Not about work at all
on Freetown Blog (Sierra Leone), 10/Apr/2010 15:58, 34 days ago
A couple of weeks ago I had an email from someone who had got my contact through this blog and asked whether I could find out anything about the organ in Freetown Cathedral (not as odd as it might sound, as I did do a post on the Cathedral last November). Apparently, the organ began life in Siloh Presbyterian Chapel, Aberystwyth and was transferred out here in the 1990's when the Chapel closed. A couple of days ago I was in town so I called at the Cathedral  and met the Canon, who confirmed the story. It is a very impressive 3 manual organ and was apparently built to specifications of a well known musician, Charles Clements, friend of Vaughan Williams and Bela Bartok. As you can see from the picture below, it looks very well in it's new home. The Cathedral staff unlocked the manuals and invited me to play it - a couple of chords were enough to confirm that it makes big noise (but unfortunately, under my hands, not very tuneful one).My second non-work related experience took place earlier today, when I climbed the Sugar Loaf Mountain near Freetown. It is only 2,500' high, but with the climate here, and dense vegetation, it was challenging enough undertaking for me. I had a headstart of a good 20 years on most of the others there (including some guys from the International Military  Advisory and Training Team), but managed to keep up just about. Afterwards we went back to the IMATT base for a full English breakfast and  swim in their pool. All in all, not my typical Sierra Leone day!