News & Info

FASCINATING AIDA DVD
COMING SOON!

NEW SONG - "CHEAP FLIGHTS"

Hello.

I have spent the summer not writing very much at all. Poor Adèle has despaired of me. We have spent many long and fruitless hours writing partly completed songs, and then chucking them out. At least, I chuck them out, and Adèle looks broken-spirited. Partly it's the fault of the new government – I haven't learned to hate them. That nice Mr. Cameron and that nice Mr. Clegg – they haven't provided any substantial fodder yet. And perhaps my brain has been addled by the constant glut of fruit and veg I'm growing. When you have 3 kilos of redcurrants and 2 kilos of tayberries to process, it's apt to fuzz the brain, I find. It's getting scary – Edinburgh is suddenly only a nano-second away! We start rehearsing next week! Aieee! Oh well, I am going to try out a new idea today.

I have also spent the last few months forgetting to announce the total amount collected for our two charities, Combat Stress and Help For Heroes. So, at long last, herewith... The sums have been divided thus:

Combat Stress - £28,581.00.
Help For Heroes - £23,316.00.

In total – that's a stonking £51,897.00

If it seems odd that they are all round sums, it's because we round them up at the end, not because we're fabulously generous, but because it is SO much easier when it comes to paying in! And the reason Combat Stress did better than Help For Heroes is quite simple – it's less well known, and Help for Heroes is very fashionable at the moment, and besides, it's more of an umbrella charity. Combat Stress does amazing work with the military and ex-military – it really really REALLY needs your moolah.

There were quite a lot of Euros, and a fair few American coins, in the collection – we traded them personally 1 for 1, and they were paid in as part of the collection above.

However, for the record, we also collected:

• 2/6d pre-decimal Sterling UK Old Money (as in avoirdupois)
• 4 old 50p pieces 5x½p pieces in £ sterling but no longer in use
• 5 French francs
• 1p (Isle of Man)
• 3 Rupees (India)
• 25 Centavos (Ecuador)
• 6 Cents (South Africa)
• 5 Kopeks (Russia)
• 55 Cents (Argentina)
• 31 Cents (Canada)
• 1 Lira 10 kuru (Turkey)
• 52 Cents (Australia)
• 20 Cents (New Zealand)
• 1 Dirham and 2 Fils (U.A.E.)
• 2 Shekels (Israel)
• 2 Cents (Malta)
• 5 Cents (Fiji)
• 1 Cent (Oman)
• 10 old Krone (Denmark)
• 10 Denari (Macedonia)
• 60 Cents (Switzerland)

• 1 Jurassic Park Token
• 1 Center Parcs token
• 2 completely unidentifiable coins, one of which turned out to be a pound coin so grey and worn it was scarcely recognisable
• 1 button
• 2 mini key-rings
• 1 Peter Shilton Esso Token World Cup 1970
• 1 RAC enamelled disc
• 1 enamelled disc (key-ring attachment?) saying "ANNE" with a rose
• 1 Mother Teresa Millennium token
• €0.80 that got missed out by accident.

The coins will be put into a general charity box.

Once again, we'd like to thank the audiences for their incredible generosity. We had, by and large, and extraordinary reaction in most places. One senses that the recent adventures of the sodding Labour Party (that's the politest I can be – to think one of the reasons I voted for them in 1997 was their famous Ethical Foreign Policy!) have made us look at our armed services in a different way. We value and cherish them once again; the residents of Wootton Basset come out to pay their respects to all the servicemen and women killed in Afghanistan, and they do it for all of us. And a lot of us wish that they weren't involved in one thoroughly illegal situation and another highly dubious one, but admire the general professionalism and courage of the troops as they try to do their best.

And here's one very touching story. After our gig in Tewkesbury, we were signing programmes etc in the foyer as usual, and a gentleman came up to me. With a big thumbs up sign, and a fair amount of repressed emotion, he said, "Great charities. Great choices of charity." Then he handed me a rubber armband which said "SUPPORT THE HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY IN AFGHANISTAN".

"I'll be selling those in Tewkesbury town centre tomorrow," he said; "well, my son's with the Household Cavalry in Afghanistan." I put the armband on immediately.

And then he took his wallet out of his pocket, and opened it to show me a picture of his son. "That's Toby, my boy," he said, with enormous pride but also, I sensed, an understandable shard of terror. And there was a picture of a gorgeous, handsome, fit young man in uniform. Toby.

"I'll wear this till he comes home," I said. And I have worn it ever since. Strange, but it feels like a sacred duty.

See you in Edinburgh.

Dillie

For more information about these charities, please click the logos below to visit their websites: