On Saturday 17th August I was picked up at Christchurch Airport by Heather Gladstone and Mikki Michelsson and taken to the Methodist Centre in Brake St.

Maurice Jones was all set up to give an hour long workshop starting at 1.30. He was introduced by CAA President David Thorne in front of a display of accordion parts. These parts had come from instruments that had been involved in insurance claims, and could be passed around the 30 strong audience so they could examine and touch the mechanisms and see the interiors of reed blocks, bellows, bass mechanisms, and treble pallets.

Maurice explained how each part worked and interacted with the instrument as a whole then passed that piece on for inspection. At the end of the session questions were asked and answered.

A substantial afternoon tea followed, with further opportunity to look at the interior workings of the accordion.

Following this was the Jam Session. Chairs were put in a circle, accordions appeared out of cases, music stands were snapped into place, and music folders were handed out. In minutes we were set to go with Merle Kershaw leading the way. Twenty of us all played the song sheets that she called out the numbers to. The first verse was fraught with sight-reading errors of wrong notes and rhythms and the second playing resolved any problems, creating a very pleasing result. A lot of joviality ensued with verbal input from many of the players. Soloists were Sven Balvan, Colin Crone and Alistair Leckie along with vocalists Jennifer Barry and Michael Pearson. Alistair Leckie received the inaugural award of Performance of the Day, presented by Maurice Jones. We were all enjoying ourselves so much that we ran out of time, then everyone helped with a very quick pack down in reverse, all very efficient.

The dinner was at the Richmond Club where we had a private room to accommodate all 24 people, with everyone experiencing a different adventure finding it. Using the club membership for drinks and food proved a new learning curve but definitely worthwhile with excellent food and drink at club prices.

Sunday dawned a very rainy day, it was constant and remained throughout the grey day. Despite this the Methodist church hall filled up with sodden players, choristers and supporters. Accordion cases, music stands were wiped down and uniforms put on. The Guest Artist was Maurice Jones and the surprise addition was his daughter Alanah.

The concert was MC’ed by Jeanette Perry and started with the Christchurch Accordion Orchestra, conducted by David Thorne, followed by the St Albans Community Choir conducted by Heather Gladstone, who also played the accordion whilst leading the group. A new group, started a year ago, was the Bellowettes conducted by Kim Waddell, consisting of young or new players with additional helpers. Maurice Jones playing midi accordion concluded the first half to rousing applause.

The second half began with the two accordion groups on stage, nearly 30 accordions, conducted by Kim Waddell then the St Albans Community Choir with another set including dancers. Alanah Jones then performed two operatic arias then joined her father in a duo of vocal and accordion performing ballads and rock and roll. The Christchurch Accordion Orchestra concluded the show with David Thorne thanking all attendees and performers and drawing the raffle.

Even though we were all exhausted another dinner was planned to round off the weekend, I was excited to see snow falling. Five Star saw eight of us navigating the Vietnamese menu whilst discussing the weekend events.

Thanks go to our wonderful hosts the Canterbury Accordion Association and I recommend next time they host an event you join in the fun!