Chairman’s message

A MESSAGE FROM OUR CHAIR

I trust this summer magazine edition finds you safe and well. I guess the big story is that our Chromatic Weekend continues to make great progress. The team and all the helpers have really done a great job. I will look forward to personally welcoming you all to our weekend. This is probably the last chance that you will have to book in, so please don’t delay. We also have several diatonic players attending this year, so this will be an exciting weekend, with lots of jamming and of course a first-class line up to teach and perform for us at the Saturday evening show. 2021 was a fast and furious year for my team as we worked towards our relaunch/rebranding and new IT. This year we began a new journey by exploring what we can do as a charity to help and support others. Richard Taylor, assisted by Laina Freeman and Sammy Boy Wilkinson, set out their stalls for us during an Outreach Zoom Conference on the 20th of March. The event was well attended by so many professional people and interested parties from within HarmonicaUK. During this awe-inspiring meeting, Chris Startup from Project Sounds spoke about how harmonicas can help with all sorts of lung problems, from COPD to long COVID. Neil Cunningham from Southwark Fostering talked about how they are helping underprivileged children with a need for support with instruments and teaching. Sammy Boy spoke of his work with other organisations who are also promoting harmonicas and singing for health. Sam Spranger, who is one of our ambassadors, spoke of the real value that playing provides in supporting good mental health. I have to say that the teams are really defining what we can do to bring joy, health and of course camaraderie to our already great organisation. If you missed this meeting, a recording is available on our website in the outreach section. So it is with great pride that I thank all involved for giving their time and thank you, our members, for the loyal support that you have shown us - thank you. One final thing - save the weekend of October 21-23rd in your diaries for the HarmonicaUK October Festival, this year back to in-person. Details will be available soon in the Autumn edition of Harmonica World, and on www.harmonica.uk/events