Last week, a Dutch friend of Nellie’s (the singer in our band) was to host a reception meal for a Dutch male voice choir, on tour in the area. Marloes had asked Nellie for some help setting things up and also to sing a few songs during the dinner, so Nellie asked me to go along too.

The barn in Marloes’ garden was set out with trestle tables and chairs, all beautifully decorated, by the time we arrived, so we set to work preparing the aperos and salads while Marloes got on with the last bits of cooking. By the time the coach disgorged its passengers, everything was ready.

Everybody had to huddle inside for the aperos as, once again, it poured with rain, but it did nothing to dampen the spirits of the choir members and a few wives who’d come along. They were on holiday and determined to enjoy every minute of it!

Once the aperos were done, we all sat down to eat, another friend of Marloes’ manned the barbecue under a huge umbrella, producing amazing quantities of chicken, duck and steak to go with the trays full of various salads. At intervals, between courses, Nellie and I got up to sing and, following our lead, so did several choir members, one asking to borrow my guitar, another asking me to accompany him on something I’d never heard before!

Two evenings later, the Dutch choir and a local male voice choir were singing in the church at La Bastide d’Armagnac, a few miles from us, so I went along with Nellie to listen. Mostly they sang unaccompanied; it was magnificent!

Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera to either event, but here are some of the photos Graham took of our band a few weeks ago instead.