Sandra asked for more info on the tour, I tried this a couple of days ago but lost it in transmission, so starting again.

The gigs were:
22 May National School of Government in Sunningdale Berkshire
23 May Met Office in Exeter Devon
25 May Opening concert Bude-Stratton Folk Festival in Cornwall
27 May Good Intent pub in Rochester Kent
29 May Surrey County Council in Kingston SW of London
30 May Department for Transport in Westminster

There were also a couple of brief unscheduled performances by some of us on request, including at the YHA in Tintagel Cornwall, and at Herga Folk Club in Pinner NW of London.

The six venues were concentrated into an eight day period, also involving a lot of travel. As we had no other gigs arranged for after 30 May, we ended then with 'mission accomplished'. Some have returned, I leave on 16th, two at the end of June.

The tour party was Pat and Arminel Ryan, David Meyers, Kerry Kennedy and myself Chris Clarke, out of a full Shiny Bum group of fifteen.

WE had selected 25 songs for the tour, and modified some of them for UK and the smaller tour group.

The venues varied greatly, which was fun for us, from public service conference facilities and open interior spaces, to a grand historic hall, and historic and more recent pub bars.

Sets varied from separate five song brackets to an hour broken up with some discussion and in one case a choir joining us. The events varied also from formalish concerts to more public or workshoppy presentations, and a wild pub session.

We seemed to be very well received everywhere, with feedback that the show was seen as funny and different. No-one knew quite what to expect (Oz stereotypes persist), so those who put us on were gambling, and some had to work very hard to get our gigs to happen, so thanks to them are due, and to others who supported the concept, including Mudcatters Herga Kitty, Growler, Melodeonboy, Richard Bridge, Hawker, Sandra in Sydney, George Papavgeris, Cloudstreet and others who responded with good advice or local support, and to our friends in high places in the Oz public service for letters of support.

I would like to mention the Met Office Choir in Exeter, who were sent four of our songs set with choral arrangements a few weeks before our gig there, and sang four of them in our concerts there very well, including their refinement of the difficult Evacuation Serenade song, which was encored. To hear UK 'shiny bums' singing our songs was special.

On the practical side for any other first time touring groups, it is obviously most helpful to have the whole itinerary known well in advance of arrival - some gigs were confirmed or set up just before or after our arrival, which led to a lot of arrangements being made on the run.

Accommodation with rehearsal space was also crucial especially in the first days. While we had originally wanted more gigs, six including doubles in eight days with travel proved stretchy - we had eight different accommodation arrangements over the 12 days we were together.

The work we did before and after arrival on the material and then individual gigs was also crucial, as convenient preparation opportunity on the road was often at the mercy of circumstance.

Communications and access to IT support were also an issue. Internet access for organising accommodation, route navigation and gig communications as well as individual needs, and in our case IT access for processing our visual presentations and recordings, required a constant chase after facilities, as internet cafes were unexpectedly rare. Take a laptop.

Those are just a few immediately obvious things to me at this stage, to pass on.

Thanks to everyone who helped to overcome all obstacles and make it a success. We are well aware it was really a tour by a few Shiny Bums plus many others at both ends. It was lovely to meet so many Mudcatters on the tour. I should mention the Mudcat Cafe itself through which so much of the tour was organised. And thanks to our audiences who were so generous in their appreciation and encouragement.

Chris