Jenny and I participated in the Royal School of Church Music Choral Festival in August. After five rehearsals at Holy Trinity Church, Surrey Hills, we spent an extremely cold, wintery afternoon in St.John's, Camberwell (which seemed to be even colder than outside!). Although much of the music selected was not especially inspiring, there were several good anthems and we enjoyed the experience.

In September, I was again one of my Church's representatives at the Anglican Synod (similar to parliament). This took place over three nights and a whole Saturday and was something of a marathon! As last year, I was a little disappointed at the amount of politics which are a part of this event but I am realistic enough to realise that this is inevitable in an organisation as large and as varied as the Anglican Church.

With a full-time income, I was able to afford a concert subscription to a series of concerts run by "Independent Classics". At $25 per concert, their prices are very reasonable and, although not "first class" the performers are usually very good. I enjoyed music including Mendelssohn's "Elijah" and Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Requiem" but the highlight was definitely a concert of Vivaldi's music which included a concerto for recorder. This performance was exquisite and it will remain in my memory for many years to come. I have rarely enjoyed a concert so much.

Third term at school included an intensive swimming program which involved my class in daily visits to the Kew Swimming Pool over a two week period. As all of the junior classes were involved in this activity, the logistics involved in moving this number of children to and from the pool during the day were something of which the military would have been proud. Of course, there were the inevitable piles of wet, soggy lost clothes. One day, there was a pair of sneakers found. Upon asking my class if they belonged to anyone, I received a negative response. One of the boys put up his hand and offered this solution to the problem. "I know what to do! Get everyone to take their shoes off. I'll smell the sneakers and then everyone's feet and that way we'll find out whose they are!!"