The afternoon after Robben Island was spent in a local high school with members from different orchestra’s in Cape Town. It was a similar set up to the day before with joint numbers and a workshop to follow, the sound that came of the two groups playing together was phenomenal.

One of the senior violinists from the Cape Town orchestra, Sia, led us in a song Pata Pata. He was very talented and managed to get every AFO player smiling and moving about and that is no small feat.

Just like everyone we have met in South Africa they were very friendly and welcoming and we had a great time chatting and sharing stories with them.

The audience at this concert was the best I have ever seen, many of them were from Scotland and recognised some of our more famous pieces and joined in. Others got up and danced.

The Hout Bay Music Project members surprised us by showing up to support us and they were great and showing other the dances they had just learned the night before.

During the interval I was speaking to a few women from the Cape Town Caledonia Society many of whom were originally from Scotland. They were very enthusiastic and happy to have us bring a little bit of their home to them, they also enjoying using some Scottish slang and talking about where we lived and the local areas. parental locks It was great to hear that after 33 years in South Africa all of them still had their Scottish accents.

The second half of the concert was even better than the first – if that was even possible – filled with even more dancing and singing. The dancing continued as another ceilidh ended our last night in Cape Town.

It is so difficult to say goodbye to these wonderful people, even if we have only known them for such a short time, we will miss both the Hout Bay and Cape Town players. Until next time.

-Hannah