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I had a most extraordinary day yesterday. All day (from 7am mark you too early for any musician you know) in the cascades as had to be all set up before they let the public in at around 8am. It is most interesting to watch people and there were definately different sorts of people that came out at different times. The early morning efficious types, walking very fast with clear goals in mind,no time to stop. The late morning people with the small children, more relaxed having a look round, a quick chat then off for coffee or to the park.The early afternoon crowd on the way to or back from lunch, still browsing, small children often sleeping now, stopping to chat a bit longer, hmm quite interested. Then the later afternoon crowd, laid back, open, approachable and easy to engage, not worried about the thought of mental health. One very interesting moment for me was when I swapped bunch of flyers for a banana with a guy wearing a monkey suit, he went into the nearest shop then came out, laughing saying 'What are you trying to tell me!?' The flyers had the title 'Mental Health - Everyone's Business' on them and information about the events. No one mentioned anything about him and the leaflets state that it is a 'celebration' of mental health, nothing about mental illness and yet somehow, he had seen something potentially negative in them. That was a really clear example for me of the kind of ingrained stigma we are dealing with. He was in good spirits and didn't get offended, but it is interesting. Many thanks to Kirsty and Sarah for their support during the day and to Andy for joining us towards the end of the day and making sure I was fed and watered before the evening event.

Which was of course, the Tongues and Grooves event  http://www.tongues-and-grooves.org.uk/  Oh, it was so wonderful! I have never been so nervous as I was waiting to see if enough people would turn up and hoping that everyone would have a good time. I needn't have worried. There were plenty of audience and so many talented people who shared not only their poems or songs, but also their experiences with mental health over the years. The whole evening was really humbling and I was close to tears many times as well as roaring with laughter at others. Wendy French, our featured poet http://www.poetrypf.co.uk/wendyfrenchpage.html was truly fabulous, sharing some poems written by young people with mental health problems that she has worked with over the years. it was a really moving, sometimes disturbing, but realistic look at mental health and still uplifting. Splendid!

Sue Apicella from the JellyRollers gave us a song, the lovely Krystyna with her golden voice too, Janet Ayres http://www.janetayers.blogspot.com/ played the violin and sang two beautiful songs and so many other people who I can't remember but will have to find out and mention in another blog! It was all fantastic! Walker Broad, oh yes, they did a couple of numbers. Undeserver and then Small Steps both seemed to go down well. It was the only time we have ever done Small Steps without the piano so it was a challenge for poor Andy although obviously he managed very well! Then our own AdeCull http://www.last.fm/music/Ade+Cull rounded off the evening with a lovely set of his velvet voiced music. I love listening to him, as you know already if you have been following, and he plays beautifully. Very self-deprecating though, have to work on him with that! Ade - you were slightly over oiled yes, but you were fabulous and despite the lateness of the hour your audience were well engaged and we loved you! Thank you to everyone who turned up and played and read and generally listened. I had a great time and I think everyone else did too!