We had a private party to attend and entertain this weekend! We were booked through Encore for a private party for Luke, and so off we went to Sunny Bristol!
It was a lovely day! The party was held at Luke's house, which is absolutely stunning! It's one of those houses that's just to die for! We arrived around 2pm, got a few pints out of the garden bar, lovingly poured by Luke, and waited for sound check.
Can we just say, absolutely everyone at the party was just wonderful. What a genuinely lovely bunch of people! So welcoming.
Personally, I made friends with the cat, Archie I believe, and was suddenly surrounded by the most pleasant bunch of small people I've ever encountered. They were SO grown up! We discussed the cat and everyone else's cats, and then moved on to horses. One little girl was a little disappointed she wouldn't be at her horse riding lessons, but they were going on holiday to Lyme Regis, which is honestly one of my favourite places, so we talked about that. We discussed Disney Land, and then a little nine year old girl by the name of Mabel introduced herself and asked if I was in the band. On informing her that I was, she told me she's been learning to play the drums for two years, and she's missing it so much because it is the "6 weeks holidays" and she only learns at school. Well, this got me thinking!
In the break following the first set, there was BBQ food on the go, and Luke very kindly asked Daniel, man of all things BBQ, to make sure the band had food first, which was so thoughtful. We got chatting to Daniel's mother, Jane, who has DONKEYS! You may not know this, but I (Helen) am actually obsessed with donkeys. Jane keeps 6 donkeys - 2 standard and 4 mini. What I wouldn't give to have a donkey! I just think they're wonderful. Jane was a delight to talk to and we all had a good giggle with her!
We provided three sets for the party, moving from conscious music, to easy listening, and then started getting the party warmed up. We played the Dancehall medley and the guests went WILD! But we had a little surprise for them lined up...
In the break after the second set, I found Mabel, and I asked her if she'd like to come and play the drums (Al was all for it!) on the last song. She nervously agreed and Al showed her the patterns and gave her a little tutorial. And then it was just a wait until we could get Mabel up.
She was clearly nervous, but once she stood up to take the stage, she was cool as a cucumber - a proper musician in the making! Al and Mabel agreed that Al would play the first bit and then swap over, so that's what they did. And did she play the drums?! She absolutely NAILED the drums. Perfectly in time. Perfectly measured. Perfectly focused. What a star! So there you had it, The Reggulites featuring nine-year-old Mabel and it was flawless! We were so impressed and everyone was so proud of her for being so brave!
Absolutely made my day!
After we played we got chatting to lots of people - as I said, the guests were all so welcoming and friendly, and we met so many nice people.
Of course, our sound engineers were on point providing the best quality service. Grandad oversaw everything with the perfection of Grandad and Brendan slayed the sound.
We had a really lovely time! Folks from the party, if you're reading this, thank you so much for inviting us and being such a wonderful bunch, and your children are an absolute credit to you! Such amazing mini adults!
Our next performance is public, at The Musketeer in Banbury on 6th August, which we're really looking forward to returning to, as we haven't been since 2019!
I can only apologise for the lack of pictures and videos with this post, as we were having such a lovely day, we didn't find time to take any!
With the hugest thanks to Luke, who found us through Encore musicians:
With the permanent thanks and gratitude to dB Acoustics for making us sound so good:
And with the very hugest thanks and best wishes for all things musical and otherwise to our star, Mabel. Thank you girl, keep aiming high!
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