Coffee Day 18th June 2012

This had to be one of the best Coffee Days ever even if the weather was the worst ever outside! 26 members made the trek to Algies Bay near Warkworth to be entertained most royally by our hosts Jan and Kevin Johnston at their lovely holiday home. There were lots of instruments to play and some wonderful, convivial discourse. The  luncheon was absolutely scrumptious and Kevin had been out fishing the day before to catch fresh snapper for us to enjoy both crumbed and smoked (Kevin has his own smoker!). It was great to have Gavin and Phyllis Prentice (Break Thru) join us for the day and adding a touch of pizzazz to the proceedings. We were able to plug our instruments into their terrific PA/mixer setup.

Once again, a big thank you to Kevin and Jan Johnston for making us all so welcome at their lovely seaside home.

 

      

  

 

   

 

 

A Sunday Afternoon Musical Spectacular at The PumpHouse Theatre 17th June 2012

What a great Concert! The North Shore Organ and Keyboard Club were proud to promote a concert at The PumpHouse Theatre, Takapuna, on a lovely crisp winter's Sunday afternoon. The first half of the Programme had our Club members entertaining the good-sized audience with a mixture of solo performances and full band. A lot of effort had gone into the Concert with the members donating their time freely and involving at least four practise sessions to aim for a thoroughly professional performance. Judging from the audience applause they achieved their mission!

In the second half of the Programme, our star guest artists from the South Island, Break Thru, entertained us with their superb and highly polished performance that got the feet tapping and hands clapping in the audience. They play a range of genres but with the main focus on Country Rock. Our member, Brian Gunson, was invited to play with the band with his  superb and brand new G & L electric guitar. A great performance - thanks Phyllis & Gavin Prentice (Break Thru) and Brian Gunson in support.

We hope to promote more concerts at The PumpHouse Theatre and in fact the next one is already scheduled for Sunday, 18th November 2012 when we are thrilled to present the Internationally acclaimed fiddle player from NZ, Marion Burns. Keep an eye on the PumpHouse web site (

http://www.pumphouse.co.nz/ ) to secure your booking nice and early as this is expected to be a sell-out concert! We will keep you informed on our web site also: http://nsaokc.blogspot.com/ .

A big thank you to our playing members and to the Committee members working in support in the foyer. A special thanks goes to Len Hancy for acting as our MC and Producer of the Concert – always a difficult task requiring meticulous planning and execution for the show to go off without (too many!) a hitch. Also, The PumpHouse Theatre staff did a great job as well assisting with the promotion and sound/lighting/video production.

And now for some of the photos from the Concert: