Tuesday, December 16, 2025
Saturday, December 13, 2025
The Club's Christmas Party
A great way to finish a wonderful year of music organized by the Club. Our Christmas Party was held at Fairview Lifestyle Village, Fairview Heights, Albany, Auckland. We had a good turnout of members and residents to enjoy the musical entertainment pre-dinner. Photos below show some of our members who played the grand piano or their own keyboards. The Village catering staff put on a very nice roast dinner and pudding. A big thank you to Warren Levick and Patrick McMillan for manning the Entry Desk and organizing the raffles prizes and collection of monies for the dinner. It was appreciated that Fairview residents voluntarily manned the bar for happy hour pre-dinner.
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| Warren Levick manning the Entry Desk |
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| Some of our members enjoying the music and chatter |
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| Patrick McMillan entertaining our members and residents on the grand piano |
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| Mary Barrett playing her Korg Pa1000 arranger keyboard |
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| Diane Lyons playing her Korg Pa700 arranger keyboard |
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| Graeme Webber entertaining our members and residents on the grand piano |
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| Len Hancy gave us a sing-along |
Tuesday, December 2, 2025
Club Night 2nd December 2025
A great Night's entertainment at our new Club Rooms at the Chelsea Room, Knightsbridge Village, Windsor Park, North Shore, Auckland, NZ. The meeting had a Christmas atmosphere with seasonal decorations and a wonderful supper provided by our Catering Manager, Jan Ellin. We had a good turn-out of members and potential new members. To start the evening, we played a video for the arrival's music from our Club Night in December 2020 whence we had the world class pianist, Carl Doy, play for us in concert - magnificent!
In the first set, John Mercer gave us three classical pieces on the Clavinova. This was John's debut at Club Night and gave us a nice variation of style from our usual light entertainment music. Well done, John! Next up, Warren Levick played four pieces including three modern Christmas songs from the likes of Wam and Elton John/Ed Sheeran very nice Warren and making good use of the sounds and rhythms on our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809 ensemble piano. To finish the first set, Patrick McMillan gave us a mini concert including a great Christmas song medley and then some popular period pieces.
We had six prizes for our Raffle to celebrate the festive season and followed by a splendid supper. For the second set, Yvonne Moller played her Korg Pa3X arranger keyboard with some great jazz standards. To finish the second set, Denise Gunson gave us a mini concert for about 30 minutes with some great songs of various styles. Thanks for your wonderful music, Denise.
The Photos:
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| The Entry Desk with Patrick McMillan manning the table |
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| The set up prior to attendees' arrival |
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| John Mercer on debut on our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809 |
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| Warren Levick playing our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809 |
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| Patrick McMillan gave us a mini concert on our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809 |
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| A wonderful supper enjoyed by all in the break |
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| Yvonne Moller playing her Korg Pa3X arranger keyboard |
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| Denise Gunson gave us a mini concert on our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809 |
Tuesday, November 18, 2025
Coffee Day at Greenwich Gardens Village
A very pleasant and relaxing day at this lovely Village. They have a lovely Boston grand piano (made by the Steinway Company) for our playing members to enjoy. We had three members bring along their keyboards to add variety to the style of music offered to the resident and our attending members.
The Photos:
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| John Mercer playing the Boston grand piano |
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| Linus Treefoot playing his Korg Havian 30 ensemble piano |
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| Mary Barrett playing her Korg Pa1000 arranger keyboard |
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| Sophie Okada playing the Boston grand piano on her debut - well done and well played! |
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| Warren Levick playing the Boston grand piano |
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| Gordon Sutherland playing his Korg Pa5X arranger keyboard |
Wednesday, November 5, 2025
Club Night 4th November 2025
What a great night of entertainment to start off our new Club Rooms venue at the Chelsea Room, Knightsbridge Retirement Village, Windsor Park. We had a full house to enjoy the entertainment which started with Patrick McMillan providing the arrival music. Next up, our guest artists, Conundrum, gave us a great concert with their amazing eclectic mix of genres of music. Energetic, dynamic, and enthusiastic professionalism would be the way to describe their performance. After a great supper provided by our wonderful Catering Manager, Jan Ellin, we held our raffle and then we were entertained by Warren Levick, who played some brief pieces but showed how he constructed the layered sounds for each song. Very interesting and informative and showing the versatility of our wonderful Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809.
Next up, Gordon Sutherland played four pieces on his Korg Pa5X with added vocals for spice! To finish the evening, Patrick McMillan gave us a mini concert on the Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809 ensemble piano.
The Videos:
Cathy Busbridge on fiddle;
Jeff Hobbs on acoustic guitar, harmonica and vocals;
Peter Thomas on mandolin and banjo;
and Julia Withers on percussion and keys;
Gordon Sutherland playing his
Korg Pa5X arranger keyboard
The Photos:
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| Members and visitors getting ready for the evening's entertainment |
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| Our Door staff handling the entry fees and raffle tickets. Ken Mahy on the left, Murray McLachlan on the right with Warren Levick having a chat |
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| Warren Levick playing and demonstrating some of the features of our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809 |
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| Patrick McMillan provided the arrival music and gave a closing evening's performance |
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| Gordon Sutherland played his Korg Pa5X arranger keyboard |
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| Our guest artists, Conundrum. L:R Linda Hobbs, Cathy Busbridge, Jeff Hobbs, Peter Thomas, and Julia Withers on drums. |
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| Our guest artists, Conundrum. L:R Linda Hobbs, Cathy Busbridge, Jeff Hobbs, Julia Withers on drums, and Peter Thomas. |
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| Our guest artists, Conundrum |
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
Club Night 7th October 2025
What a wonderful night of music! The Club is blessed with some wonderful musicians, and they demonstrated their talent by playing some delightful music for us this evening. To start the evening, instead of the usual arrival music, we had a video of one of our previous guest artists, Dean Tremlett (bass) and Darin Smith (piano) who gave a concert for us back in September 2023. Great to watch their concert again.
In the main body of the evening, we were entertained by Mary Elvin who played a mix of classical and popular music - very well-done Mary. Next up we had Hana and mum, Yuko Tani, playing for 30 minutes with a mixture of solo pieces and duets. Wonderful music and Hana surely showed her World class talent. They played a mixture of classical (Beethoven) through popular music such as Bohemian Rhapsody and all most enjoyable.
After a delicious supper kindly supplied by our Catering Manager, Jan Ellin, we were entertained by our guest artist for the evening. Patrick McMillan. Patrick made good use of our Yamana Clavinova CVP-809 ensemble piano with some rhythms used as background to some pieces. A highlight was a classical organ piece by Beethoven - very powerful and superbly executed. Thanks for a great concert, Patrick.
This was our last event at the Takapuna Bowling Club that we have had rooms at for over 17 years. The Bowling Club has been very good to us over the years but with some of our members advancing in years, climbing the stairs was becoming problematic. Our new home from November 2025 onwards will be Knightsbridge Village, Windsor Park. They have allocated The Chelsea Room for our Club Rooms, and we are much looking forward to our new musical adventures there.
The Videos:
playing our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809
on our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809
Mary Elvin playing for the Club
on our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809
The Photos:
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| Hana Tani playing our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809 |
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| Hana and Yuko Tani duetting on our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809 |
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| Oue guest artist, Patrick McMillan, playing our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809 |
Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Coffee Day at William Sanders Village
This was the Club's first visit to this beautiful Village. An excellent turnout of our members and enthusiastic residents enjoyed a great day of music on their superb Yamaha grand piano. Our President, Gordon Sutherland, also brought along his Korg Pa5X Arranger Keyboard to add an orchestral dimension to the entertainment. The Management made us most welcome, and we had full use of their PA system in the expansive lounge area. All in all, a very successful day sharing our music/musicians with the residents.
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| Claude Moffat playing the Yamaha grand piano |
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| Patrick McMillan playing the Yamaha grand piano |
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| John Mercer on debut playing the Yamaha grand piano. Well done, John! |
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| Murray McLachlan on debut playing the Yamaha grand piano. Well done also, Murray! |
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| Gordon Sutherland playing his Korg Pa5X arranger keyboard, with orchestrations and vocals to boot! |
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| Mary Barrett playing the Yamaha grand piano |
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| Graeme Webber playing the Yamaha grand piano |
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| Denise Gunson playing the Yamaha grand piano |
Tuesday, September 2, 2025
Club Night for September 2025
What a great night of musical entertainment. We had visitors from all around Auckland that came especially to listen to our guest artist, Taka Iida, play his Yamaha Electone Stagea Portable two-manual keyboard and pedalboard. What a great performance Taka gave us on his magnificent keyboard - a mixture of very melodic Japanese orchestral ballads and jazz standards. Arrival music was kindly provided by Patrick McMillan on our Clavinova - thank you so much for your beautiful arrangements.
In the second set, after a refreshing coffee break, we were entertained firstly by member and music teacher Wu Liu and two of his students with both solo songs and duets. Wonderful music and very talented youngsters playing our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809. Next, Linus Treefoot brought along his Korg Havian 30 ensemble piano and entertained us with four songs and vocals - some original compositions and all very musical and fun to listen to! Finally, Warren Levick played the Clavinova using both the styles and in one case splitting the keyboard to play chords on the lower manual and melody on the right-hand manual - keyboard style. Great choice of songs and executed very nicely indeed. Well done, Warren.
The Videos:
Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809 ensemble piano
L to R: Jayden Zhang, Gordon Sutherland, Wu Liu, Orianna Jing
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| L to R: Jayden Zhang, Gordon Sutherland, Wu Liu, Orianna Jing. Jayden and Orianna played a sole piece and a duet with Wu for us. Delightful. |
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| Linus Treefoot on keys and Len Hancy vocals |
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| Linus Treefoot playing his Korg Havian 30 with added vocals |
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| Arrivals Music provided by Patrick McMillan on our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809 |
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| Member and music teacher, Wu Liu playing our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809 |
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| Wu Liu duetting with his student |
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| Wu Liu duetting with his student |
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| One of Wu Liu's students playing solo on our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809 |
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| One of Wu Liu's students playing solo on our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809 |
Warren Levick playing the Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809  |
| Our guest artist, Taka Iida, playing his Yamaha Electone Stagea two-manual portable keyboard and pedalboard |
![Our June 2024 Guest Artist, 'Pablo' [Paul Brown]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhoc5rGmT3pLORfp28x1NBmfsHYBuV8anSL0oeT43eE--eBg4Et3HfRX9iLmV9i5_ZEfrm_8GyPAuL0Hj8Ink8q0cKOuxkRX0DCDk-m7nO889Mw0cTSQMse473vqc6hj3foqtRjjXLCG5MBsCDPViWQfJ-I-s44DZolTRcipb-Bvo96MEQ7P-RSYYJV2Sg=s383)
