A Grand Day Out

To say the blokes are excited about our next performance is going to trouble classic British understatement to an extreme . . .

Excuse us whilst we pinch ourselves, but at as bunch of blokes from North, North Wiltshire to be asked to perform at a Mini Beer Festival of one of our favourite Breweries "down South" in the metropolis of Devizes is not necessarily a boyhood dream come true, because as youngsters we would never have imagined such a thing could ever happen!

Remember that we went on our first "Wold Tour" earlier in the year and visited Wadworth's Brewery?  Well, they loved having the blokes sing in their Visitor Centre so much that they requested that they returned to perform as part of their Mid Winter Beer Festival.

Reprising that great start to that great day will be a huge pleasure for us, especially as we are combining a few other treats to make it a "Grand Day Out" extravaganza by taking an Ellisons Coach trip to scoop up the Blokes along the way with pick-ups in Cricklade and Swindon Train Station, along with perhaps a couple of surprise "Honourary Day Blokes".

In fact, we might even be able to pop in to see a very definitely "Top Bloke" from BlokeFest 2013, namely Malcolm Ship who is now running a very interesting sounding emporium providing over 100 beers, The Vaults Micropub, Devizes .

For more details of the exact itinerary and other important details, see here.

If you would like to come along please email us at themagnificentak47@gmail.com to let us know and we can see if we can squeeze you on board.

Currently we have around 10 places spare so room on the bus, sorry, coach to spare at the measly sum of £5 per person.  Our current timetable is a 10:30 depart AK, Ellisons Coaches on the High Road then 10:45 Cricklade Town Hall pick-up, then 11:15 Swindon Train Station pick-up to reverse the process 16:15 Back on Coach to depart Devizes approx 17:00 Swindon Train Station drop-off then 17:30ish Cricklade drop-off then back to AK for who knows what after show activities.

Georgian Singing Workshop in the P.R. of Stroud

Word has reached us of another Georgian Singing Evening with Carl Linich on Tuesday November 26th in STROUD in one of the first floor rooms in the Centre for Science & Arts, Lansdown, Stroud from 7.30 till 9.30. 

The workshop will be with Carl, an American who founded the first Georgian choir in the West, the Kavkasia Trio, and has won awards from the Georgian State for his contribution to the preservation and promotion of Georgian singing.   

You can find a full biography, pictures, audio samples and lots of other information about Carl on his website.

Carl will teach by ear, and promises that he will match the difficulty to the ability of the singers who come on the evening!  All are welcome!  It's NOT just for blokes.

The event is being organized by lapsed, but none the less Magnificent Bloke Nick Mills who has been putting on singing events for many years and several of the current Magnificent Blokes attended Carl's workshop in Oxford the other night and can vouch for the fact that it will be a very interesting evening and you will learn tons about the language, the culture and how to sing this very special genre.

The workshop will be costed on a self-assessed sliding scale £12/£10/£8 depending what you feel is right.   The organizers will provide herb teas & biccies. 

To book please email sing@circleofsong.co.uk, register using an Online form here or call 01453 752978.   And here's a poster for this workshop. 

Please note: there are stairs and no lift, so please call Nick if you may have access issues.

Full links

http://www.nyfolklore.org/tradarts/music/artist/linichc.html
http://circleofsong.co.uk/

Bro-Vember, Mo-Vember

Many may think that "Movember" is just an excuse for blokes to not shave properly for a "Mo-nth", such as Geoff S's case in this photo, as unfortunately the full effect of his "Mo" is not adequately captured (mainly because he hadn't trimmed it!).

Others will recognize it for the remarkable phenomenon that has done an immense amount to pro"Mo"te awareness of male prone cancers and male mental health issues.

By clicking on the website at http://uk.movember.com you can very quickly learn a huge a"Mo"unt about testicular and prostate cancers that might just help save someone's life by early detection.  You will also find many very informative videos including a very clever and entertaining one featuring Ray Winstone and Jimmy White.

Resplendent in the "Mo-ness" in the photo are fine examples of Magnificent "Mo-hair" with Geoff S on the left, Big John, then Paul B and the hairiest of them all, Alan G.

Observers of how these things work will know that Alan probably has the most vested interest to be the "Mo-st" hairy as he is in competition with many of his colleagues at work to raise "Mo-re" funds for the invaluable research that Movember sponsors.  

So, without any more terrible puns or literary devices, and no further ado, visit Alan's page and donate at http://uk.movember.com/Alan+Garlick.

We meet again

 

The blokes are back into action after a brief lull with a series of workshops in preparation for our "Yuletide" Season appearing as headline act at the Wadworth's Brewery Christmas Mini Festival in Devizes, Wilts on Satrday 7th December, then the famous Ashton Keynes "Beer and Carols" where we cram as much of the village into a tiny space and sing carols, new and old amid much good ale.

Much, MUCH more to come in 2014 with a lot of very BIG gigs for the chaps. More soon(ish).