Paris 2024: The Composer-lympics!

Paris… the city of the 2024 Olympics, and of many of the great composers, including one of whom (Gabriel Fauré) died a hundred years ago. So, the Extreme Cellists decided we’d link these two areas and pay a brief visit!

Between 13 and 16 July 2024 (or last Saturday and today as we write this) the Extreme Cellists nipped over to Paris on the train, to play at (or near) eight Olympic venues, outside the former homes of two composers (Fauré and Chopin), on streets named after seven more, and at various other sites associated with notable musicians - including the Paris Conservatoire, where many of these composers had studied and/or worked.

Highlights included:

  • Playing at two of the greatest sports stadia in France (and the world) - the Stade de France, and the Parc des Princes

  • Celebrating Bastille Day by dying our hair to match the French Tricolore!

  • Playing Fauré’s In Paradisum outside La Madeleine, the church where he was organist

  • Playing La Marseillaise using bows made from baguettes in front of the Louvre (click here to see a video…!)

  • Playing Anton Bruckner’s Locus Iste outside Notre Dame, still being repaired after the 2019 fire. Although Bruckner never lived in Paris, he did give an organ recital at Notre Dame (and this is his 200th anniversary)

  • Being moved on by police when playing at the Trocadero

Although just a quick trip, we packed a lot in - walking over 20 miles with the cellos in two days to get between places too - and certainly enjoyed a bit of French hospitality as well. Merci et au revoir, Paris!

The Score is Settled!

…by which we mean, we’ve completed our “Settling the Score” 20th anniversary challenge! A wonderful final full day on the Isle of Man involved four performances in all, including the one we had originally planned but much more else besides.

As scheduled, we started the day by attacking Snaefell, the tallest mountain on the Isle at a height of 610m. Because of the extra pier performance (more of which later) we decided we’d walk up the mountain from the car park at Bungalow Station, but then take the mountain tram back down again in the interests of time. This was all going well until we got to a height of about 500m, at which point we disappeared into clouds!

The cloud cover continued all the way to the top, meaning the spectacular views we had read about didn’t materialise. But we made good progress (as we’ve found before, having 6- and 9-year-olds walking with us certainly geed us on!), and we got to the summit at about 11.20, our legs having survived a steep climb despite the exertions of the last two days. It was cold and exceptionally windy at the very top, but we gave a rendition of Climb Every Mountain with nearly-numb fingers and then retreated to the summit cafe.

After an early lunch, we noticed the cloud was starting to burn off, and before we left the top we were treated to some great views of the island - not as far as any of the nations of the UK, which apparently can be seen on a clear day (as can Ireland), but enough to make it seem doubly worthwhile.

Following an exciting descent in the mountain tram, we had a little time before we were due at the pier, so we took a trip to the northenmost point on the island - the Point of Ayre. This was a spectacular bit of coastline, with two lighthouses and a foghorn on a seemingly endless pebble beach. We gave a quick recital by the smaller of the lighthouses before heading back to Ramsey.

We had been disappointed on Saturday to find the pier closed, and clearly still undergoing significant restoration work. A chance conversation with a journalist yesterday, however, opened some doors for us (literally), and we were greeted by the President of the Queens Pier Restoration Trust - who just happens to be a cellist himself! By this stage the sun was shining, and we played a few pieces for the handful of people who had gathered on the pier. We’re very grateful to Stuart McKenzie and his team for allowing us to do this and complete the challenge!

After a brief stop for an ice cream (our first of the tour!), we returned to the village of Laxey, and had a walk down to the beach. A glorious late afternoon was an ideal setting for a good playing session, where we got to play many of our favourite pieces in a more leisurely way than we’ve sometimes managed! We then rounded off the day with a lovely Italian meal with James’s family.

So, we’re heading back to England tomorrow with a tinge of sadness - we’ve so enjoyed our time on the Isle of Man, which none of us knew before but we have all come to love. This therefore will be the last of the daily blogs from the current challenge, but we’ll send out a newsletter with a final update from the tour later in the month.

Finally, a few thank yous: to everyone at the Isle of Man Half Marathon; Dr Peter Litman and his colleagues at St German’s Cathedral; to Stuart McKenzie and the Queen’s Pier Restoration Trust; to the wonderful people of the Isle of Man; and to everyone who has sponsored us (thus helping Aspire and Go Beyond in their wonderful work) along the way. If you’re still meaning to join that number, you can do so by clicking this link:

Sponsor us here!

But for now, goodbye and thank you, from Jeremy, Clare and James!

Another half marathon!

OK, that title may be slightly misleading as we haven’t run another half marathon today - but our coast-to-coast walk did take us another 13.2 miles, meaning today’s challenge was actually further than yesterday’s (and we were carrying more). But more of that later!

This morning saw us visit Peel, and specifically St German’s Cathedral. Even more specifically, it was the song school of the cathedral we went to, as the main cathedral is closed for significant renovations (although we don’t think it had a suitable flat roof for us anyway). When we played on all 42 Anglican cathedral rooftops in England in 2006, there was actually one Church of England cathedral in the British Isles that we didn’t cover - yes, it was St German’s in Peel. So this was a nice way to complete the set.

We were given a very warm welcome by their Director of Music, Dr Peter Litman, who plied us with cups of tea as we ascended to the roof - and then found that quite a substantial crowd had turned up to hear us play. Luckily the rain that was threatening held off for the duration of the performance, and we were generously applauded (and donations were made)!

But then the big walk began - from Peel back to Douglas, West coast to East coast, which was mostly along the Heritage Trail, a disused railway line. While this did not contain any major hills, and was generally very pleasant, it was also somewhat gruelling, especially the day after running a half marathon! It was already gone midday when we began it, but bumped into yet another cellist friend from Sheffield as we were starting, which seemed a remarkable coincidence!

After about 3 miles we stopped for lunch in a village called St John’s (at a lovely cafe called Green’s - highly recommended!), and then went across the road to play at Tynwald Hill - the site of the oldest continuing parliament in the world (beginning over a thousand years ago, and still having an annual meeting now, open to the community of the Isle of Man every 5 July). A rather delightful four-tiered hill, it is a distinctive looking place, especially with cellos we thought!

But the walk continued quickly afterwards, as we had a lot of ground to cover. Rain came and went, and by the time we were getting close to Douglas we had aching feet, legs, backs and various other ailments; speaking personally my legs were even more tired at this point than they had been at the end of the half marathon yesterday! But finally we got to the coast and could celebrate with a fine meal (at which we were joined by James’s wife and children, and old friends Kate and Shaun, who are all over here for the duration of our trip too).

Some exciting news about tomorrow! After we go up the 610m mountain Snaefell in the morning, we are going to be allowed onto Queen’s Pier in Ramsey to play, even though it is shut to the public. A journalist who covered our playing in Peel today made a helpful connection for us, so we will get to set foot on the pier after all! But there’s the small matter of a mountain to ascend (and descend) first…

Thanks again to everyone who’s sponsored us so far; if you’d like to add to that number to contribute to Aspire or Go Beyond you can do so by clicking the below link:

Sponsor us here

Many thanks!

Jeremy, Clare & James

Half Marathon complete!

Wow, that was quite a morning. The day of our toughest challenge (we hope!) began in a somewhat hectic manner, as we realised that due to some confusion over start times we had half an hour less than we had expected to get ourselves to Ramsey for the Isle of Man Half Marathon. However, after some speedy reorganisation we managed just that, and embarked on our third official long run with cellos - and the first since 2012.

The Isle of Man Half Marathon (and Marathon, which was being run on the same course but starting half an hour earlier and doing two laps) turned out to be wonderful however - in various different ways. The weather started out perfect (it got a little hot as the race went on), but this meant that the first few miles - which saw some big climbs - were under cloud cover at least.

The best thing, however, was the people. Everyone we spoke to, interacted with, or ran with was absolutely lovely. It was the friendliest organised race any of us had ever done, and it almost wants me want to do it again! (I said almost…)

We’re pleased to report that the race went without any serious hitch for any of us. As expected James came in first of the three of us (with a time of 2:24), followed by Jeremy and Clare, and at the end the reception we each got when arriving, and the fabulous buffet provided for runners (yes, included in the entry!), made a lovely atmosphere.

We then of course played for a while, at the Ballycloan Stadium where the finishing line was. This made it all the more special (and proved to anyone doubting what we were carrying that yes, those really were cellos in there!). Sincere thanks to all the race organisers, marshalls, and volunteers, for making the day so special.

Tomorrow we’re starting in Peel, playing on the roof of the song school at St German’s Cathedral (otherwise known as Cathedral Isle of Man) at 11.00am. (The main cathedral is closed for renovations currently.) We’ll then be walking the 12 miles or so to Douglas along the Heritage Railway route, stopping to play along the way. The weather forecast isn’t good, though, so we’ll see how that goes…

As a reminder, you can sponsor us at the below link: many thanks again to everyone who already has!

Sponsor us here

How deep is that sand?

An interesting first day proper of the tour saw us dodge the rain to play under a pier, in a pleasant town square, and with the Bee Gees!

Well, not playing with the Bee Gees of course, but we did honour their Manx heritage by visiting the statue of the three brothers on the seafront at Douglas. As well as posing for various photos (see above/right!) we played our new arrangement of their hit How deep is your love, which pleased one or two passers by at least!

Before that, following a lazy morning which finished with us watching the Lionesses’ victory over Colombia in the women’s World Cup, we went along to Ramsey, only to find out that the rumours were definitely true - there is no way onto the pier currently. So instead we went and played under the pier (yes, we played Under the boardwalk!), negotiating some rather wet sand which we sank into more as we played!

Although we were only planning a short performance if few people were around, we were then joined by a fellow cellist from Sheffield (who used to play in an orchestra with Jeremy), and her dad, so we played a bit more! Then James’s family came along too, and we went into the town square to play a bit more for general punters. We were surprised how quiet everything was on a Saturday in August, but clearly the town is quite a sleepy one generally.

We’re back in Ramsey tomorrow, for the half marathon - eek! We’ll just have to hope the training pays off, and that the weather plays ball…

Thanks again to everyone who has sponsored us so far! Find out more about what we’re doing, and have the chance to sponsor us if you haven’t already, at this link:

Sponsor us here!

We're on the Isle of Man, ready to Settle the Score!

So, it’s time for the 20th anniversary challenge to begin!

We’ve all arrived on the Isle of Man (Jeremy and Clare came across today, James having been here with his family for a week), and are preparing for an intensive four days. Actually, we’re starting off tomorrow with easily the lightest of those four - the only official part of the challenge being to play on Queen’s Pier, Ramsey*. Though doubtless we’ll find lots of other fun places to play and things to do when near the seaside!

Of course, we’ll be saving ourselves a little because of the three following days - running a half marathon, walking from coast-to-coast, and climbing a mountain (all with cellos) will take a bit of doing. And that’s not even to mention the roof of the song school at Peel Cathedral. As a reminder, this is our plan (more details at www.extremecello.com/2023):

  • Saturday: Play at Queen’s Pier, Ramsey (see below*)

  • Sunday: Run the Isle of Man half marathon with our cellos

  • Monday, 11am: Play on the roof of the song school of St German’s Cathedral, Peel

  • Monday afternoon: Walk from the west coast (Peel) to the east coast (Douglas), playing our cellos along the way

  • Tuesday: Climb and playing at the summit of Snaefell (610m – the tallest mountain on the island. Timings for this are weather dependent, so again look out for social media/blog updates

Anyway, today we’ve already spent a little time at the beach, having fish and chips of course, and have registered for Sunday’s race - see photo above of us with our race numbers and lovely official race shirts at the National Sports Centre. But mostly we’re steeling ourselves for the next few days…

As a reminder, you can sponsor us and donate to the great work of Aspire and Go Beyond by clicking here:

Sponsor us here!

*So, today we discovered that the pier is mostly closed. We’re going to see how close to the shore end of it we can actually play, but otherwise we’ll go under the pier at low tide - yes, we’ll play “Under the Boardwalk”! Our estimated time for that is now 2.30pm, so if you happen to be around, see you there!

Junior Extreme Cellists to make debut!

Following in the footsteps of the Extreme Cellists, the Junior Extreme Cellists have recently begun their own ventures in bringing cello music to unusual locations!

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The four junior cellists - Amy (15), Anna (15), Seth (12) and Zulf (12) - will, on Monday 1 April, be playing at a number of extreme locations in and around Castleton in Derbyshire. This will begin with a performance in Cavedale at 10.00am, and will be followed by playing in the Treak Cliff Cavern at 11.30am. All are welcome! Following this, they will trek up the heights of Mam Tor, stopping to play on the “broken road” - the old A625 that was spectacularly damaged by a landslide in 1974.

This is all being done in aid of the charity Music for All - which supplies musical instruments, and music education, to people (of all ages) who would not otherwise get the opportunity to play. The Junior Extreme Cellists are aiming to raise £1000 for the charity via sponsorship - if you would like to sponsor them, you can do so by clicking here:

Great War Composers and Poets: Final Thoughts

So, we have now returned to England and have wended our way north to Chester and Sheffield. It’s been a remarkable few days, for a whole host of reasons.

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First and foremost, the horrors of the First World War became slightly more real. I say “slightly” because nothing could ever reveal its true nature to us of course. But seeing the monuments listings tens of thousands of names of the missing; being in cemeteries where thousands of graves (in one case over 10,000) lay; and seeing signs for Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries what seemed like every few hundred yards just began to give an indication of the gargantuan scale of the conflict. In addition, in following the stories (and battles) of a few individuals - who just happened to be composers and poets - we could envisage some of the particular action, including individual heroism and tragedies, and could see the sheer futility of some of the decisions made.

Incidentally, on the subject of cemeteries, we have to pay tribute to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, whose cemeteries are kept absolutely wonderfully. We would also like to thank everyone who helped us along the way, and allowed us to play in places where we might not have expected it automatically; including the Thiepval monument and Talbot House. There was nowhere that we asked to play where we were not allowed to, and the respect and friendship shown by everyone - locals, staff, and visitors alike - was a real hallmark of this particular tour.

Owen grave.PNG

Of course it had its lighter moments too - including the car being towed away (which we could laugh about eventually), and some wonderful food and drink (well, we were in France after all!). But it is the likes of George Butterworth and Wilfred Owen who will stay with us. Requiescat in pace.

We will, of course, be back for more adventures in the future... we expect to have another major challenge in 2020. Watch out for more information on that in due course, either here, or on our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram accounts (or via our newsletter). We’ll be doing a few smaller things in the mean time too... we’ll write the occasional blog post about those too!

It merely remains for us to leave you with a collection of photos from the trip (see below*), and to give you our highlights of the tour.

(*These may not appear in the email version of the blog: if not, then visit the web site).

Highlights of the tour (one from each of us):

  • James: Playing at the side of the Sambre- Oise canal, at the spot where Wilfred Owen was shot merely a week before the end of the war
  • Clare: Playing at the cemetery at Anzin, where her grandfather had served (and where it is likely that some of his fellow soldiers were buried.
  • Jeremy: Playing at the Thiepval Memorial, under the Francis Purcell Warren inscription, with an appreciative and emotional audience.

 

Great War Composers and Poets Day 5: Peace in Wartime

For our final full day of the tour we decided not to focus on a specific composer and poet, but instead look at events of the Great War that gave hope and peace - however briefly.

We were greeted by an unfamiliar site when leaving our hotel: clouds. After four days of constant blue skies, it was rather overcast. Of course this did not last; the sun burned them away by lunchtime, although it was slightly cooler today - the high temperature being a comparatively measly 31 Celsius! After a slightly later breakfast (it was Sunday, after all), we drove north back to Belgium.

Our first port of call was somewhere we had been earlier in the week, but had not stopped for long: the monument (donated by UEFA, the European football governing body) to the famous “Christmas Truce” football match in December 1914. I’m sure you’ll know the story: on Christmas Day, Allied and German soldiers put down their weapons for the day, and had a game of football in no-man’s land. The monument may not be in the precise place of the game, but it is certainly nearby. Adorned by football scarves of many colours, and quotes from football dignitaries such as Michel Platini, it occupies a significant position close to the various Ploegsteert battlefields, cemeteries and monuments.

Our decision to return here was prompted by the realisation that we hadn’t played right at the monument earlier in the week, and it would make sense to play something with a football connection. The hymn “Abide with me” is known as a particular football hymn - it is sung every year at the FA Cup final - and so we played this, as you can watch in the video.

We then went north west to the Flemish town of Poperinge, and specifically to Talbot House (which became known as “Toc H”. This was a place of convalescence for British soldiers set up in 1915 by the charismatic British Army chaplain Philip “Tubby” Clayton, and provided an opportunity for rest and respite while soldiers were recovering or on leave. In particular it played host to much music and entertainment - we watched a great short film that recreated some of the music hall numbers of the day - and gave an opportunity for peace and laughter amongst the maelstrom of the surrounding war.

The house also has a wonderful garden - it’s difficult to believe it’s in the centre of a sizeable town - and after we’d had some lunch at a nearby restaurant we came back to play a set of music in the garden, including Ivor Novello’s “Keep the home fires burning” - a very popular song of the First World War, and something that would definitely have been heard there on many occasions! We had a highly appreciative audience, and the wardens were very welcoming - for the first time this week we actually sat on chairs to play, which certainly made things easier!

All in all, this felt like a wonderful and uplifting way to finish the playing on this tour. It has been a real rollercoaster of emotions, but a highly worthwhile thing to do. We’ll post one final blog tomorrow, as we journey home; now we’re off to enjoy our final night in France (but not too much, as we’ve got a very early start tomorrow!).

Highlight of the day: Playing in the garden at Talbot House (and actually sitting on a chair to play the cello!)

Quote of the day: “Do you guys play the guitar as well?” A member of the public in Poperinge was obviously disappointed with our lack of musical flexibility! We think he was joking...

Great War Composers and Poets Day 4: Bliss, Warren and Owen

Today started with more excitement (of the wrong sort) than we had expected. Our now-established routine of loading the car, and getting a quick breakfast from the local boulangerie, was interrupted when we found our (James’s) car was not where we had left it. We had failed to spot the different parking restrictions on a Saturday morning due to the Arras market, and we quickly realised that “Bruce”, as the car is affectionately known, must have been towed.

We went back to our hotel, where the receptionist was incredibly helpful (top marks to the Arras Ibis!), and phoned the police to ask what we needed to do. We walked the 15 minutes to the police station, where the gendarmes were far more helpful and polite than we had feared. In fact, after the paperwork was finished, they even gave us a lift to the towing company, saving us a 45 minute walk! Even there, the service was helpful and efficient, and once we had paid a fine we were on our way quickly. The whole episode was done in little over an hour, and could have been far worse!

And so, after a hasty (and sugary) breakfast, we set on our way to Cambrai, about 20 miles south west of Arras. The site of a major battle in late 1917, and where the English composer Arthur Bliss (1891-1975) was gassed. The battle at Cambrai was a truly horrific one, with over 50,000 Germans and over 44,000 allied forces losing their lives. Bliss did not die there - he went on to compose great music over the following decades - but it did represent the end of his war.

We first went to the main Cambrai memorial to the missing, some 10 miles out of the town, and in the absence of any appropriate music by Arthur Bliss, we played amongst others Francis Purcell Warren’s “Ave Verum”. Warren (1895-1916) had already gone missing, presumed dead, by this point in the war, but this felt like an appropriate commemoration. While his music is not as well known as some of the composers we are celebrating on this trip, it still has a real poignancy to it, and if he had lived beyond the age of 21 he would doubtless have written many more works that would be known today.

We then travelled to the other side of Cambrai, where there is a cemetery for over 10,000 of the German soldiers killed in the battle (as well as some English and Russian soldiers). We wanted to do this in the spirit of reconciliation and friendship - and so we played the Adagio from Beethoven’s trio for three cellos (one of our old favourites since 2004). You can see an extract from the performance in this video clip.

After a crêpe for lunch in the centre of Cambrai, we headed 40 minutes further west to the village of Ors. This was the site of one of the final battles of the war, and for us was noteworthy because of the involvement - and death - of the poet Wilfred Owen (1893-1918). Just a week before the end of the war, Owen was part of a British battalion attempting to cross the Sambre-Oise canal by using a floating bridge. Sadly, the operation was a disaster due to the Germans occupying the opposite bank, and able to shoot at will once they saw what was happening. Owen was one of those shot and killed, at the age of just 25. His war poem “Futility” was obviously not about this incident, but could not be a more appropriate description of it.

We parked in the sleepy village of Ors, and walked the kilometre or so up to the point of the fateful crossing attempt. It was easy to see how straightforward it would have been for the Germans to spot the attack even under the cover of darkness. We played an arrangement of Parry’s great choral anthem “My Soul, there is a Country”, a setting of words by Henry Vaughan, written during the war (see video). We then went on to see Owen’s grave, in the village itself. Chillingly, almost every grave in that section of the cemetery had the same date of death.

Before leaving that part of the world we paid a visit to the Wilfred Owen Maison Forestière, the forester’s house a couple of miles down the road where Owen had stayed in the cellar before the attack was launched. Movingly, his final letter to his mother was read out through speakers in the cellar. At the end of all this, we’re feeling emotionally and physically drained (temperatures again into the mid 30s!), and as I write this we’re on our way back to Arras to recuperate before our final day of the tour tomorrow.

Highlight of the day: Playing by the canal, at the spot where Wilfred Owen had been killed.

Quote of the day: “Our taxi’s here!” - said by James (jokingly) as a police car pulled up outside the police station. Little did we know then that this car really would give us a lift to the towing company!

Great War Composers and Poets Day 3: Butterworth and Sassoon

Today took us right to the heart of the Somme, that infamous battleground for several months in 1916. Although we focussed on George Butterworth and Siegfried Sassoon, there were several other composers and poets who fought here too.

Our first port of call was Mametz Wood: the location of some major battles in May-June 1916. Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) was a key part of this: he captured a trench, almost single-handedly, from the Germans, and was awarded the Military Cross for his endeavours. His poem “Aftermath” describes some of the horrors faced at Mametz, and the difficulty of remembrance. Also serving in the same battle was the poet Robert Graves: his poem “A Dead Boche” is a somewhat gruesome description of coming across a deceased German in Mametz Wood.

The battle here had significant numbers of Welsh casualties, and there is a monument in the form of a Welsh dragon next to the wood. We played by the monument (with our first audience of the day - albeit only one person!), and went into the wood itself to play there too.

From there we went a couple of miles west to Contalmaison, another key war site and where the composer George Butterworth (1885-1916) was first sent into action. We discovered, however, that the site is particularly commemorated for the involvement of a Scottish battalion that included several professional footballers, and we played by a large cairn that was placed there as a memorial.

The Butterworth connection grew stronger with our next calling point at Pozières. It was here that, in an effort (ultimately successful) to capture a series of trenches called Munster Alley from the Germans, Butterworth was shot and killed by a sniper. A popular officer, his men renamed the attack trench they had dug “Butterworth Trench” in his honour. Aged just 31, it was a tragic loss as he was regarded as one of the brightest composers of his generation. In the video here, we are playing his setting of the A. E. Housman poem “The Lads in their Hundreds”, referencing all of the young men who lost their lives at war: “the lads that will die in their glory and never be old”. We played this by the site of the Butterworth Trench, and then again by a memorial in the village of Pozières; a very poignant moment.

After this we went to “Crucifix Corner” - a short distance away, which is where Ivor Gurney had written the music to “In Flanders” - to see more about this, and part of a performance of it by us, see the blog from day 1.

After a pleasant lunch in the town of Albert, our final playing stop of the day was at the hugely impressive Thiepval memorial. An absolutely massive monument, this commemorates  over 72,000 British and South African soldiers who died at the Somme but have no known grave. Included in these are two composers - not only George Butterworth, but also Francis Purcell Warren, whose music we will celebrate tomorrow. We were allowed to play in the monument itself, and so gave an appropriately reflective recital (including music by all the composers we are commemorating) to the appreciation of plenty of visitors.

At the end of a long, hot day (temperatures hitting 35 Celsius at Thiepval), we have now returned to Arras and are looking forward to enjoying some more French cuisine tonight before heading west to commemorate Francis Purcell Warren, Arthur Bliss, and Wilfred Owen tomorrow.

Highlight of the day: Playing in the Thiepval memorial and seeing people genuinely moved by the music

Quote of the day: “It just serves to make a poignant setting even more so” - a Welsh visitor to the Mametz Wood memorial on hearing our music.

Great War Composers and Poets Day 2: Vaughan Williams and Thomas

Today’s leg of the tour saw us stay much closer to Arras, our base for the week. After enjoying a local café breakfast, we headed North West to the village Écoivres, where there was a substantial military cemetery, containing the graves of many French and English soldiers amongst others, including a few Germans.

Our reason for visiting Écoivres was that the great English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) served here during the first world war. He began to write his pastoral symphony while here, and although we couldn’t play that between the three of us, we did play a version of his setting of George Herbert’s poem, “The Call” – you can see this in the video above/right.

On the way to Écoivres we had spotted the ruin of a significant abbey up on the hill, so after leaving the cemetery we went to find this. It was every bit as spectacular as we had hoped, and the view in all directions was fantastic on a hot, clear day: it was easy to see why this was a position of strategic importance during both world wars.

After this, we headed back towards Arras, and first of all to the cemetery at Anzin. This had particular significance for us, as Clare’s grandfather had served in Anzin during the Great War, before being posted to Greece. Here we gave our first rendition of the tour of Parry’s “My Soul, There Is A Country” – a piece written during the war, and although Parry did not serve on the front line himself, the words are deeply appropriate.

After a spot of lunch we went on to the military ceremony at Agny. The particular interest here was the grave of famous poet (including war poet) Edward Thomas (1878-1917). He was killed in a major battle in Arras in 1917 at the age of 39. Not being aware of any appropriate musical settings of his poems, we played instead, next to his grave, Douglas Guest’s setting of “For the Fallen” by Lawrence Binyon, which you can see in the video above/right.

Our final stop of the day was the memorial and cemetery in Arras itself. The battle here in 1917 led to tens of thousands of casualties, and nearly 35,000 unrecovered soldiers are commemorated at this impressive memorial; the individual graves of 2,678 soldiers are in the adjoining plot of land. The experience was somewhat overwhelming in scale, and serves to demonstrate what a massive, tragic event the Great War was.

Tomorrow we will be heading slightly south from here, and will be commemorating in particular the composer George Butterworth and the poet Siegfried Sassoon.

Highlight of the day: Playing in the cemetery at Anzin, where Clare's grandfather had fought

Quote of the day: "Do you think we should turn back?" - Jeremy gets a bit uncertain driving down a small track while trying to find the cemetery at Anzin. We're relieved to say that the car survived a very bumpy, puddle-infested mile or so!

Great War Composers and Poets Day 1: Gurney and Harvey

​The first full day of our Great War Composers and Poets tour, and today we particularly commemorated the Gloucestershire pair F. W. Harvey and Ivor Gurney. Both were situated around the Belgian/French border during the Great War, and so that is where we headed after a highly satisfactory breakfast.

Our first stop was the French town of Laventie. The site of many battles during the war, the poet F. W. Harvey (1888-1957) was captured by the Germans here in 1916; the poet and composer Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) also saw action here, and wrote the poem “Laventie” about his time there. We went to the Fauquissart Military Cemetery to do our first playing of the tour. Like all the cemeteries we have visited so far, this was beautifully maintained. Although we didn’t see too many people, those we did see were very friendly: workmen just outside the cemetery turned their loud equipment off while we played (unbidden!), and the parents of the owner of the neighbouring farm came over with a bunch of flowers for us and chatted a while. A wonderful way to start the tour!

We then proceeded into the small town of Laventie itself: Gurney had described the friendly, airy place, with cafés and other attractions. We had a good look around, and drank a quick coffee; however we didn’t play in the town but instead proceeded out West to the hamlet of Riez Bailleul. Gurney had trained here (and wrote another poem about it), and although there was was no sign of anything there, we stopped and played by the side of the road anyway.

From there we crossed the border into Belgium, and after a spot of lunch at a village friterie we went up to Ploegsteert. This was a key battleground throughout the war, and is marked by a wide range of monuments and cemeteries. It was here that Harvey wrote his poem “In Flanders” - this was set to music by Gurney a little later in the war, after he found out that Harvey had been captured.

After playing at the impressive Memorial to the Missing, which commemorates over 11,000 allied soldiers whose bodies were never recovered, we strolled with cellos over a mile to the UEFA monument to the famous “Christmas Truce” game of football in 1914. A very different monument, with a number of footballing elements, it is flanked by two reconstructed trenches, where we played for a few minutes. Then into Ploegsteert Wood (via a couple of other impressive memorials where we also stopped to play), where we found an absolute gem of a cemetery right in the middle of the wood. This was a fantastic opportunity for us to play “In Flanders” again, which you can see in the video above/to the right.

We finished the day with a short trip to Ypres, where we had a good look at the Menin Gate - a very impressive monument to all of the missing Allied Forces in the Great War: over 50,000 names are individually inscribed in this massive arch.

So, back to Arras for an evening meal, and thinking about tomorrow - when we will be particularly commemorating Ralph Vaughan Williams and Edward Thomas.

Highlight of the day: Being given flowers by a stranger when we played at the Fauquissart Military Cemetery

Quote of the day: “...” - the mechanical diggers go silent at the same cemetery to allow us to play in peace. This was entirely the work men’s doing; we did not even ask them!

Day 0: Extreme cellists venture to France...

So here we are, off on another tour. Our first outside the British Isles... we have travelled to France so that we can spend the next five days commemorating the centenary of the end of World War I; in particular, we will be playing at sites where British composers and poets saw action, and will be playing music written and inspired by them.

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We’re staying in the French town of Arras, not far from many of the battlefields of the Somme. It was a long drive today from Chester, including a trip with Eurotunnel, but we are now safely ensconced en France, and have begun the tour by practising our new repertoire before heading out for some dinner. Our cellos are enjoying having a French bed to sleep on too, as you can see from the picture...

Tomorrow we’ll actually be crossing the border into Belgium, as well as playing in France. Each day until Saturday we’re going to focus on at least one composer and one poet; tomorrow it’s the turn of the Gloucestershire duo, poet F. W. Harvey and composer & poet Ivor Gurney. We’ll say more about each individual, and their works, on subsequent days’ blogs.

We're not expecting much (if anything) in terms of audiences, but if anyone does happen to be in this part of the world in the next few days and wants to come and see us play, let us know via the contact form and we'll let you know where you can find us!

Highlight of the day: Arriving in Arras to see what a wonderful small city it is - magnificent architecture!

Quote of the day: "You should play in the square! People will give you lots of money!" - a passing Frenchman as we took our cellos out of the car on arrival in Arras.

 

New Extreme Cello tour setting off soon...

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At the end of this month we'll be setting off on our next adventure. Currently we are just finalising the details of this, so more will follow in due course... however, we can let you know that this will NOT be a fundraiser, that it will involve foreign travel, and that it is highly relevant for the year 2018.

To find more about our plans, check back here in about ten days!

From Piers to Peers...

Well, actually not peers, as that would imply the House of Lords. But today we were very lucky to have the opportunity to play our cellos in the House of Commons for a couple of hours.

Not in the chamber itself, of course, but in the Terrace Pavilion - a lovely room below the chamber that has a terrace overlooking the Thames (see picture). The occasion was an afternoon tea, hosted by Geoffrey Cox MP, in aid of one of our charities of the year - CHICKS. We had raised over £4300 for them as part of this year's Pier Pressure tour, and they invited us to play for the event and also present them with a cheque.

CHICKS is an incredible charity - with three retreat houses in Cornwall, Devon and Derbyshire, they provide free respite breaks for children from various disadvantaged backgrounds. These include children who have suffered abuse/neglect, children in extreme poverty, and young carers. The one thing they have in common is that they would not otherwise get a holiday. The week they spend at CHICKS offers the chance to try all sorts of activities that they would not get the chance to normally - indeed, many believe they couldn't do at all (e.g. rock climbing, horse riding, surfing), but with gentle encouragement many overcome their doubts and build confidence as a result. We have seen ourselves the great work that CHICKS do, and are delighted and proud to support them.

Many thanks to all at CHICKS for giving us this opportunity to play at one of the most iconic buildings in the country, to Geoffrey Cox MP for hosting it (and lots of other interesting people for attending), and to the House of Commons staff who were very helpful (including the security staff who had the interesting job of putting three cellos through an airport-style security scanner!). But most of all thanks to every one of you who sponsored us (whether for CHICKS or Alzheimer's Society), which really has made a difference. We know that several extra disadvantaged children will be able to have a life-changing holiday thanks to your generosity!

Pier Pressure: The Pier Review

First of all, some statistics. 2925 miles travelled across 41 counties, including six ferry journeys. 83 hours and 7 minutes travelling time (in 15 days – 14 pier days plus one travelling up to Scotland at the start). 58 piers visited (53 played on the pier structure itself, four played under, and one – Colwyn Bay Victoria – played outside the front as there is no way on or under). At least 20 different pieces played (including one, “I do like to be beside the seaside”, well over 60 times).

But the most important statistic: over £9000 raised for Alzheimer’s Society and CHICKS, with donations still coming in. This is thanks to some fantastically generous donations from supporters both online and who have seen us in person, friends and strangers alike. It makes it all truly worthwhile, and knowing that extra support to people with dementia, and that several more children like the little lad we met in Paignton will be able to have respite breaks as a result of this, is just wonderful.

We’ll post occasional updates on the blog over the coming months, as we have more things to report (and of course in our occasional newsletter: subscribe here if you want to receive it!), including the current status of the fundraising. But for now, there are a couple of subjective ratings that we need to report…

Pier of the Tour

As we have done with our piers of the day, this is a subjective view about our overall experience of visiting each pier: taking into account the architecture and set-up of the piers, the reception we received from pier staff, locals and visitors, and the general enjoyment we had from them. The three of us each nominated a top five, and when collating the ratings this left us with the following top three…

In joint second position, we have Saltburn-by-the-Sea and Swanage. Saltburn was a delightful surprise to us all: we hadn’t anticipated such a beautiful structure and setting, and a fantastic start to the English part of the tour. Well worth the long drive for! Swanage was also a lovely Victorian structure in a delightful setting, but we had the additional joy there of playing for the Purbeck Pirate Festival, giving us a brilliantly large and receptive audience, and the experience of playing in pirate costumes!

Clevedon

Clevedon

In first place, however, was Clevedon. This is an absolute gem of a pier, with stunning architecture, and recently restored in quite brilliant fashion. Despite the weather being dreadful when we were there, the new visitor centre gave us a sheltered place to play, but still with a marvellous viewpoint. We also had a large and generous audience here, and were made very welcome by the pier staff. Congratulations!

Honourable mentions also go to Southwold and Colwyn Bay, each of which made at least two of our lists.

Fish and Chips

As regular blog readers will know, we had fish and chips every single day of the tour (and now need to go on diets!). We each rated these on ten categories, with a mark out of ten per category, giving each meal an overall score out of 300. The top three were:

3. Pieseas Chip Shop, Harwich (239 points). An excellent traditional chip shop.

2. Gatehouse Grill, Southampton (258 points). Slightly upmarket, on what remains of the pier itself, but great quality food and lovely view.

1. Beach Hut Café, Mumbles Pier (270 points). A wonderful café, beautiful setting, and top quality fish and chips. It’s worth disclaiming that we were given these free of charge by the staff, but we discussed how our ratings may have differed even if we’d paid for them in full, and it would have still been clearly in first place.

Thanks to...

There are some thanks we need to give, of course. First, thanks to all the pier owners and staff who allowed us to play on the piers, including some who went out of their way to welcome, support and promote us. Thanks also to the many friends, old and new, who have accommodated us as we went round: your help is critical to making this work, as we probably wouldn’t have been able to afford to do it if we’d had to pay for accommodation each night! Thanks to our corporate sponsors, who have both donated to the causes and provided other forms of help: Allianz Musical Insurance, Jargar Strings, The Jolly Design, Captain Fawcett, Henderson’s Relish, and Thornbridge Brewery. And finally, thanks again to everyone who has donated to Alzheimer’s Society and CHICKS, and/or come to support us along the way. Your support has kept us going!

So, what next? Well, there will certainly be more Extreme Cello antics in the future… we anticipate another major event in 2018, so look out of details for that in due course! We’ll have some more smaller events between now and then too, so we’ll keep you informed of those too. For now, though, we’ll leave you with a few images from the Pier Pressure tour, and a video clips of us playing "Under the Boardwalk" - more videos can be found at our YouTube channel!

Pier Pressure Day 14: The End of the Piers Show

Wow, we did it. 58 piers in 14 days, and a lot of money raised for Alzheimer’s Society and CHICKS. But I’m getting ahead of myself here, so let’s go back to the start of the day…

We left Chester at a very civilised hour of 9.00, giving James the opportunity to spend some more time in his own house! The journey to Southport started to worry us, however, as the rain set in – this hadn’t been in the forecast we saw! By the time we arrived about an hour and a quarter later, there was a distinct chill in the air, the wind was still strong, and the rain was a steady drizzle. We’d visited Southport pier last year to do a bit of busking, so we didn’t feel the need to explore fully or hang around: we found a shelter towards the sea end, played one piece, and there being no audience around for us, then headed back for the car. When we were just about to leave, however, one of James’s former colleagues turned up with his family, so we got the cellos out again – this time under the pier – and played them a tune before we left!

St Anne’s is only about 7 miles north of Southport, but due to the Ribble estuary, the trip around in the car takes around an hour. When we did get there, however, we were joined by a crew from BBC North West Tonight, who accompanied us for our final four piers. They’ve done a nice piece on us for their evening bulletin today: it starts at about 20:45 here. By this time the rain had relented, but the wind was if anything even greater. We played a few pieces, and did a few bits for the camera, before heading for our fish and chips. When we did so, however, James looked longingly at a MASSIVE éclair in the café window, prompting the café staff to bring it out for us free of charge (which was gratefully appreciated by all!).

Then the short distance up to Blackpool, where we were met by a few friends, including several members of James’s family. Blackpool is the only town in the country to have three piers, with the South and Central piers being largely covered by traditional amusements and rides, but North pier including a lot of clear space and some more old-fashioned features. We did both the South and Central piers relatively quickly, with plenty more filming along the way, including a good sing-along to “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” on South pier after we spotted a West Ham fan passing by… but then made the walk up the shore to pier number 58 of the tour, Blackpool North.

A final spot of filming outside the pier itself, then a few tunes on the lovely Victorian main deck of the pier meant we had completed our challenge. Well, almost: after the film crew had done their bit, we headed to the far end of the pier and the Sun Lounge, where the pier organist, Trevor Raven, graciously allowed us to interrupt his set to play a few more pieces to the audience there. This was a truly lovely way to end the final day, and helped us boost the donations even further.

So, there we are. We’re now all back home, and completely worn out, but very happy that it all went so well! This won’t be quite the final blog post of the tour: tomorrow we’ll post one more, in which we’ll reflect on the tour as a whole, and reveal (amongst other things) the top three fish and chips places we visited, our favourite three piers to visit, and give an update on money raised. Suffice to say for now, we’ve smashed our initial target, so many thanks to all for your generosity – both the charities, CHICKS and Alzheimer’s Society, are truly grateful!

Weather report: Still quite blustery, with a bit of everything thrown in. One final word of support for Jargar Strings here: despite all of this, we seldom had to retune any of our strings, even from one day to the next. Today’s temperatures varied between 15.9 and 22.4 celsius, with humidity between 63.7% and 71.6%.

Quote of the day: “Can we just have that one more time please?” Said several times by the TV crew: one of the joys of being filmed in this way!

Pier of the day: Blackpool North

Pier Pressure Final Day: The Pier Pressure is off!

We've done it! Our final pier, Blackpool North, has just been conquered, and we've played on (or under) all 58 surviving piers in Great Britain.

We'll post a proper blog entry either later today or tomorrow, depending on whether I've got any energy left after driving back to Sheffield, but we thought we should share this with you for now. And for those in the North West TV region, look out for a piece for us on the 6.30 BBC news tonight (I'm sure it will be available on iPlayer for the rest of you in the UK too!)

Phew - now time for an ice cream...

Pier Pressure Day 13: Blowing a Gale in Wales

Actually we’re starting this write-up with the end of day 12, where we left off yesterday, in Aberystwyth. We had a concert at St Michael’s church there, and although the audience was on the small side, they were very enthusiastic! After this we retired to a local hostelry with a couple of Sheffield friends who were at the concert, Andrew and Mary, and two of their local friends, before all going for a very nice curry together. At this point, we decided to head back to the pier, where the club is named after our tour, “Pier Pressure”. Sadly (perhaps) it was shut, so we didn’t get to enjoy the Aber nightlife, and just got this selfie instead…

However, through the night we could hear the wind picking up, and by the time we left there was truly a gale blowing across north Wales. A long and beautiful drive through the heart of Snowdonia wasn’t enough to abate this, and when we arrived at Bangor at 11.30, the wind seemed stronger if anything. Certainly walking down the long pier here was difficult with the cellos being blown about, and fortunately there were a couple of shelters at the far end which enabled us to play. In these winds, I don’t think we’d have been able to even hold the cellos in the open, let alone play them effectively! This pier was also notable because James’s wife Zoe, and their young son, came out to meet us, which was lovely (and explains why there’s a small child in the picture below!).

After this we headed over the Menai Straits to the Isle of Anglesey, and a few miles up the road to the coastal town of Beaumaris. The pier here is not so long, and although unspectacular in many ways has a beauty in its simplicity. It was also busy with people (old and young) fishing, despite the even stronger winds, which caused both sand and water to buffer our faces as we walked up. Like Bangor, we were grateful for some shelter in which to play (a covered bench, at least), and we were delighted to see our old friend Emily turn up here. Nevertheless, we were pleased to get out of the wind after about 20 minutes’ playing to go and get our fish and chips – our thirteenth portion, and we are now starting to get slightly sick of them…

While on the road round the coast to Llandudno, we got word from BBC North West Tonight that they’re going to follow us round tomorrow, so that put a spring in our step. Llandudno is a lovely pier in a lovely setting, and fortunately the strong winds here were mitigated by the massive hill behind the town – the Great Orme. It was still quite cold however, and started to rain as we played for about 30 minutes with lots of passing holidaymakers. We were also met here by our old friend Shaun and his daughter Catherine, who then followed us around to Colwyn Bay for the last pier of the day.

Ah yes, Colwyn Bay. This was one of the piers where we knew we couldn’t get on: it’s been closed for years, but we had contacted the Colwyn Bay Victoria Pier Trust, a local organisation who have been battling to save it (the County Council preferring to demolish it, although they are unable to due to its listed status). The Trust put the word out far and wide, and we turned up to find dozens of local people (including two professional cellists!) waiting to see us perform outside the locked gates of the pier. They gave us such a warm welcome (as well as donating generously to our charities, Alzheimer’s Society and CHICKS), that we felt really moved by the whole thing. The pier itself is obviously in a poor state of repair, but there was nothing to us that seemed worthy of demolition, and clearly it was a great traditional pier in its day. Hopefully it will be again at some point in the future. We played for about half an hour there, before having all sorts of photographs and conversations with members of the Trust. Good luck to them for their continued battle!

And so we’re staying tonight in Chester – James will be sleeping in his own bed, which he is greatly anticipating! One more day only to go… and five piers to play on; Southport (10.30), St Anne’s (12.30), Blackpool South (14.00), Blackpool Central (15.00) and finishing the whole tour at Blackpool North at 16.30. Nearly there!

Weather report: More cold and wet weather at times, but it was the gale-force winds that really threw us off. Fortunately the Jargar Strings held up not only through this but also through James’s cello case taking a serious bump in Llandudno! The temperatures varied between 18.7 and 20.1 celsius, with humidity between 66.5% and 70.5%.

Quote of the day: “I tell my pupils about you to inspire them to play the cello!” A cello teacher we met in Colwyn Bay, who has also taken lots of her pupils up Snowdon to recreate what we did!

Pier of the day: Colwyn Bay