Another Sunday, Another Country Music Club

We managed to clock up over 100 kms of walking this week, despite having moved away from the best areas for long walks, and having lost 2 days to rain and travelling.

We have been to Oamaru many times without realising there are several music clubs here. Fortunately, a few weeks ago we were chatting to one of the men who runs the local Heritage Radio Station and he gave us the necessary information.

So this afternoon we went along to the monthly meeting of the Central Coast Country Music Club. As with other such clubs we have found, there is a good resident band and an assortment of other performers. Some of these are better than others, but the atmosphere is good, and, as a reluctant performer myself, I am always amazed that so many people are prepared to get up and have a go. I am actually more impressed in some ways with those who are not so good. And I still can not figure out how people manage to sing and play a musical instrument at the same time.

We particularly liked the father and son act from Invercargill. The boy was only 11 and professed to be nervous, but he sang several songs while his father and the band backed him, and he returned the compliment when his father was singing. We also liked Peter, a man in a wheelchair, who sang “Lucille”, the Kenny Rogers song, and a song I haven't heard before, called “The Green Beret”. This last was apparently the only song by its writer, who had a connection himself with the Vietnam war, as I think Peter said he did also. What really impressed us about Peter was the intensity and meaning he put into both songs, and his eye contact with the audience – both things worth a bagful of musical talent.

What a friendly club this is. So many people came up to speak to us. One very nice couple, Shirley and Peter (Shirley was one of the few people in New Zealand, surely, who has ever been to Darlington, Gay's home town) kindly invited us to tea tomorrow evening. Of course we accepted.

Speaking of tea, the entry fee of $3 dollars (just over £1) included afternoon tea, at which there was enough food to sink a battleship. We shall definitely be going again. But that will have to wait until next, and subsequent, years, of course.