The important news first – Priscilla passed her MOT, although a few tweaks were necessary. Thanks to the lovely weather I’ve had lots of opportunities for being out and about and she’s now running well, rattling rather less than before and definitely more enthusiastic about the open road. In between a number of escapes to the Isle of Wight, and when I’ve not been working in London, it’s been good to roar around the Bedfordshire lanes.

On the work front, my highly pleasurable involvement with Trinity College has included: an enjoyable trip to the north west, with Chris Walters, Trinity’s Head of Teacher development, to meet Music Hub colleagues; a full staff meeting with the CEO, Sarah Kemp; some positive developments in the area of working with children and young people who have disabilities, and a conference venue planning trip to Birmingham. All routine stuff in one respect, but more interesting for me, as a newcomer to the organisation. My initial period of work with Trinity is now complete and I’m looking forward to some further engagement, particularly in connection with the new level 4 certificate, in the coming weeks and months.

I’ve also had the pleasure of spending some time working with colleagues at Artis, including visits to primary schools to see Artis practitioners in action. Meanwhile, at South West Music School, where I have the privilege of being a Trustee, we said a rather sad farewell to the CEO, Lisa Tregale, who has led the organisation since its founding. A celebratory end-of summer-course concert at Cannington, Bridgwater, Somerset, at the end of July, marked the occasion. The programme included a great composition by Keith Tippett who had rehearsed and directed the performers, working with his wife, Julie Tippetts, known to those of us of a certain age as Julie Driscoll, who sang with the Brian Augur Trinity in the 1960s on a track called, ‘This Wheel’s on Fire’.

It’s heads down now for the autumn term and let’s just hope that the lovely weather lasts a bit longer. One thing that I’m particularly looking forward to is The Virtuoso Teacher, which is the title of a course that Paul Harris and I will be running at Bury Farm, Cambridge in 2014. There’s a Taster session for the course on Thursday 21st November, also at Bury Farm and full details about the taster and the course are on the website.