RSCM – A church music organisation with local interests

Before I became Director of Music at St James, I had already heard of the RSCM – an organisation dedicated to developing and preserving the very best in church music in the UK and overseas.

What I didn’t realise was how interested they are in their local members.

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Matters Arising / AOB

I’ve been meaning to write some of these things up for a while, and failed to do them when they came to mind periodically. Hopefully I’ll cover off a few that needed saying sooner and you can take the appropriate action.

Big Yellow Taxi?

So they paved Paradise and put up a parking lot…

The Old Library. Monumental.

We’re short a pink hotel but there’s plenty of boutiques and music venues. And a huge library standing empty.

Running in circles

Last year, I announced I had begun running on Saturday mornings in Walsall Arboretum. Parkrun has since become a regular feature of my weekends. To date I’ve clocked up 44 runs, covering a total of 220km which otherwise wouldn’t have happened.

Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard

I think it’s important that these days school students know it’s OK to be visible. I suppose it’s always been OK, but as recent initiatives in schools and numerous feel-good videos on YouTube will tell you, standing up to the bullies by standing with the underdog is a powerful and effective strategy and the best way to achieve this is to make the little guy visible.

This is more difficult if you’re a young person travelling through a city centre to commute to school. On the one hand, it’s safer in a city not to stand out too much for fear of attracting attention. On the other, it’s possible to look so small and vulnerable that you automatically become a target.

Best Thing Ever :-)

“Best Thing Ever” – that’s how my new job was described by a friend on Facebook last Friday, when I announced to all and sundry that I had a new job.

Verbal contracts – they aren’t worth the paper…

I played my first ever Blues gig as a solo artist on October 14th, 2012. It was an utter disaster.

In their defence, the promotions company probably didn’t realise I wasn’t a regular pop covers artist, and I’m not blaming them for that.

I made mead.

I’m having a lot of fun home brewing.