We were asked to contribute to a whole weekend of events in the Summer of 1996 and we found that the venue was a marquee - and quite a large marquee at that. Now Showtimers voices in general are not that strong and we have trouble filling large halls so the thought of filling such a large space was somewhat daunting, especially when we realised that half the sides of the marquee were open to the elements. We could have stood there and mimed and the effect would have been about the same! Fortunately it was an informal arrangement for the audience - they were able to just come and go as they pleased throughout the performance so at least no-one had to sit there for a whole hour without hearing a thing. (Good thing all our audiences don't have this option!) I had taken along my electronic piano but they already had a keyboard set up from previous acts so they persuaded me to use that one. The only trouble was I had to stand up to play it. Now I had been trained as a classical pianist and you don't often see them standing up to play (I can just imagine someone at the Promenade concerts standing up to play Greig's piano concerto) so this was a whole new experience for me and especially for my poor feet. I now know why, when I've accompanied violin players and flautists, they are keen to sit down as soon as we have finished.

But if I was uncomfortable that's nothing to what the singers had to endure in the changing rooms. Probably the worst facilities they've ever had for changing - their changing room consisted of a  couple of sheets hung up round the back of the marquee! They had no room to put anything but at least it was open to the air to dispel any body odours that may have arisen from such cramped conditions!