5th July - Trombone Summit with Roy Williams

Aided and abetted by Ron Hills and Martin Veasey, Roy will be sure to bring us some of his wonderful improvisations. We're sure this will be a super night and it's likely to be fairly busy, so don't be late. Roger Healey and Roy Dutton will be making welcome returns too.

A Midsummer Nights Dream - Ainge and Manwaring take the stage

Well there's the longest day gone. The nights are drawing in once again, and its time to look out your wooly jumpers again!

Sometime musicians just click together, and last night Pete and Roger really cluck.

We got through some not-heard-very-often music too - including a surprising number of Ellington tunes. I don't think anyone planned that, it just nicely happened that way.

Thanks for turning out in such numbers too - that's really encouraging for our visiting musicians, and they both remarked on the reception you gave them.

Another point I've noticed: most of us had been working earlier in the day, and I think that adds to the relaxation of our Malvern sessions. Nobody wants to blow the clubhouse roof off, and the result is you get a nice, laid-back swinging evening. Couldn't help noticing some people having a sly dance at the back too!

Thanks are due to everyone involved in producing the latest CDs, half of which had been sold by the end of the evening. Derek Hazell slaved over a hot printer to create the inserts and labels, and I must thank Roger on the front row, without whose finger on the button you wouldn't get the recordings. We look forward very much to getting your comments on the CDs, and are happy to hear suggestions on how we can improve the product. Some limitations, of course, are built into into the machine(s) we use, but do let us have your comments please.

See you next time folks.

CD 'Specials' imminent

Thanks to everyone who's expressed an interest in the two 'special issue' CDs - the Mike Turner session and the Batemans session. We now have a good idea how many to run off and hope to bring them to you at the next session. Price will be £5 each, profits to the musians fund that pays visitors.

Next time - 21st June

We'll be welcoming Pete Ainge on trumpet, Roger Manwaring on reeds, Ken Jones on piano, and Martin Emeny will be back on drums. Don't be late!

A Night To Remember...Len Thwaites Sings!!!!!

After 14 long years, and trying methods from bribery to violence, we finally discovered the knack of getting Thwaites to give us a song. All you have to do is arrange for it to be Bett's birthday! And so, we now have it in the archives, and unless Len transfers a very large sum to my numbered account in Switzerland, it will feature on the next Compilation CD.

So what else happened on this auspicious 14th anniversary?

It was great to have with us two new guests making their first (and hopefully not their last) appearance at Malvern - Ceri Williams and Roger Marks, alongside an old friend Terry Roberts. What a lovely combination we got. Forget about the odd rough jam session edge - the ensemble sound, and the inventive solo work were terrific. This was a vintage Spring Lane occasion, and another tribute to Len's knack of bringing together people who 'click' from the off.

With Rod Kelly back on piano and Martin Emeny on drums, we had a great time on the stand and the audience reaction suggested that you all were enjoying it too.

We were delighted to see Ruth and Ted Frith in the body of the kirk, and Ruth got up to give us a couple of songs, which added a special moment to a great anniversary bash.

I hope we'll be back for many more celebratory parties. Thanks a million for all your support.