It’s hard to believe that today is our last day here, we’ve had so much fun, met so many people, taken part in far to many events to recal all of them and learnt so much from everyone.

Today has been fairly relaxed but still filled with fun and excitement.

This morning the young musicians headed off to Fremantle for didgeridoo lessons! They were all given the chance to try out this amazing instrument, whilst it’s not native to the west coast of Australia, it was still great fun!

Sharda Pattasar and friends performed on the Community Stage in the Commonwealth people’s space a real honour for them and they lived up to it spectacularly! They have been great fun to meet and we really hope to meet up with them all again soon!

Pete Banks had to take the PA back to Ashton Admor who had kindly hired it to us over the last week. Before running around the town looking after various groups of our ROSL soloists who were practising for the CHoGM Church service on Sunday morning which all the dignitaries will be attending.

In the evening, Peter Banks and Yelian He had arranged for the whole group to head down to the next door hotel to perform for their guests (in exchange for a good evening and some food!) However, as you may be seeing on the news, Qantas airlines have completely grounded every flight available and so the hotel was packed with camera crews (looking for tearful, sorrowful passengers no doubt!) and other stranded members of the public who had the chance to hear some fantastic impromptu performances from our young musicians, potentially performing together for the last time!

Our young musicians are now packing ready for their onward journey and watching a film all together! We’ve had a really fantastic week and there are so many different events that we’ve enjoyed! Some of our many highlights have included…

• Trinity College
• Meeting their young musicians at their BBQ on the first night
• Performing to their juniors and year 8’s
• Bringing together a string ensemble
• Playing with their Jazz band!
• Yelian He learning to play the drums!
• Performing at Willerton Senior High
• Visiting Fremantle
• Performing all together at the Youth Forum Closing Ceremony
• Learning from all the international musicians present!
• Joseph Aquilina (Malta)
• Cecilia De Maria (Malta)
• Les Neish (UK)
• Yelian He (Australia)
• Sri Mahligai (Singapore)
• Sharda Patasar and Friends (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Les Neish’s Carnival of Venice
• Visiting wildlife parks
• Getting to know new friends
• Learning about aboriginal culture
• Performing as part of the Song for Perth services
• Unveiling the tree of life sculpture
• The Royal Over-Seas League dinner
• Meeting the Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago
• Being a part of the Carers day at the Princess Margaret children’s Hospital
• Yelian He’s Julie – o
• The Concerto from Yelian He with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra
• Card Games into the night!!!
• Mr Banks’ brilliant driving skills
• The trip to Kalamunda
• Meeting Tony and Faith
• Being introduced to the Australian outback by Tony
• Visiting the Kalamunda History Centre
• Performing at the Kalamunda Performing Arts Centre to a full house
• Performing at City Gate Hotel for stranded passengers!

Tomorrow the onward journey commences for the group, Chethams are off to Sydney and Melbourne, Purcell are heading back to London and on Sunday Cecilia De Maria and Joseph Aquilina are both heading home with Sharda Patasar and our ROSL soloists are continuing their tours of Australia on Sunday.

Whilst I have a chance…

This will most likely be my final major diary post, I hope you’ve enjoyed my ramblings or found them in some way useful!! Thankyou for reading and do check back for the final pictures and fundraising events when we return to the UK!

Many thanks & Goodnight

Peter