Sing For Your Supper Tour

The Sing For Your Supper Tour was a unique experience for a young group of budding British Rock Musicians. These young people come from our home town in the Uk and the surrounding areas. The initial group had started out as three bands, but sadly one of the bands had to back out, leaving the remaining two bands with a bit of a budget problem.

The inital idea for the tour came from the young people themselves, they looked into the feasibility of the idea and then set about forming a working plan and a budget. They wanted to tour France and Spain, singing and playing to pay for their camping fees and food. The group were supported by the TCR Teesdale Community Resources, the shape of two youth and community workers and then another joined just in time for their gigs.

"A community charity run by volunteers, working together to advance education, protect health, relieve poverty and sickness in Teesdale. TCR offers recreational and leisure activities to develop physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing."

TCR were there for support only and did not play a part in the decision making, and were there to make sure that the group stayed safe and well.

The Picture below is of a young Spanish lad who works as the mechanic in the local motorbike shop and he asked if he could join the young groups on one of the gigs in Spain . They were only too happy to oblige and we all thought that Francisco did extremely well espcially as he was playing on his own and from what we could gather, for the first time, in front of an audience. We think he got a lot out of the experience as did the young british groups.

During the week that these young people stayed with us we found them to be responsible, friendly, polite, funny and very caring. It was a joy to have shared in this experience with them. The pictures below speak volumes, as they are all preparing a birthday cake for the Main man at TCR Keith 'Joe' Jones as it was going to be his birthday on the Wednesday.

I have to tell you that the young men in the group actually made their own contribution to the cake making and there was a secret ingredient in both the cake and the topping. As I have been sworn to secrecy I could not tell you what that was..........lol

The night before Joe's birthday this group helped us clear and lay most of our terrace. I have never seen young people work with such enthusiam nor committment, they were determined to get this done so that the terrace area was looking nice for the BBQ that we provided to celebrate Joe's birthday and to thank the group for the hard work that they had put in. Not exactly sing for your supper but it followed the same ethos.

Joe was specially dressed for the evening, albeit with some help from his friends. We found him some stunning pick shell suit trousers and and dreamy lime green floaty kaftan. For this evening Joe was dressed by Shona and Vanessa.

The birthday boy was presented with a hand made card, I think that Bex was the designer and the others signed the card with their ................er....................warm greetings, like all young people do.

Due to the extremes in temperatures that they experienced on the way through France and Spain, a lot of their equipment took the toll, the drum kit especially. The heat had managed to warp the snare drum, and it took ages and a lot of inginuity to get it to sound anywhere near the way it should. As you can see from the picture below it was held together with gaffa tape. Shona wrote messages of support for the drummers on the drum.

Despite the heat and their concerns over the equipment, their spirits stayed high as did their enthusiasm and their expectations. Shona and Mike managed some moves, to entertain us.

The first gig they played was in a music bar in Cullar (Granada Region) called the Bovidad. Think that is how you spell it..... They were fed, watered and paid for this gig and when I say fed, I mean fed. They started off with salad, then came plates of chips with bacon. When we thought that this was the end they came out with the biggest burgers you have ever seen. Most of the band members could not finish.

The first few minutes of the gig were a bit quiet, and then the place filled. Now this bar is big and has an outside terrace, but we ended up standing like sardines the bar was so full. Both The Blue 42's and Theory got a rousing reception, which was brilliant.

Theory were excellent despite the fact that their lead singer Emma was just recovering from Glandular Fever, and had not been feeling that well for the two days prior to the first gig

The second gig was in a bar just on the outskirts of Cullar in a bar called Sabuanca, this was and outside gig and thankfully that evening was the coolest we have had for some time. Photos were a little hard to get as there was a fountain dead centre so it made things tricky.

We would like to congratulate both bands and those others that came along to help and support the bands and their friends. The camping on the mountain cannot have been easy, but at least it was free. We are very proud of all of them, because of the way that they dealt with all obstacles that they found in their way, and applaud their ability to stay cheerful and focused on what must have been a rewarding but challenging trip.

At the time of this blog entry they will not have arrived back to the UK their estimated time of arrival in the Uk is August 14th. Two of Theory's band members flew back on Saturday as they had to get back to work.

Barnard Castle and Teesdale if you are reading this I hope you give them the homecoming they deserve, as some of the finest ambassadors that Teesdale has seen for a good while.

Guys if any of you are reading this, well done you are all legends in Cullar and they want to know when you are coming back again. We have not been able to walk down the street without people coming up to us and telling us how great you all were. We also miss you all !

Update: Please help support Teesdale Community Resources by signing this online petition, which is asking the local planning committee not to uphold an objection by Sport England to the Application amde by TCR to construct new premises. Upshot is Sport England want the tennis court that which will be demolished in oder to facilitate the new building. Fact of the matter is this tennis court has not been used for nearly a decade !

If you feel able to add your support please follow the link for the online petition..

Online Petition Please Sign

Thank you