Positively Patsy Part 17

Other things progressed while the American riders were with us. They were mainly practising the dressage portion of the sport but, seeing we already had some show jumps in store, they set them up and did some jumping practise.

They advised us on what other jumps would be needed to do it properly and we found a supplier and got the extra jumps delivered. They were amazed at our willingness to do this and were very happy to be able to practise the show jumping. The only things we didn’t have was the electronic timing that is used in competition. They also explored the acreage and the trails around the house and sat down with us one day and suggested a route that could be made easily with cross-country jumps built in various places. It would mean that a team could practise for a three-day event with ease. We told them that we would see to it and that it should be ready if they return. They left with their horses in the floats and we set to getting all the bedrooms ready for our next guests, a busload of talented children.

Before they arrived the postman brought us three letters with official seals. They were notification of our nomination for awards being successful and that we would be listed in the Queens’ Birthday Honours List on the second Saturday in June and an invitation to the investiture. We put these away as no-one else was to know about it before the list came out. A couple of hours later a coach pulled up and we had ten children, from about eight to the mid-teens, plus three teachers. We got them all housed and sat them all in the dining room with a light lunch and had an introductory session. The children were less impressed at who their hosts were than the teachers. We told the teachers that Peggy had a degree in music and could help while the rest of us could offer sessions in singing and in playing in public.

Of the ten there were two boys who were learning guitar, three girls and a boy learning piano, two girls on violin and the last two were harpists. An interesting mix. Luckily they had bought their own instruments as we did not have any harps but we did have two pianos and an electronic keyboard. The teachers had skills in all the instruments between them. After a few days of letting them do their own thing we tended to listen in on their lessons and, eventually, Greg and I were giving the guitarists some extra tips and Joanne was helping out with the keyboard players. In the evenings we began to do sing-alongs with Greg and me on guitar trying to play songs that everyone knew and the children started to become quite good singers. With us helping with lessons it gave one teacher extra time with the harpists.

When the papers came on the second Saturday we looked at the list and there we were. Greg was Gregory Oliver Goggins, for services to the music industry and service to the nation through the Reece Trove. I realised that this is how he had been called Grog and asked him if he got the nickname at school. He said that I was right and asked me what I had been called. I said “Patrick” and he laughed, saying that he would have never taken me for a tomboy. Peggy was cited as service to the nation through the Reece Trove and I was cited as service to the music industry and through the Reece Trove. The staff and our guests were amazed that they were in the house with three people getting honours. We had to show the children how the fireplace opened and told them that we would take them to London to have a look at the trove. Of course, the teachers took the opportunity to make it a lesson in history and we took the children to the church to see the sarcophagus and the vicar told them about Richard Reece and his wife.

The investiture was the week after so all the crowd from America came in and stayed in London, along with Gerome and Stephanie from Geneva. We went up with our guests in the coach and they stayed in the hotel. Maxine had brought two incredible dresses for Peggy and me to wear. We duly received our honours, had plenty of pictures taken for personal use and by the media and had a big party at the hotel that evening. The children were amazed to be surrounded by ‘Amazon’ and ‘Primal Purge’ and the teachers also appreciated that they were in the company of top line producers and a major distributor. The next day, all our friends went home and we took the coach back to the house.

During the time that the children were with us, we played them the documentary that Chris made, over a four night period. It was embarrassing to see myself a few years younger in the second episode. The first episode was purely on the original ‘Amazon’ and was quite moving to see Ashley’s slide into addiction. Greg had tears in his eyes and when Peggy asked why he told her that it reminded him of how stupid he had been. The third one was the tour where we evolved and the fourth was just a live show taken late in the tour, actually, it was Detroit as we looked like a bunch of mechanics. That was played with the sound up. The children were now extremely motivated to study and went from strength to strength.

By the end of July we were getting them into the studio to learn how to record their work and, with the help of one of the teachers who could read and write music, I put together four original songs that all of the children could participate in. They practised them in the evenings and by mid-August we had the tunes recorded properly and I sent the master to Simon to put a hundred copies on CD with a proper cover. They came back before the end of the camp and the children were given two each and the rest, minus a couple we kept, were given to the teachers to sell if anyone wanted them. By this time our double CD was on the market and selling well so we gave everyone one each signed by the three of us. All in all it was an interesting a fun three months.

With the sales of our CD we had gained some recognition as British artists and Peggy was contacted by the Bristol University to hand out the awards to their Masters and Honours Degree winners in the first week of September. Mary, Joanne and I went with her and it was an interesting visit. She gave a good speech about following your interests and we had a good time at the soiree afterwards talking to her lecturers. The other item that was interesting was that I was nominated in the song writing section for an Ivor Novello Award. I didn’t get it but it was good to be noticed.

As it was getting into the colder months it was time to run a cooking school. Mary had made lots of calls and we had a group of ten children from Liverpool coming in with four chefs in the second week of September and they were going to stay with us until the end of November. Once again we got stuck in to getting the rooms ready and everything was good when the coach turned up. We had been sent a list of provisions that would be required so we had a pantry full of cans, bags and boxes. All of the vegetables would be from our own garden that was, by now looking really good. We had a deal with our local butcher already so we were ready to get cooking. All of the children were in their late teens but none had a bad attitude; they all wanted to be well paid chefs.

The course not only had food preparation and cooking but creation of a menu and also work in the vegie garden to learn how to pick the best products. After the first week they were creating all of our meals so we sent our cook to Spain for a holiday. The period passed in a haze of interesting food and good company. I learned a bit about better cooking myself. The children were all old enough to ride so Mary gave lessons with the horses in the early mornings and in the afternoons, before the dinner preparations. The teachers had a good time themselves and, on the last evening with us, they created a meal so exquisite that I salivate whenever I think of it.

We were now getting close to Christmas again and it had been an interesting and rewarding year. The ‘Angels of Joy’ CD was selling very well, even though some of the critics wondered why rock stars would be delving into music of the forties and fifties. Nina’s CD was also selling well and between us we had started a niche market with people who liked good music, sung well, with lyrics that were able to be understood.

Part 18

Joanne, Mary and I thought that it was time to head back to Nashville for a while so I called our security at the house and asked them to organise it getting clean and some food in. I also needed the SUV’s ready to drive. A few days later we flew to Nashville and our security guy was waiting for us in my SUV with a small trailer on the back. Smart guy as it was needed for our luggage. Back at the house we put our stuff away and spent some time on the gym equipment to get the travel kinks out. I went off to the nursing home to see Ruby and when I walked in Kay did a curtsey and said “Welcome, my lady”. I gave her a hug and told her not to be silly.

I had along chat with Ruby, telling her all about the different schools that we had run and all the interesting people I had met. I had a couple of books about the Trove with me so left her one to read. She asked me if Rod would have been able to claim the treasure and I told her that he would have had to be at the church and shown them the birthmark. Not only that, but even if he had retrieved the riddle, unless he had access to ‘Reece Manor’, he would have never solved it. She looked a bit ‘older’ than the last time we had met and I asked Kay later how she was. Kay told me that Ruby was at the point where her ails were starting to take control and that she was on painkilling medication these days.

I went into the day room and chatted with the ‘support crew’; Jim giving an exaggerated bow and a hand flourish. I gave him the Trove book to look through and we chatted about the activities of the past few months. He asked me about the charity and I told him about the music and cooking school. The riding team had paid for their time with us so that was income for the charity. He commented that I seemed to be moving away from the music scene and I could not contradict him. I did say that we had the ‘Angels of Joy’ CD on the market and he told me that he had heard that we were up for a ‘Special Achievement Award’ at the Grammys next January with Nina up for a nomination in ‘Best Album’.

Leaving the nursing home I went to K Beat to catch up with Alice and Sarah. The new building was going up quickly with all the walls and roof on. They were building the inner walls and soundproofing the studios so it should all be ready to move to by mid-year. Sarah told me that there had been requests for me to appear on various TV shows but she had rejected them all while I was in the UK. I told her that this suited me fine at present. I went to see Alice and had a chat with her. I asked if her friendly surgeon may consider my final conversion sometime and she said she would ask. She congratulated me on the ‘Angels of Joy’ CD and then told me that Minh was down in Houston doing a show with some other children’s entertainers but would be back next week and would be home for Christmas. This was good as I had brought a number of songs with me for her input, maybe enough for another album.

From K Beat I just drove into the countryside to enjoy being alone for a little while. It seemed that I was always with people these days; not a bad thing, but a little solitude was nice. Eventually I found myself at the little garage where I had stopped a couple of years back. I topped up the SUV and went into the shop to get a bar of chocolate and a drink and to pay. The girl that served me before was there again, and greeted me warmly so I gave her a hug. She wanted to know if I was back in the US for a while and I told her it would be for a couple of months. She looked as if she wanted to say something but was scared to do so, so I sat at one of the tables in the shop and said “OK, what is it you want me to do?” She sat opposite me and told me that her school choir was to give a series of recitals at various hospitals and childrens’ wards, as well as a couple of retirement homes, over the Christmas period and she wondered if I would like to come along to hear them. I looked at her name badge and said “Jennifer, how about I come along and sing with you?” She gave me the address and time of their next practise session the next day and I told her I would be there.

So the next evening, Joanne and I drove over to the college hall and when we walked in there was a bit of a flurry. Jennifer came over and took us to be introduced to the choir master. I apologised for coming in without an invitation but offered our help if we could fit in. He told us that most of the repertoire was the standard carols but there were a couple of genuine choral pieces from Tallis and he could give us a spot if we wanted to sing alone. I told him we were here to help, not show off and said that if the choir wanted to sing any of our songs we could help them practice. We spent the evening singing along with the choir going through the standard carols and fitted in quite well. Then the choir had a discussion about our songs to see if there were any that would fit and the resounding winner was ‘Serendipity’.

It seemed that the choir knew the words so we tried it as a purely choral piece and I liked it so we did it a couple of times more. The choir master was amazed that a ‘pop’ song could sound so good with a choir and said that it would be the finale of the recitals. The following practise Joanne and I had studied up on the Tallis pieces and was able to sing along with the choir this time. We had got quite friendly with the choir members and now were being treated like normal members. The first recital was in the childrens’ ward at the local hospital and it went over well, many of the children asking if they could have a selfie with Joanne and me. We did six other gigs before Christmas and even got a photo or two in the papers with the headline ‘Local Stars sing with School Choir’ which made all the others giggle when it was discussed. We had a good time and had a bit of fun while doing some good. After Christmas we got the choir into the K Beat studio and recorded the whole performance and got Simon to produce five hundred CD’s for the choir to sell and fund further performances.

I worked with Minh on the songs I had brought with me and she had some that we worked on together. We got her into the studio with the band and, over a couple of weeks, we recorded her next album. At the end of January we all gathered in Los Angeles for the Grammys. Once again Maxine had supplied us with wonderful dresses that were elegant as well as beautiful. I did notice that more of the other artists had rejected experimental fashion for elegance. The ‘Angels of Joy’ won ‘Pop Vocal Album of the Year’, much to our surprise and Nina got the “Album of the Year’. We didn’t have to perform this time around so just had a good time. Of course, Maxine took the opportunity with us all together to schedule a photo shoot. This time it was in Jamaica and, again was the spring and summer collection. This took us to late February and, after some more time in Nashville; the three of us flew back to London.

Mary had organised a cooking school for March and April so we needed to be there. After the cooking school we had the Australian three day riding team in May and June with a bit of a break and a music school for August, September and October. We looked after our guests for the cooking school and, once again, they looked after our meals. Alice had made me an appointment with my favourite surgeon in the middle of May so I flew back to Nashville alone and went straight into the hospital for my final conversion. After the operation and a week in the hospital, I spent two weeks in a private nursing home recuperating, healing and learning to dilate. I flew back to the UK in the middle of June with a whole new outlook on life. While I was recuperating I had a lot of song ideas and, once I had put them on disc in the studio at ‘Reece Manor’ I sent them to Riordan. She liked what she heard and we all went into the studio in New York during July and recorded a new ‘Amazon’ album.
Marianne G 2020