16th JUNE 2008

WHAT WE JOKINGLY CALL SUMMER IS WELL UNDERWAY THERE WAS A GOOD TURNOUT FOR THE SEGHILL GALA THIS YEAR AND BLYTH SAMBA TURNED IN A GOOD AFTERNOONS PERFORMANCE FOR THE CROWD ON THE FIELD.

EVERYTIME WE THINK IT MIGHT BE WARM ENOUGH TO DO SOME OUTDOORS SESSIONS IN THE EVENINGS THE WIND BLOWS IN FROM THE NORTH SEA AND CHANGES OUR MINDS SO IT IS WORTH SAYING HERE A BIG THANK YOU TO BLYTH RESOURCE AND INITIATIVE CENTRE AT THE TOLHURST CENTRE FOR PROVIDING REHEARSAL ROOMS AND ANN THE CARETAKER FOR LETTING US IN.

WE ARE CURRENTLY PERFORMING AS A SIX PIECE PERCUSSION UNIT AND AS EVER HOLD OUT AN INVITATION TO ANYONE WATCHING TO GET INVOLVED AS A MEMBER OF THE BAND TO DEVELOP YOUR OWN RHYTHM AND PERCUSSION SKILLS AND HAVE SOME FUN AND EXERCISE IN THE PROCESS.

WE HAVE BEEN DOING SOME WORK IN 2008 WITH KILLINGWORTH MORRISONS MALL TO RAISE FUNDS FOR WATERAID.

21st december 2007

TIS THE SHORTEST DAY OF THE YEAR AND TIME FOR A QUICK FESTIVE MESSAGE TO ALL OUR READERS.... MERRY CHRISTMAS AND I HOPE YOUR 2008 IS FULL OF GOOD THINGS AND PLENTY OF RHYTHM AND MUSIC AND IF YOU WANT TO JOIN OUR BAND AND GET DOWN WITH SOME WORLD PERCUSSION AND PLAY SOME EVENTS AND BE A TEACHER FOR OTHERS GIVE KEITH A CALL ANYTIME.

BEST WISHES KEITH PAUL MIKE DAVID JULIE ALEX CAROLYN JENNY RIAN

BLYTH VALLEY SAMBA 2007

26 september 2007

GOODNESS HOW TIME FLIES

THIS WEEKEND SEES OUR TENTH APPEARANCE AT THE GREAT NORTH RUN SEE OCTOBER ENTRY 2006 BELOW.

WE HAVE BEEN SOO BUSY OUT DOING THINGS THAT IT HAS TAKEN TILL NOW TO FIND THE TIME FOR BLOGGING.

IN SUMMER WE PERFORMED IN THE LORD MAYORS GARDEN AND METRO CENTRE AS PART OF THE UP FOR ARTS CAMPAIGN WE HAVE NEW LOGO SHIRTS WHICH ARE COMING OUT FOR THE GREAT NORTH RUN AND WE HAVE EVEN PLAYED AT MORRISONS TO RAISE DONATIONS FOR WATER AID AS WELL AS ASHINGTON FOOTBALL GROUND FOR A ROCK MUSIC EVENT.

AS ALWAYS WE ARE HUNGRY FOR NEW MEMBERS WHICH IS ALWAYS A STRUGGLE HERE IN THE NORTH EAST WE DO HAVE SOME VERY GOOD NEW MEMBERS BUT ALWAYS COULD DO WITH MORE.

IN SOME AREAS THERE ARE ACTUALLY WAITING LISTS FOR SAMBA SCHOOLS AND THEY CHARGE MONEY FOR THE PRIVILEDGE AND ARE SELECTIVE ABOUT RECRUITS. NOT THAT WE WOULD WANT TO DO THIS OF COURSE.

WE ARE A FREE MEMBERSHIP VOLUNTARY GROUP THAT WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS OF ALL AGES PREFERABLY ADULT OF ANY AGE  YOUNGSTERS MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY PARENTS WHO ARE WELCOME TO JOIN US.

WE CAN DO WORKSHOPS AND SESSIONS FOR ORGANISATIONS WE DO HAVE A VERY REASONABLE NEGOTIABLE RATE AND WELCOME ENQUIRIES 

26 JANUARY 2007

Belated happy new year to casual visitors to this page.

We are beginning our 2007 activities with regular wednesday workshops starting in Blyth on 31st Jan and 1st february. with fingers crossed for some new members to supplement our regular core players who have now got many years experience of playing together and are keen to share it out  with others.

I had a message from a previous member (nicola) in october but i couldnt reply because the computer didnt recognise her e mail address. If you see this that is the reason.

So if you are browsing for some fun performing activity , if you fancy joining our team give me a call -  go one !!

Cheers

keith

2ND OCTOBER 2006

The great north run where we play at Heworth roundabout was as usual a highlight of our playing year and marks the end of the summer season what with the nights drawing in as well now.

The reception we get from the runners is fantastic as we help them to slog it up the felling by pass we a re always amazed by the runners who then come onto our stage and dance !! Before hitting the road again.

Now we look forward to next year and for opportunities for new people to join the group and get rhythm.

As things have turned out we still have to follow up our project to raise funds for wateraid and will be hoping to do a few supermarket concourses maybe.

25TH SEPTEMBER 2006

Oh my its nearly Christmas and strangely enough we are getting more requests for events during the winter months than any time previously. This is fine because we are more interested in developing quieter indoor performances of our rhythm compositions which increases the content and quality of the playing all round.

We didn’t log it  onto the events page but a word here for the organisers of the felling community festival for the great work they put in to the community gala down there south of the river look out for their event next July and support it if you can.

We are still looking for opportunities to do some promotional work for wateraid the charity which builds access to safe water for third world communities please call if you are interested.

16TH JULY 2006

At Holywell school gala we managed to bring down a rainstorm which still did not stop people from joining in to play in the rain. There was even greater enthusiasm at Lynemouth gala where we continued sessions on demand well into the first half of the England Portugal world cup match. We really do fancy doing some outdoor evening busking sessions but up on the north east coast it starts to blow in cool when it gets past seven in the evening.

We have now got a full set of gear from wateraid and during august are going to be fundraising for this charity at busking events and will be looking for any organisations who may like to have a demonstration of our work who would like to organise a collection for this wateraid  any one interested can call me 

3RD JUNE 2006

Seghill gala committee deserve congratulations for the work they do to keep going the annual gala for the village we have attended for the past eight years now to do our workshop sessions and apart from the first two the weather has been warm and sunny we now have people coming to play at our session who remember the rhythms they were playing the year before.

16TH MAY 2006

Things are warming up for the summer with regular invitations for school and community gala events taking us through every weekend in June so far. There is a new event at Lynemouth in northumberland where they are trying to revive a village gala on 1st July.

We have been in touch with northumberland water to join in the wateraid project which we support. During the course of this promotion we will be looking to do some busking events to raise funds and advertise wateraid which helps to improve water access in third world countries this year Malawi in Africa is to benefit.

MAY DAY MAY DAY 2006

Greetings to all viewers for international workers day on one of the years festival days most associated with dancing in the streets in England.

So what is the similarity between morris dancing (nothing wrong with it) and samba one thing is that it is part of the community tradition developed in different parts of the world which has its origins in Africa.

Samba itself beginning in the early 20th century in Brazil is rooted in the village drum rhythms of traditional African festivals. Taking on different forms in the Caribbean and up into the USA as the street music supporting the mardi gras festivals which represented one day of pleasure in a world of hard labour and slavery .

In our little corner of the world the work of Blyth Valley Samba is to give people who want to be in touch with this worldwide historical experience the opportunity to share in and pass on awareness of it to others.

Now is a great time for new people to join the group as we are coming close to the main season for drumming events.

One message for those who think they are too old to take up samba drumming - you are not. Have a go as soon as possible give us  a call.

STARDATE 20TH APRIL 2006

With hearty thanks to the wonderful www.northumberlandlife.org we are entering cyberspace please feel free to contact us with any questions relating to our activities

We will begin here a diary of interesting things wot we ave done and have an occasional rant

Main thing is we always need more members of our core band so that we can take on more events and spread samba throughout the north we particularly welcome adult members.

Our performance work is valid for all age groups