Hugh Dennis, Mel Giedroyc and Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir are among those announced for Keep Our Doors Open concert for St Martin-in-the-Fields Sunday 31st May 2020, 7pm

Since the Covid-19 lockdown began, more than 10 million people have enjoyed the music that continues to be produced from St Martin-in-the-Fields from the safety of their own homes. Now, they are holding a one-off digital concert with performers who know and love the space. These artists are coming together to raise money to keep St Martin-in-the-Fields’ doors open, to support their work with homeless and vulnerable people in London and across the UK, and to help sustain their work with talented young musicians.

Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Revd Dr Sam Wells will begin the evening’s festivities. During the concert, award-winning journalist and BBC broadcaster, Julian Worricker will speak with comedian Hugh Dennis (Outnumbered, BBC; Mock The Week, BBC), Miko Giedroyc (Founder, Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir), Clarence Hunt (Choir Director, Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir) and presenter and personality, Mel Giedroyc (Mel and Sue, ITV; Great British Bake Off, BBC).

He will also speak to St Martin-in-the-Fields’ Choral Conducting Fellow, Gabriella Noble. BBC newsreader and children’s author Zeb Soanes (Gaspard the Fox, Graffeg) will introduce the pieces, including poetry readings from comedian Arthur Smith (The Comedy Club, BBC Radio 4; Are You Being Served, BBC) and a performance from slam poet Harry Baker (Winner, World Slam Poetry Competition, 2012). There will be soaring performances from St Martin’s Voices, their professional choral ensemble, and the Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir. Warren Mailley-Smith, the last person to perform at St Martin-in-the-Fields before lockdown, will share Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue on the piano, and there will be an astonishing performance by soprano Katharine Dain.

The St Martin-in-theFields choral scholars will present En la Macarenita, arranged by Bob Chilcott, and there will also Page | 2 be a performance by The Amanzi Quartet (2018 SMITF Chamber Music Competition Audience Prize Winners). Music has always played a central role in the life of St Martin-in-the-Fields – a building designed almost 300 years ago with choral music in mind. Londoners know it as a venue for high calibre classical music, training young musicians through the Voices and Choral Scholarship programmes.

Last year, over 400 concerts played here, many of them for free. Sunday’s digital concert will shine a light on amazing artists with support from some of the people who love St Martin-in-the-Fields, all so that they can raise precious funds to keep the doors open. Welcoming over a million visitors in recent years to their concerts, events, shop and café has been a vital source of income for this London icon.

To make up this shortfall, St Martin-in-the-Fields launched an emergency appeal: ‘Keep Our Doors Open’. Every donation to the appeal supports the work of St Martin’s during this national crisis with the money split between the Church, St Martin-in-the-Fields charity and The Connection. It will help them provide emergency shelter for rough sleepers in London, equip frontline workers with the tools they need to keep in touch with the most vulnerable and isolated and help to support a new generation of classical musicians. Every gift will ensure that this place of sanctuary and hope for so many will be able to continue its work. For one hundred years, St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square has been known as ‘The Church of the Open Door’; with their doors locked by Government mandate, they’re finding new ways to provide support and provide sanctuary to those who need it most.

Here are details of: Concert

Twitter @smitf_london Instagram @stmartininthefields

Website www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org

Donations here

In this very special 60^th anniversary year for the Romantic Novelists’ Association it’s inspiring to look back at the history of the organisation and the extraordinary women who have made it the force it is today.

The origins of the RNA date back to January 1960 when author Vivian Stuart took the initiative to create an organisation dedicated to promoting and celebrating excellence in romantic fiction. Vivian was a redoubtable woman who had served in the Army in Burma during the Second World War, studied law, medicine and chemistry, married four times, had five children, travelled widely and was an extraordinarily prolific and successful author. She was the driving force that the organisation needed to get off the ground, and with the support of other famous novelists of the time including Denise Robins, Barbara Cartland and Netta Muskett they certainly made an impact.

Denise Robins, who became the first President of the RNA, was known for her exceptional glamour as well as for telling a cracking good story. She was a consummate networker whose connections in the publishing industry and the wider world were of huge benefit to the fledgling organisation.  As for Dame Barbara Cartland, she understood the value of branding long before it became a buzzword!

Photo credit: Winslow Photography

In order to achieve the aims of the organisation and promote and celebrate excellence in romantic fiction, these authors aimed to attract more respect to the genre. It’s interesting to see this theme recurring throughout the history of the RNA and indeed the history of romantic fiction. Romance, so frequently seen as a genre written for and by women, has experienced the twin criticisms of gender and literary snobbery. True fans of the genre, as well as the authors, know however that romantic fiction does not need literary approval. Those who denigrate it are missing the point and missing out. The strength of the genre and of the organisation lies in the loyalty of its aficionados.

Over the following decades new authors have taken the organisation forward, mirroring the society in which we live and its interests and preoccupations in the same way that these are reflected in the love stories of each different age. Lucilla Andrews was one of the RNA’s authors whose fiction mirrored her life experience, featuring as it did heroines who might be a single parent and breadwinner, as she had been herself.  Rosamunde Pilcher wrote about family dynamics, about love and loss and hope. But whilst there have been outstandingly successful author members throughout the RNA’s 60 years, it is the strength of the whole membership together that forges an organisation.

In the nineteen seventies the RNA began to build on one of its greatest strengths; the ethos of members helping and supporting other authors at all stages of their career. From the start, the RNA had set out to foster new authors in the genre through its New Writers Scheme, where established writers mentor aspiring novelists through a critique programme. The conference, introduced in the 1990s, also allows members and industry professionals to meet and discuss the latest publishing trends and career opportunities. Another important development, now one of the greatest strengths of the RNA, is the system of local chapters, which provide additional opportunities for networking. The sixty-year history of the RNA demonstrates its strength through the sharing of good practice, mentoring and support, themes that are as important today as they have been since the beginning. Here’s to another sixty years!

Nicola Cornick is the author of over forty bestselling historical romances over a career spanning twenty years. She is a former chair and current archivist of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. Her latest book, The Forgotten Sister, is a dual time novel set in Tudor England and the present, and is available from HarperCollinsHQ. Find out more about Nicola here: http://www.nicolacornick.co.uk/

For more information about the Romantic Novelists’ Association please visit our website www.romanticnovelistsassociation.org

I told you earlier about Rounton Coffee Roasters’ efforts to help to make sure the NHS in their  locality  (and wider afield) have access to coffee in their staffrooms. Time now to meet the two eager beavers behind this brilliant entrepreneurial and community minded company.

Dave Beattie – aka Beats:

The founder and driving force, David started as an engineer in chemical processing. By the age of 30 he was running an industrial gasses site on Teesside until a sabbatical seemed like a good idea. So off he went – as yer do –  traveling the world on a train.  After rumbling  through Europe, Russia and Mongolia,  he headed south towards Sumatra.

It is at this point  he had his ‘Eureka’ moment. But why?

Beats found himself working alongside  passionate Sumatran coffee farmers, who shared their frustrations at the limitations in the way their carefully nurtured beans were sold and handled. As he worked with them David realised he was not just happy, but enthused. On his return to North Yorkshire, Rounton Coffee Roasters was born  and four years on David’s focus is to make sure that the transparency, traceability and quality of the coffee, and other products, is at the heart of what they do.

Dave Beattie says: ‘Here at Rounton Coffee Roasters we understand that working with quality focused suppliers is paramount to running a successful business. That’s why we pride ourselves on being able to source and provide only the highest quality speciality coffees that are freshly roasted in small batches, using specialised software that creates consistent flavour profiles every time. We take a highly engaged approach to our wholesale relationships and invest time and expertise to make sure the coffee offerings for each business is only the best.’

But could he do all he wanted to do  on his own? Roll of drums…  Enter stage left :

David Burts. Head of Coffeer, green bean buyer, and whistling fixer of all things at the Coffee Roasters.

Roasty Burts lives to source and roast the finest speciality coffee he can get his hands on,  working tirelessly: analysing, researching and profiling every coffee that comes through Rounton Coffee Roasters door.  David joined Rounton Coffee Roasters in its infancy leaving a job in education to make it his mission to promote ethical and sustainable trading in the coffee producing world. His mantra is ‘’only positive vibes allowed’’ and is ‘that guy’ who is always a little too chirpy on a morning; but they wouldn’t change that… Not even the whistling.

The guys have an amazing range of coffees you can buy from their stores, or they will deliver. Each blend comes with a description, but not just of the flavour but of the source. As an example, let’s take a look at the Daybreak coffee blend notes to see how easy it is to choose which coffee to buy:

The Daybreak Blend.

Coffee lovers will know that Central and South American coffees make up the backbone of any great blend. Their deep chocolate notes punch through, making them a great choice with or without milk.

Up front, Daybreak blend ticks all the boxes: it’s moreish and satisfying, with just the right amount of body. Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find a pairing of coffees that we have spent countless hours working on, each bringing their own nuances to the table. With Daybreak, we want to show that exclusive, specialty coffees can (and should) be your go-to, even if you’re just looking for ‘a proper cup of coffee’.

50% Peru – Hilda Bermeo Guevara.  Hilda Bermeo Guevara’s farm is situated in the Northern Highlands of the Andes. A combination of washed Caturra, Pache, Bourbon and Catimor, this coffee has sweet pear notes and a full, rich body. Hilda’s coffee is part of a new age of coffee sourcing in Peru, where farmers are able to trade their lots more directly than ever before, with extra traceability.

50% Nicaragua – Las Naranjas. A washed Caturra from Ana and Martha Albir’s 8 hectare farm in North-Western Nicaragua.  A delicious coffee in its own right, with rich toffee and chocolate notes.

But … coffee is not the only product Rounton Roasters source and sell.

Tom Keavney, Training and Marketing: thinks you should also look at: Hot chocolate : Collection Venesuiela Smooth 58%

Venezuela is a light hot chocolate with 58 per cent cocoa, light and sweet with fruity notes. Sourced from the regions Sucre, Sur de Lago and Barlowento, this Venezuelan cocoa used are a mix of the two varieties criollo and trinitario beans. Academy of Chocolate, Bronze Award winner for a delicious flavour that was recognised with a Silver Award by the Academy of Chocolate.

Hey, says Guy Snead, Head Roaster: then there are the teas, lots of ’em.

Loose Leaf Silky Pyramids- Earl Grey tea is an example.

The Harrington Tea Garden is situated in the Dimbula mountains of Sri Lanka and all the tea that grows there is organic. This fine and flavoursome black tea is infused with extracts of bergamot to create a zesty and satisfying cup of Earl Grey tea.  Ingredients: Black Ceylon tea, marigold blossoms*, natural bergamot. *Certified organic.

Here at Chez Graham, we have just ordered our usual decaff coffee plus a sample pack of 3 coffees: Granary Blend, Colombia – Monte Bonito, Ethiopia – Mustefa Abakeno.

Go online, it’s a treat to browse. It’s worth buying online, or at one of their shops located… Well no, I want to tempt you to take a look at the website, and the choices. It’s a great way to spend an hour or two. I will visit  Rounton Coffee Roasters once the lockdown is lifted. Until then, a trawl around the site is quite enough, and our coffee is delivered promptly.

So  if ethical growing is important to you, have a good look at the products this committed team have sourced, and made ready for you. Browse, learn, buy … We did, and do, and are loving every sip. Remember also, that wholesale is available.

Go to the website for More information.

Images courtesy of Rounton Coffee Roasters.