We spent a lovely afternoon yesterday visiting a school for children of all ages who have both learning and physical disabilities. We were invited to perform because three of our rockies are teaching staff at this amazing school. What a wonderful and extremely humbling experience it was for us all! The kids, aged from about 5 up to 18 loved it! They sang and clapped and danced throughout the set and were totally engaged with the choir. One young girl signed the entire performance of 'All of me' - stunning. I love these small, intimate and personal gigs as do all the rockies who by the way were awesome! Thanks everyone and well done to the four rockies performing their debut gig! You were amazing!

January and February is always a little bit quieter in terms of concerts and gigs.  This gives us the oportunity to have a little breather.  We still continue to practice and work on new material.  We recently spent the afternoon meeting clients at Bovey castle for their Wedding open day.  I have also been busy arranging new pieces for weddings and events coming up in the spring.  These new pieces include Tchaikovsky Waltz from Eugene and Onegin and Tightrope (Greatest Showman), Never Gonna Let you down (Rita Ora) and Past the point of no return (Phantom).

Lovely Christmas wedding at the very beautiful Langdon Court. Congratulations to Laura and Matt on a lovely wedding. Busy one for me (as I like it!). Violin for the ceremony (All of me, I will wait and Best day of my life). Upbeat tunes and songs on the violin for the drinks reception. To finish off the day I played some background piano classics for the wedding breakfast. Phew! That is it for the year now.

We played at the very beautiful Ottery St Mary Church today for a festive Christmas wedding. Although the weather was awful outside there was a warm and festive atmosphere inside. This was a wedding with all the trimmings. String Quartet, Organist, Choir and Bell Ringers. Pachelbels Canon for the brides entrance and then some of Handel's Water Music for the signing. This was our final gig of 2019. We would love to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a huge thank you for following us this year and in fact this decade. 2020 is already looking like another great year for the Exe Valley String Quartet. Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year everybody!

Last night we played as part of the Light up a life service in Exeter Cathedral and as always it was a real pleasure to be a part of such a special evening. We played a new arrangement of 'Something inside so strong' as the book of memory was brought forward and the congregation spent time reflecting and remembering loved ones.

Well, in all my years in the music business I have performed and conducted in some wonderful venues but this is my first ever performance in a YURT in December!! A huge shout out and well done to Rockies from Saltash and Plymouth with one or two very dedicated rockies from Torquay and Newton Abbot for not only turning out to sing in awful weather - well done for finding the Yurt!! I have to say though it turned out to be a cracking night with a great audience. I know I am biased but I think we sounded particularly good last night. The singing was full of passion, intensity and energy. Really good! On to Tavistock on Sunday. Thank you Miss Ivy Events for a gig with a difference!

I always enjoy a traditional church wedding. On Friday I was at St Johns Church in Exmouth to play for the wedding of Stevie and Ryan. It was beautiful. The acoustics were great and the guests were very appreciative. I was on the piano for the hymns and the violin for the pre ceremony, brides entrance, signing of the register and wedding party exit. It was so nice to play Ave Maria, Air on G string, Greensleeves and Canon in D. I then played a bespoke and incredibly unique arrangement of Beyonce's Crazy in Love!!! What a job - so cool!

Wow Wow Wow!!! What a sound, what a gig, what a choir! We had a brilliant day in Newton Abbot singing for the Christmas shoppers and raising some serious money for Guide Dogs South West. 100 Rockies singing passionately is a privilege to stand in front of and direct! You were all awesome and I am very proud of you all this evening. Huge thanks to Phil at Prosound Solutions SW Limited for doing us proud again with the sound. A wonderful Rock Choir vibe today. We go again at Cockington Court tomorrow at 1pm. Harrison is putting together a video of the day which I will share with all when finished!

Rockies from Teigmouth, Newton Abbot and Torquay had the pleasure of rocking Teignmouth at their Christmas Tree Light switch on event last night. It was a lovely festive afternoon and evening with live music, stalls, festive food and drink and a lantern parade. The rock choir rounded off the event and as always looked and sounded superb!  Well done rockies on another great night.

We had lovely day out yesterday in beautiful Tavistock. We went as a family to look around the markets and the historic town which was a really nice thing to do in the lead up to Christmas. I then joined 60 rockies and rocked Tavistock in the evening as they turned on their Christmas lights. It was so nice to see some past rockies in the crowd supporting the choir. Considering there was no sound check for anybody we sounded fab! Yvonne and the children who were in the crowd said it sounded great! Well done everyone and thank you Tavistock.

I have just come to the end of another busy weekend as a wedding and event violinist and pianist. I spent the weekend in Somerset playing at the very lovely Coombe Lodge at Blagdon and also today I had the pleasure of playing at Clevedon Hall. Both stunning venues (even if Saturday was very wet and windy.) Two lovely weddings and as always a privilege to play at both. Requests included All of Me, A Million Dreams and A Thousand Years. I also played on the grand piano at Coombe Lodge for the drinks reception including a bit of Bob Marley for the bride! Congratulations Sherrol, Chris, Rhiannon and Sam.  Nice to be back in Weston Super Mare as it gave me the chance to catch up with mum and dad and my sister Sarah.

I had a lovely afternoon with @ExeValleyStringQuartet yesterday. Even though the weather was wet we played for a really beautiful wedding ceremony and reception at Rockbeare Manor. We played the wedding theme from 'Up' which is gorgeous and then we wrote a bespoke arrangement of 'Came here for love' for the bride and groom which is another great tune for strings to play.

I have just had the privilege of playing at a beautiful October wedding in Spreyton near Crediton. A real traditional feel today with a church choir and a traditional wedding ceremony set in a lovely Devon Village. The violin stayed home today as this was a piano gig. I played the Prelude in C by Bach for the guests while they settled down. Pachelbels Canon on the flute with piano accompaniment was the entrance music then I accompanied the Spreyton Singers as they sung the very pretty 'Songbird' by Eva Cassidy and the rousing 'Best Day of my life' for the exit of the bridal party. Congratulations to Tasha and Chris on a lovely ceremony. Best wishes for your future together.

Today I had the privilege of playing for Justine and Bens wedding in Salcombe. What a beautiful place to get married with the harbour as the back drop. Lots of musical theatre and film music today all on the electric violin. I also accompanied an amazing vocal quartet on the piano in the signing of the register as they sang original arrangements of 'Is this Love' by Bob Marley and 'All you need is love' by The Beatles. A fab day!

We have so many beautiful places on our doorstep here in Devon. Today I had the honour of playing for Hayley and Dean as they were married at the stunning New Barton Barns in Wembury. Hayley walked down the isle to 'Paradise' by Coldplay and then we had 'A Thousand Years' and 'Stand by Me' during the signing of the register. The wedding party started the celebrations by walking out of the ceremony to 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' by Queen. I then accompanied the guests drink reception with this amazing view of the sea. I played electric violin for this programme. Just Wonderful!

Orchestral gig with British Philharmonic Concert Orchestra in Weston Super Mare. Last night of the proms classics as well as a full programme of British Orchestral music. Really enjoyable play!! I particularly enjoyed playing the Pirates of the Caribbean Orchestral Suite and the Phantom of the Opera was amazing!  We now go off to The Hexagon Theatre in Yeovil on Friday for the next show.

We played at the very beautiful Bovey Castle today for another beautiful wedding. Slightly 'light jazz' feel to the requests today. Etta James 'At Last' and Gershwins 'Summerime' for the signing of the register. Really lovely pieces to play as a quartet. We played 'Signed Sealed Delivered' for the exit of the bridal party which was a new one for us but again very cool to play. 'Beaky' the parrot liked the music very much and even 'wolf whistled' some of the ladies at the wedding!

What a scorching day it was Saturday for the wedding of Hannah and Richard. This was our second visit to the very beautiful Ever After - A Dartmoor Wedding. A busy gig as we played for pre ceremony drinks on the lawn. We then moved onto the ceremony where we played Hey Jude and Stand by Me. As the groom was a big Spurs fan we were asked to play the wedding party and guests out to the theme from the Champions League Football show. It went down well with all the guests. Then off to play lots of upbeat pop and rock covers for the main drinks reception. Congratulations to Hannah and Richard. Fabulous wedding!

Lovely wedding on Friday at the very beautiful Haldon Belvedere (Lawrence Castle). The view across Exeter in the sunshine was stunning. I was on the piano on Friday playing for the guests as they took their seats and settled down. We then had the traditional Bridal March for Ellie's entrance, A Thousand Years and All of me for the signing of the register and then All you need is love for the exit of the bridal party. Nice to be on the piano for a change. Congratulations to Ellie and Jeffrey on your wedding day.

Fabulous gig today in my home town of Dawlish.  Carnival week is in full swing and over 100 rockies entertained the crowds with an amazing set of songs ranging from rock songs to ballads to The Greatest Showman.  A thoroughly professional performance from all of the rockies.  We sounded amazing and looked so smart.  We have been inundated with positive comments from the crowds and from family and friends.  It was a great way to end the Rock Choir 'season'.  Next 'season' starts with a big one - The Proms in the Park - Hyde Park London! Thank you everybody for being so amazing!