Date claimer: The Goodwills supporting Fred Smith, Nambour June 18

date-claimer-fred-smith
East Street Singers (spot The Goodwills) photo by Joel Richters

Never too early for a date claimer  (so you can plan your busy lives). We’ve been asked to open for Fred Smith when he revisits Nambour’s Sunday Folk on June 18. Fred has performed at house concerts held when we lived in Maleny and we keep bumping into him (Tasmania, WA, Woodford). See details of this gig at the end of this report on our recent gigs.

March was a busy month for a pair of septuagenarians. On March 19 we performed at Folk Redlands with our third member Helen Rowe. The following weekend (March 26) Laurel and I were part of the afternoon’s entertainment for a refugee fundraiser in Warwick. The occasion was National Harmony Week and the cause to raise money to help settle a refugee family in Warwick.

Eighty people attended and we raised $1353 on the day for the Southern Downs Welcome Circle, which is sponsoring a refugee family who move to Warwick in May.

We opened the show with a half-hour set followed by East Street Singers who sang contemporary music, a break from the Gilbert & Sullivan pieces we are learning at the moment. Laurel and I are both in the choir so much changing of hats went on through the afternoon. Penny Davies and Roger Ilott closed the concert with some lovely soft, melodic songs which they encouraged people to sing along with.

Penny was also MC on the day (talk about wearing too many hats) and Roger thankfully took over managing our Yamaha PA which we needed in St Mark’s Anglican Hall.

Then on Friday March 31 we were part of the entertainment at a U3A Warwick end of term social. The venue was a contemporary history museum, The Kompound, noted for its dedication to the humble Kombi wagon.

Other entertainment on the night included a Scottish Country Dancing demonstration, the U3A line dancers and a Djembe drumming group.

Our next formal gig is supporting Fred Smith for a concert at Nambour’s Folk on Sunday on June 18, 2023. The venue is Nambour’s old ambulance station (now the Black Box Theatre). If you’ve not heard Fred Smith before, it would be worth the effort to (a) look him up https://fredsmith.com.au/ and (b) come along.

Author: Bob Wilson

musician, journalist, webmaster