I hope nobody went to Croxley on Saturday 5^th July looking for a medieval fair as it was actually on the Sunday. I had written the information across two days in my diary and misread it when I was putting it in the Concerts List. I managed to correct the information on the web site and in Clifford Bartlett’s Early Music Review, but I apologise if anybody did actually go on the Saturday. In fact it wasn’t a very medieval event. There were some very good notices for ye olde barbecue and tombola etc and some of the games had been adapted to look medieval, but I was disappointed that only two of the school children had made the effort to dress up in costume. However we, as the official musicians, had a very enjoyable afternoon’s playing, though I wonder what the children and their parents made of our 13^th to 15^th century repertoire. There was an excellent hawk display and I came away with a lot of new plants for my garden.

I am usually very careful when I type things in, but you should always check the contact number or web site before you go. I thought about going to something last week which I had copied from a usually reliable source, but when I looked it up on the web site it turned out to be something quite different. I cross checked it by doing an internet search and was pleased to find it there, only to see on closer inspection that I was being directed to the TVEMF web site!
There will be no Tamesis next month
Victorial Helby

Chairman's Chat
Until the workshop with Jeremy West last month we had never had a tutored event aimed at wind instruments other than recorders and, depending on your point of view, there could be a more than one verdict on its success. Partly owing to a clash with a SEMF playing day, we failed to attract any non-TVEMF players, so on a balance sheet the profit would have been enclosed in brackets or printed in a colour whose wavelength was towards the longer end of the spectrum. Of the four recorder players who braved the sometimes unrefined sounds of the cornetts, sackbuts and curtals there appeared to be a majority verdict in favour. For the remainder of the participants it seems to have been a great success. Jeremy was able to sympathise with the problems of playing these demanding instruments and to convey something of his approach to the music written for them. The final fifteen-part canzona by Gabrieli worked very well in spite of our not having the exact instruments required. The Dutch Church again proved to be an excellent venue - thanks are due to Jeff Gill for suggesting it in the first instance.

For many of us the next month or so will take us to summer schools both near and far, so please consider writing up your experiences for the next Tamesis (in September).
David Fletcher

The Early Music Exhibition
Our stand at the Early Music Instrument Exhibition in Greenwich is under new management, and I am looking for new pictures to decorate it, and people to man it.
1) Please send me your pictures illustrating our many musical activities. I will enlarge them, if necessary, and possibly laminate them, and I will try to return them, if you wish.
2) If you would like to sit on the stand for an hour, please let me know which day you would like come. There will be a rota, and we will stick to it, so you will have plenty of time to look around, as well as doing your bit. It is great fun, and I hope friends from other fora will also be joining us.
Do come and make the 24th-26th October a weekend to remember!
Hazel Fenton