Chair’s Message

My goodness, there is so much to report on! Our Virtual Chromatic Weekend was a great success, with many top players from around the world joining us for the event. There is a full account later on in this magazine, but I must offer my sincere thanks to the artists, planning team, sound and technical engineers, archivists, and presenters who made it happen. It was a brilliant team effort. Likewise, I would like to thank you all for your generosity, you certainly did dig deep to support our artists. Our Annual Festival and AGM will now take place online between the 15th & 17th of October. This is a significant event because as well as staging a wonderful festival, on the Friday, when we have our AGM, we will also be launching our re-brand of HarmonicaUK including our brand new IT system and website. There will be so many improvements to the charity as a result of this. Additionally, we will be unveiling our 6 new ambassadors to HarmonicaUK who will spearhead our renewed focus on outreach. I can’t begin to tell you how much work has gone into getting ready for our October reveal, but it will certainly be a significant event in our history. I’m pleased to report that we have seen a positive trend in new members and I would like to thank everyone who has helped make this possible. Lets’s keep up the momentum in demonstrating that the harmonica really is the best instrument in the world!

As I draw to a close, I am sad to report that Eva Hurt has decided to step down from the committee due to personal reasons. Eva has been a popular and very capable committee member. I am glad to report that she will stay on as a helper. 2021 is certainly panning out to be a year of positive change and enormous progress. I hope you are all enjoying the summer and are enjoying the work of our organisation and its volunteers. Happy Harping,

Best wishes Pete