News
Latest for October 23 and Easter 24
1st Jun 2023
HERE IS THE
SOONER HAVE WE FINISHED THAN WE START AGAIN”
PRESS RELEASE
Sore Fingers October Weekend 2023 – 20 to 22 October, 2023
Arrive Friday 20th – Depart Sunday 22nd
PLEASE NOTE: CHANGE OF DATE FOR EASTER 2024!
Sore Fingers Week 2024 – 8th to 12th April, 2024
Arrive Sunday 7th - Depart Saturday 13th
Both events run at:
Kingham Hill School – Chipping Norton – Oxfordshire – OX7 6TH
Booking form for both events: https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/booking.php
Easter 24 - Date Change and Tutor news
First we must start with an apology for advertising the wrong dates on the early booking forms issued at Kingham during last month’s Sore Fingers Week. Due to an oversight and not diligently checking the school’s logistics (boarders leaving and returning), KHS have asked us to move the 2024 event back by one week (see dates above). The good news is that the week will still fall in line with the national school Easter holidays.
We will be contacting all those who have already booked individually.
Sadly, this re-schedule has caused a bit of a blow on the tutor front. Tony Trischka cannot make the later dates due to a prior commitment. This is disappointing as people booked quickly to get on his course. We are looking for a suitable replacement and will make sure to recruit a top player.
Keep your eyes on the website as we add tutors, we hope to have a full line up very soon.
Booking forms available from this link: https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/booking.php?id=22
General News
I am pleased to report that a couple of students who could not attend last Easter’s Sore Fingers due to illness successfully claimed their fees back from their insurers with a little help from us. So, it’s well worth taking out a policy ad in one instance, the cover was taken out for 12 months and covered other holidays as well, all for under £30.00.
It’s a no brainer really, we strongly advise you take out insurance when booking for a place at Sore Fingers Week. Remember, anything can happen and you could easily be out of pocket.
The times we live in…. Some courses at Sore Fingers are more popular than others and banjo is an obvious example. Guitar and Mandolin also do quite well and we run a couple of classes to be able to accommodate everybody wanting to come.
We have always wanted to cover all the instruments found in this music and a few classes don’t prove as easy to fill so they are subsidised by the ones that book up early. That’s how things have been done for the last twenty six years.
But with the recent pandemic and the present cost of living crisis, we are less able to rely on this method of funding smaller classes and we are taking a slightly new approach, at least temporarily until things recover. So, for this October, we will not announce any doubling up of classes until the number of bookings justifies and we are reserving the right to cancel any class that doesn’t achieve 8 bookings by August 31st, 2023. So, if you intend to come, please book early and help us to prevent any cancellations.
October Weekend, 2023
Lots more on the table for October and to start with, here’s the line-up of tutors:
AUTOHARP – LYN JONES
BANJO – RON BLOCK
BASS – PETER EARLE
CHORO (ANY INSTRUMENT) – MIKE PRYOR/DAVE GRIFFITHS
DOBRO – CHRIS EATON
FIDDLE – JAY BRADBERRY
GUITAR – ANDY QUELCH
MUSIC DEVELOPMENT – TREVOR HYETT
MANDOLIN – MICHEAL GIVERIN
OLD TIME FIDDLE – EMILY SMITH
OLD TIME BANJO – MITCH DEPEW
SINGING – ROLAND EMMANUEL
SONG-WRITING – SUE POMEROY
UKULELE ADVANCED – PERCY COPLEY
BEGINNERS – ED HICKS
Three October highlights need mention:
Firstly, we are privileged to have Ron Block join the tutor team as he is already in the UK touring and the last date falls just a couple of days before the October Weekend. So, he has agreed to stay on to teach the camp.
Secondly: We have introduced an October Beginner Class for all instruments led by the talented Ed Hicks who delivered such a successful beginner’s course at Easter 23. The class is open to all instruments including Ukulele and we think this is a gentler way to dip your toe into the Sore Fingers experience without having to commit to a full five days. And of course, it’s a lot less money to find!
Third highlight is the introduction of the song writing course at the weekend. Sue Pomeroy doesn’t make a noise about her award winning song writing but you’ll have heard these compositions when she performs with Siri in the Rye Sisters. She’s probably one of the best composers on the circuit and we thought we’d give students the opportunity to delve into her mind when she’s on the inspirational trail.
In other developments, we are repeating our attempt at staging a Choro class - open to All Instruments – which will be run by Dave Griffiths and Mike Pryor. Mike ran an elective at Easter and there was a great deal of interest so we hope that can translate into a decent sized class this October.
You can get your booking form at this link: https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/booking.php?id=22
Our lives?
We’ve been a little quiet apart from the odd comment on Facebook. Well… we have a household and personal affairs to deal with as I expect you do too. Life isn’t all banjos and fiddles unfortunately!!! We’re getting clear of that now and can at last do a bit more about S.F. You should therefore hear a little more from us over the next few weeks.
John, Moira and the SFSS team.
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 timetable of event activities (October & Easter):
https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/docs/Master%20Daily%20Programme%20October.pdf
https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/docs/Master%20Daily%20Programme%20Easter.pdf