Players' Blog : South Africa 2015
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Performances
Friday 3rd July, 7.00pm
Transnet Great Hall, Grahamstown
Saturday 4th July, 12noon
Transnet Great Hall, Grahamstown
Sunday 5th July, 3.30pm
Eden Church, George
Wednesday 8th July 6.00pm
Ambleside School, Hout Bay
Thursday 9th July, 7.00pm
Rhodes High School, Cape Town
Saturday 11th July, 7.30pm
Linder Auditorium (Wits University), Johannesburg
Sunday 12th July, 9.00am
Regina Mundi Cathedral (during Mass), Soweto
Reflecting back on Tour
We may have only been back for a week but I am already thinking back to tour and to the amazing things we did. We will be thinking back to this and all the other tours we go on throughout our lives as they are significant memories to us. It is when we get to see the wonders of the world and meet people who could be our friends for forever. It opens us up to new experiences and adventures that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to come by. When we think back we will have fond memories of giving concerts to sold out audiences, playing with musicians from other amazing orchestras, spending time with our friends – old and new – and visiting, learning and seeing the sites of South Africa. When I think back to American 2011 and Europe 2013 these are the types of things I remember with a smile on my face. But each tour is different, memorable and incredible so its own reason, with their own unique stories and memories but in the end they all come down to one thing – the AFO family we create while on tour. ... read more
What’s Next for the Blog?
I have had such a good time sharing my experiences with you all during the tour and I don’t want it to end. So I thought, why should it? We have so many friends across the globe who – I assume – would like to keep updated on our activities throughout the year and to hear all about the developments for our next tour. Therefore, to keep you informed I am going to continue to blog posts. I hope you all keep reading and enjoying. Thanks for all your support so far. –... read more
A Huge Thank You
Now that tour 2015 is over we have time to reflect and one thing I keep thinking about is how many amazing people it takes to put something as elaborate as a 17 day concert tour together. I would like to take the time to thank as many people as I can for making South Africa 2015 such a great experience. It has been over two years in the making and the biggest forces diving the planning and preparations have been all of the orchestra’s Directors. Our Tour Manager Euan Terras has sent email after email chasing up leads and making sure everything has been in place ready for our arrival, and he did a superb job. As have Kathleen Terras, Wallace Galbraith and David Moore. The tour isn’t possible without adult supervision to keep an eye on us and we had so many great Tour Parents with us on tour this year. Each Tour Parent brought something different to the trip and helped to make it a wonderful tour. What makes a tour are the people around you and there were so many fantastic personalities in the orchestra and we all got along so well. It was great to get to know and talk to so many people that we haven’t spoken to before. We really do become one large family during tour. A large part about tour is travel and this wouldn’t have been possible without the many bus drivers we had from both ProTours and Dodds. Every driver we had was friendly, helpful and professional. Stewart Travel did so much work for us before we left... read more
Post Tour Depression
Post tour depression is real folks and it hits even the best of us. We come home from tour and being so used to being around people 24/7 to being by ourselves in our rooms uploading tour photos to Facebook. We may be happy to sleep in our own beds, have uninterrupted WiFi and our Mum’s home cooking but we still miss living out of a suitcase. But its won’t last long as we will have a reunion in just over a week for the League of Astonishing Strings concert in Ayr Town Hall. The sun set over Arran may be beautiful but can it compare to the sun rise over the hills in Kariega. –... read more
Day 17: We’re Coming Home
We landed in London Heathrow early in the morning with some very tired looking faces. We didn’t have a lot of time between flights and we still had to get through border control and security all over again. By now we were experts and were able to get through reasonably quickly and made it to the gate on time. Our second flight was spent signing various tour folders with personalized messages and writing our names on tea towels. The bus home from Edinburgh airport was much the same, we stopped at a service station to switch the folders to the other buses and buy lunch. But this time with Pounds instead of Rands, that was weird. The bus journey felt short, but that may have been because I barely looked up from tour folders. But before we knew it we saw the smiling and waving from our loved one, all excited to see us. We were home! –... read more
Day 16: Shopping and Planes
We were all packed and ready to go, but that didn’t mean we wanted to leave. It was our last day and it was going to be spent shopping in a local mall and craft fair before heading to the airport of our over night flight. The craft fair was great with loads of stalls filled with perfect souvenirs and gifts for friends and family. And all for the right price, if you know how to haggle. I think I saw almost all of AFO there and we definitely confused some of the stall vendors a bit walking around with our matching polo shirts on. They might have thought the same people just kept walking by all the time, not know just how many of us there were. We then hunted for lunch, no Zebra today unfortunately, just a Subway for me. We then went for a walk around the mall and my small group found a few members in a sport shop buying some rugby jerseys. Myself, Scott, Ronan and Kirsten then went to the arcade to see what we could find. We ended up spending the rest of our time playing mini golf. But not just any mini golf. It was lit up by neon painted statues and if you were afraid of clowns this was not the game for you, but we all had a great time. Then it was back to the buses for one last time in South Africa.We checked into the airport, in possibly the quickest time we have ever done and had some free time to shop around. Some people even stopped for... read more
Day 15: Tour Awards
After a few showers to get rid of the Elephant smell and some free time we all got dressed and ready for Tour Awards. As one of the senior members of the orchestra it was part of my duty to help organise the tour awards, which I can happily say went off without a hitch. The events coordinator at the Hotel Lee-Ann was amazing and got everything we asked for together in no time and the hall looked beautiful. After blowing up some balloons and laying out our certificates and sashes the place was ready. As people started to arrive they were greeted with cheese and crackers on the balcony and a photo station with our banners maned by the wonderful Douglas Clark and his camera to take group photos of everyone from our tour families to section and friend groups. The meal provided by the venue was amazing, a scrumptious starter with a buffet style main and a chocolate mousse desert. After desert the venue staff took to the floor to show off their moves before inviting us to join in. We all thoroughly enjoyed learning an African style dance. After we had all settled down the awards portion of the evening began. Our hilarious host Douglas Veitch kicked off the evening with an introduction that practically had us rolling on the floor with laughter, as did most of his jokes throughout the night. Some of which were his own rendition of Mr G’s jokes that we have all heard a thousand times before. But somehow this time they were actually funny. Our senior players then took it... read more
Day 15: Elephant Sanctuary
For our last full day before we head home we spent the morning with some Elephants. It was a 40-minute drive to the Elephant Sanctuary and as we stepped off the bus we could already hear and smell the elephants. After a short introduction form the guides and handlers – during which we were provided with a drink, crisps and a muffin each – we walked through a small enclosure of monkeys to reach the elephants. We were split into two groups; one had some people that wanted to ride an elephant (for an additional charge) and some extra people to even out the numbers. My group first went to get up close and personal and touch the elephants. The guides and handlers were very organised, friendly and professional in dealing with such a large number of people and they were constantly concerned with the animal’s safety and well being. We went in pairs and the handlers would explain different parts of the elephant as you touched them. It was interesting to hear and feel the different skin types on the elephant. We then posed for a picture while holding the tusks. Some lucky people even got an elephant kiss. After everyone had a turn we walked the short distance to another elephant that was pretty hungry. After a demonstration we all had a few turns of feeding the elephant. To finish off the visit the guides gave a short presentation on the anatomy of elephant, we were all thoroughly impressed with all our new knowledge of elephants. We then walked back through the... read more
Day 14: Carnivore Restaurant
Dinner after the theme park was a new experience for all. We were in a carnivore restaurant surrounded by pictures of animals and sitting on seats patterned in zebra print. The serving staff would bring round huge – what I could only describe as swords – with different varieties of meat on them. I tried them all. We had Pork, Beef, Impala, Zebra, Crocodile, Antelope and Veal. My favourite was Zebra with crocodile coming in last. During the meal the kitchen and serving staff gave a small performance of music and dancing, it was very entertaining and made the meal even more enjoyable. It was a great experience unlike anything I have had before and I much as I loved seeing animals out in Kariega Game Reserve, I hope to eat some more Zebra again some day. ... read more