Chairman’s Message

A MESSAGE FROM OUR CHAIR

Hello and welcome to the Winter 2022/2023 issue of Harmonica World, and the first issue in which I’m writing the Chair’s column. Some of you may recall I was Editor of Harmonica World from the Dec/Jan 2020 issue through to the Winter 2021/2022 issue. Since then, Dave Colclough has been doing a fantastic job in the Editor’s seat whilst I’ve been overseeing the whole of HarmonicaUK’s communications, as well as fulfilling the role of Vice-Chair. At the time of writing, I’ve just returned home from our annual Harmonica Festival 2022 at Hillscourt, near Birmingham. We’ve had a fantastic weekend, full of excellent music, workshops and fellowship. Pete Hewitt decided the time was right to step down as Chair at the festival, and I have now taken on that role. Big thanks to Pete for doing a fantastic job over the last 2 years, transforming the organisation to be compliant and ready for the 21st Century! He has his mark on many projects, including our rebranding and appointment of ambassadors amongst many others. Pete has now been appointed as a HarmonicaUK Patron, his main project being the Ambassadors. Gene Myers, Andrew Hardy and Dave Colclough have joined the Committee; you will find a short introduction to each of them later in this issue. Next, some news hot off the press! Our next two Ambassadors have been announced: world-class musicians Sarah Saputri and Cy Leo. Rockschool London, a music exam board with students across the World, has awarded Sarah Saputri and Cy Leo, along with our existing Ambassadors Sam Spranger and Rachelle Plas, an Honorary Rockschool Diploma. The weekend before the festival, Pete Hewitt and I were invited to a Manfred’s gig as guests of Paul Jones, our President. Not only were we treated to an excellent evening of hits, jazz and blues, Pete got up on stage after the interval with Norton York of Rockschool, and presented Paul with an award, a Fellowship of Rockschool, to honour his contribution to the harmonica and British music. Following such an amazing festival we are all fired up! By the time you read this we will already be planning our next harmonica weekend event, which will be held on 28–30 April 2023, again at Hillscourt. Make sure you make a note of the date in your diary so you don’t miss it!