Wrote about my responses to Jan Carson's @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social new novel Few and Far Between and its resonances for me on Substack - my posts are a bit random so there's no paywall, just keep clicking until you can read it: open.substack.com/pub/clareste...
Arrived this morning in Presteigne, Wales ... the new novel by one of my favourite authors, @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social It's set around Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland and it begins with a map, always a delight (cf Malcolm Saville's Lone Pine books and John Rowe Townsend's novels for teenagers).
RPS Awards graphic, featuring images of past winners (Anna Lapwood, Nicola Benedetti, Sheku Kanneh-Mason) holding RPS 'lyres' trophies. Text reads - 'Join us Next Week for Classical Music's biggest night, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 7.00pm 12 March Tickets from £10 plus venue fees.' At the bottom is the 2026 RPS Awards logo, a white lyre with text which reads ' Royal Philharmonic Society Awards 2026.' Blue background.
We're excited to be at @southbankcentre.bsky.social's Queen Elizabeth Hall next week for the #RPSAwards! On Thurs 12 March we'll celebrate musicians and achievements in classical music nationwide. Tickets from £10 (plus venue fees) available here: royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/awards/rps_m...
Applications for Sound and Music's 'In the Making' development programme – for young music and sound creators in the UK aged 14-18 – are open until Monday 20 April 2026. Discover more at: soundandmusic.org/programmes/i...
Absolutely wonderful books – I think I had about half of them. My favourites were Stone Age Man in Britain and Marco Polo, goodness knows why.
Print featuring the silhouette of a bare hedgerow under a purple sky filled with birds flying in group formation
'Storm light' by UK contemporary printmaker Mikki Bowers #WomensArt
A £400,000 grant to increase children’s participation in church choirs was announced by the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board (#SMMIB) on Sunday 🎶
#churchtimes #churchnews #music
15 years ago today I arrived on Downing Street in a cage.
I've seen off Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak and I'm still going strong.
Only two Prime Ministers have ever done longer stints here: William Pitt the Younger and Sir Robert Walpole.
Bill and Bob - I'm coming for you...
(Photos AP)
Our friends and RPS Advance Corporate Members Swaledale Festival invite you to join them for a fortnight of music, arts and walking across North Yorkshire, with public booking open today! You can find out more and book via our website: royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/whats_on/swa...
🚐 ⛰️ 🌊 📸 🏛️ ❄️ 🌼 More info here: www.digest.andymarsh...
… they will know of actual choral arrangements. Majella and Andrew findable by googling their choirs, or let me know if you need email addresses for them or Richard.
Seriously Jan, talk to Andrew Nunn who conducts the National Youth Choir of Northern Ireland, Richard Yarr at the BBC in Belfast who has adjudicated many School Choir of the Year competitions and Majella Hollywood who is chief executive of Chamber Choir Ireland in Dublin to get suggestions …
That’s more the sort of thing Jan’s after! There are some very good arrangements.
I do.
Ticking off another English cathedral!
Last week we gave our first concert in the magnificent Lichfield Cathedral. Over recent years we've built a strong relationship with the cathedral, which hosted the first of our Choral Singing Days initiatives with The G6 Charity.
📝 Field Notes from my Camper-van-camino: 📸 My services for free at Broadwell in Oxfordshire. www.digest.andymarsh...
@jancarsonwrites.bsky.social Most of my acquaintances won’t understand how completely bonkers it feels for me as a Presbyterian from Finaghy to have an article published in The Tablet about a pipe organ in a convent in London, but I know you will! www.thetablet.co.uk/arts/all-sto...
Ooooh!
Good heavens that carpet is indeed WILD!
What a brilliant photo. Such clarity! And it really speaks to me, an ex-Londoner.
Trump wants to destroy the BBC and take our money. And Nigel Farage is egging him on.
All true patriots should tell them both: hands off our BBC.
Gillian Anderson at her most heartbreaking! Blue Lights faces among cast! But Lola Petticrew steals the show! Here's my review of new drama #Trespasses, which airs from Sunday to Wednesday on Channel 4 www.standard.co.uk/culture/tvfi...
But the Ulster Museum is brilliant - fantastic history and natural history galleries, and a wonderful art collection.
The highlights of the Botanic Gardens are the tropical ravine and the palm house, which don’t depend on summer weather - there are bright formal flower beds in summer and some roses, but it’s not like the botanic gardens in Oxford or Edinburgh - I haven’t been to Glasnevin.
Yes indeed. I washed my hands near or next to her in the Ladies’ loos at the RAH more than once, or passed the two of them in the corridor. Fantastic actors and genuine music lovers. How their family will miss them both.
Funny you should mention the lack of birds at Edinburgh Waverley just now, apart from that lone Wren … I did think when I saw you working out of that tiny cupboard and on the platforms without a blade of grass in sight that the urban setting was a quite a long way from your outdoor happy places!
Is this allowed or is it too much a normal signpost for #fingerpostfriday? On the Isle of Bute.
The Joy of Cambridge: Egyptian-style Art Deco Cinema that the owners want to demolish to maximise profits. Maximising profits is what has killed the earth and its cultures.
A quick reminder that this wee gem goes out this afternoon at 3:45pm. If you miss it you can catch up later on BBC Sounds.
