News
DAFFODIL UPDATE
12th Mar 2023
Miniature daffodils have now joined the snowdrops in the garden bravely thriving in this cold weather! These bright yellow flowers always tell us that Sore Fingers Week is not far away! Indeed, just 30 odd days and so much to do!!! We just need the weather to warm up now….
and Tutor News
There is room on all courses except for Chris Coole’s Old Time Banjo which is now full. We accept bookings right up to the last minute if there are places available on the course requested. If booking by email, please make sure we receive it by Monday 3rd April. After that, please call us directly on the telephone, either Moira on 0748 086 4947 or John on 0781 453 5106.
If you have deferred your booking from 2020 or 2022, please get in touch as soon as possible to register for the 2023 event.
We have finally appointed our second banjo tutor and he’s the great Gabe Hirshfeld who will be travelling over to join Gina Furtado. We have sent emails to all the banjo players to give everyone the opportunity to choose which tutor they prefer.
It’s getting close!
In the next few weeks, we will be sending your joining instructions out. Please take time to read them in detail, a lot of situations are covered in these instructions.
PLEASE DO NOT ARRIVE BEFORE 3PM we will not be ready to register you before then.
Be Prepared
Now few of us, play all day long. Life and work get in the way. However, when you get to Sore Fingers Week, that’s exactly what you will be doing, and it can be a bit of an endurance test – Sore Fingers anyone?
It does no harm at all to try and get twenty minutes a day on your instrument or voice to build up a little resilience. No one has come to any harm in 27 years but you will find it easier if you have warmed up. You might do a bit of intensive listening too, immerse yourselves into Bluegrass and Old Time. It’s all good preparation. Right, lecture over.
Travel
We will be running shuttle busses from the Kingham Railway Station on Sunday 9th April between 14:00 and 18:00. The bus will be waiting for arriving trains in the station car park at Kingham. A similar arrangement is in place for the returns on Saturday 15th.
The rail unions are still calling strikes 30/03 and 01/04 but none so far that affect the main travel days around S/F/Week. We are keeping our fingers crossed.
A quick email to tell us you are travelling by train would be useful so we can see how many people might be affected. If you have a ticket and a strike is called, the ticket will be valid on a day before the strike and on days after.
SFSS has contingency plans in place should a strike be called on Sunday 9th April.
If travelling from abroad and flying into the UK, again an email with your flight arrival detail would help us plan for contingency.
Insurance
At the foot of the booking form, there is a strong recommendation encouraging students to take out holiday insurance to protect against a situation where you cannot attend the course due to circumstances outside of your control. Please read the cancellation clauses under Terms & Conditions for more details about cancellations and timescales. T&Cs are on the back of your booking form.
Several students who were caught out by COVID last Easter successfully claimed their course fees and travel expenses and were re-imbursed in full by their insurance companies. We know of only one unsuccessful claim, and this was due to lack of supporting evidence so please make sure you have proof of all circumstances relating to your situation.
In the first instance make sure you take out insurance, average cost is less than £10.00.
You might also check things like your bank account additional features, many offer perks such as Holiday Insurance with current accounts. You may find other financial institutions you may be involved with offer similar things.
Secondly, if you cannot attend due to ill health, accident or other, make sure you register your illness with a doctor by getting a note to confirm your illness. Where required, SFSS will provide evidence that you have paid for the course which you did not attend. Make sure you have all angles covered with the appropriate evidence to ensure your claim is met in full.
Sore Fingers Summer Schools Ltd will always take a pragmatic view of your circumstances but we cannot accept every claim for a refund where adequate insurance would have covered your non-attendance.
Scratch Bands
Don’t forget to register for the Scratchband concert. Please try to register in advance as this really saves the scratch band team a lot of time. Here’s the link to the Scratch Band Registration Form which is password protected as detailed below. https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/Scratchbands/sbregform.php
Login: is as follows:
User: “members23”
Password: “SBRFEs23”
If you are coming for the first time and don’t know what we are blithering about, please check the “Experience” page of the website and the sections headed Scratch bands, Student Concert and Non-Performing Scratch Bands”. All is revealed at this link: https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/experience.php!
Here are some useful links and a reminder of the complete line up for now.
Detailed Bios are on the website (see link below).
AUTOHARP - MIKE FENTON
BANJO 1 - GINA FURTADO
BANJO 2 – GABE HIRSHFELD
BEGINNERS (All Instruments) – ED HICKS/PETER EARLE
BASS – MISSY RAINES
DOBRO – NOEL DASHWOOD
FIDDLE - ANNIE STANINEC
MANDOLIN 1 – DAVID BENEDICT
MANDOLIN 2 – MARK STOFFEL
MUSIC DEVELOPMENT – ANDY MACKENZIE / MIKE PRYOR
GUITAR 1 – ROSS MARTIN
GUITAR 2 – PETER MCLAUGHLIN
OLD TIME BANJO – CHRIS COOLE
OLD TIME FIDDLE – JOHN SHOWMAN
SINGING – KATHY KALLICK
SONGWRITING - JOHN LOWELL
UKULELE - PERCY COPLEY
More details, booking forms and tutor bios at this link: https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/courses.php
We have loads of useful information on the website and you might like to read the following web pages for insight:
The “Experience” page describes both the classroom experience and all the extra-curricular activities: https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/experience.php
The “What Course Should I Go On” if you are a little confused as to which class would best suit your musical needs: https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/whatcourse.php
Check the “FAQ’s” page for answers to general and practical questions such as “What should I bring?”, etc: https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/faq.php
Follow this link to get a daily schedule of activities: https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/docs/Master%20Daily%20Programme%20Easter.pdf