News
Sore Fingers Week 2025 - End of year update
27th Dec 2024
SORE FINGERS END OF YEAR NEWS UPDATE
Sore Fingers Week 2025 – 14th to 18th April, 2025
Arrive Sunday 13thpm - Depart Saturday 19tham
Please note this is the week running up to Easter Sunday!
Don’t get caught out!
Kingham Hill School – Chipping Norton – Oxfordshire – OX7 6TH
Date: December 27th, 2024
We hope you are all having a great time with family and friends as we find ourselves in the interval between the two seasonal celebrations of Christmas and New Year.
Let us wish you all a Happy New Year for 2025.
The 28th Sore Fingers Week is coming our way next Easter and we need to remind you we will be running in the week leading up to Easter Sunday this year to help Kingham Hill School manage their Easter holiday logistics.
We recently published our tutor list and here is a reminder if you haven’t seen it. We hope you agree it’s another great line up of talent from across the Atlantic and this side of the pond.
AUTOHARP – HEATHER FARRELL-ROBERTS/LYN JONES
BANJO – JEFF SCROGGINS
BASS - ELEANOR WILKIE
DOBRO – SALLY VAN METER
BLUEGRASS FIDDLE – TRENT FREEMAN
GUITAR – JAKE WORKMAN
MANDOLIN 1 – MATT FLINNER
MANDOLIN 2 – ANDREW COLLINS
MUSIC DEVELOPMENT – ANDY MAC KENZIE/MIKE PRYOR
OLD TIME BANJO – MITCH DEPEW
OLD TIME FIDDLE – JOE DECOSIMO
SINGING – CHRIS SANDERS
UKULELE – PERCY COPLEY
BEGINNERS (ALL INSTRUMENTS) – ED HICKS/PETER EARLE
Check out the course page and read the tutor bios. We can look forward to another series of wonderful evening showcases, and with this line-up, I’m certain well see some musical fireworks again.
As well as the daily teaching and the evening showcases, Sore Fingers Week is one of the best experiences of the year. The event has become firmly established in the line-up of great Bluegrass and Old-Time camps.
BOOKING NEWS
Enquiries are coming in at a steady pace and pressure is beginning to bear on a few classes which are filling quickly. These are BLUEGRASS BANJO, GUITAR, OLD TIME BANJO and OLD TIME FIDDLE. We recommend you don’t delay getting a booking in if you want to make sure you get a place with the advertised tutors.
As it stands, we haven’t doubled up (except Mandolin) on any classes yet. We need to wait until we get enough students to justify it. Some classes are booking faster as above, and we will surely get another tutor, but to ensure this, we need enough bookings to make it work financially so please keep them coming.
A bit of time is needed to secure the services of additional musicians, and we need to collect a minimum of 13 students on each additional class to make things work. So, the power is with you, please book early.
Other classes are filling steadily with plenty of room for the time being.
ACCOMMODATION AND THE SINGLE/TWIN ROOM DILEMMA.
As I suspect you know already, there are very few single and twin rooms available to us and requests for this type of accommodation always exceeds the number of rooms we have available. We appeal to you to be flexible and consider a shared dormitory place.
The dormitories are friendly, and we believe the experience of sharing accommodation helps build the Sore Fingers community spirit which is so characteristic of the event.
Many lasting friendships have grown out of the social side of Sore Fingers Week with people sharing much more than banjo licks during the week. So, please don’t hesitate to accept a place in a dormitory room, you’ll find its fun.
SPONSORSHIP FUNDS
In these dark times, funding is slower than it was prior to the pandemic, and we have several young prodigies needing some financial help to attend Sore Fingers Week. If you’ve got a spare tenner lurking somewhere, please consider donating to our funding bank account.
Over the years, we have seen how beneficial a week at Kingham has been in helping these young players to flourish and develop great skills. It has most definitely influenced the whole British scene. We see these young wizards forming fantastic bands and playing at British Festivals and on the Professional Folk Circuit.
Several have become regular Sore Fingers Tutors too.
Here are the bank details:
PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS ACCOUNT FOR COURSE FEES AND REFERENCE THE TRANSACTION WITH YOUR NAME PLEASE.
SFSS Deposit Account (Sponsors)
Sort: 30-98-97
Account No: 47972463
IBAN GB62LOYD30989747972463
BIC: LOYDGB21031
USEFUL WEBSITE LINKS
Here are some useful information links to the website. You might like to read the following pages for insight:
For a Booking form use this link: https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/booking.php?id=26
The “Experience” page describes both the classroom experience and all the extra-curricular activities. It also includes a comprehensive section about the Scratch Band 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
We and the support team look forward to seeing you at Kingham Next Easter.