome. And any other ideas to maximise the fundraising potential of this special Session will gratefully received. (Email us or leave a message on the Facebook page.)

(NB The front bar will be open, free of charge, as usual, for anyone who simply wants to go to the Coast Inn for a drink and not take part in the special Session.)

19 September 2010

Harwich Sea Shanty Festival 2010

Free open air entertainment, concerts, music sessions, classic boats, traditional maritime crafts, Napoleonic displays, pub sessions and singarounds - absolutely masses going on over the weekend of 8th-10th October. See the Festival website for full details.

Annual Chelmsford Morris Ceilidh

I've been asked by Bob Sawyer of Chelmsford Morris  to give this one a plug:

18 September 2010

Thursday 16.9.10

This week's pictures are by Peter and Hilary. A selection below - lots more in the Gallery .






Roman River Festival 2010


Quick plug for the eleventh Roman River Festival, with ten concerts of music old and new by world-class musicans in churches and village halls along the Roman River - starting with Bach at St Stephen's, Great Wigborough and ending with a Tango Evening in Fingringhoe Village Hall. There's also a family concert featuring Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf at Abberton & Langenhoe Village Hall and a morning of Baroque violin and harpsichord at East Mersea Church.  Full details of all events in the Festival are over on the Mersea Island Live Music  website.

17 September 2010

Announcing the Lord Mayor's Show!!

Not quite sure what it's going to be called, so The Lord Mayor's Show is a working title whilst we sort out the details. At last night's session, John May, the Mayor of West Mersea, addressed the assembly and announced that he would like to take over the Mersea Session for one night only for a charitable event, raising funds for his two chosen charities, Essex Air Ambulance and St Helena Hospice.

This idea was warmly received by everyone there, and the date of Thursday 11th November was fixed in the diary. Belinda has kindly offered to let us have the restaurant area behind the main bar to maximise the attendance (and therefore fundraising potential). Juliet is working with John May re organisation, so watch this space, but in the meantime, get the date of Thursday 11th November into your diaries and practice, practice, practice!

8 September 2010

Coming soon to a town not far from Mersea . . .


Colchester Free Festival 2010 is a one-day music and arts festival in Castle Park from 11am to 7pm on Saturday 18th September and forms the finale of "Colchester!" - a week-long "grassroots celebration", with events taking place throughout the town, from Monday 13th September to Saturday 18th September. See the Free Festival website for full details of all the events and bands.

4 September 2010

The Great Amplification Debate . . .

. . . is under way over on our Mersea Session Facebook discussion page.

This is a really important issue, and central to the direction the Session will take in future, so please, whether you are a musician or a member of the audience, have your say now. The Session is a community activity, and everyone's voice counts.

So join in the discussion on Facebook, or leave a comment here, or email us (contact details on sidebar down there on the left), to make sure that your views are heard.

3 September 2010

Thursday 2.9.10

Pictures this week by Juliet Young, who also took some good ones of last week's Session, which are now on the Gallery page.








Thursday 2.9.10

Did anyone take any photos last night that we could post on the website?  I wasn't there myself. All contributions gratefully received - please email them over! Thanks