Introduction by Maureen Lehane Wishart

It is difficult to contemplate the cold winter weather whilst this wonderful summer is still with us. Nevertheless, we have been bending our minds to the problem of winter travel. As a result, we are going to experiment with a new timetable. So for this winter season, some weekends will start with lunch on Friday and finish with optional lunch on Sunday; (any participants concerts will take place between 12-1 on the Sunday morning). The timings are listed under each entry. By this means, we are hoping to help you avoid traveling in the dark. Please remember, this is an experiment and we will all have to see if it works. As to the weekends, I hope you will agree we have an outstanding list of very imaginative workshops. To start with the listeners' courses ...how lucky we are with our three lecturers. First with David Owen Norris on Saturday 24 October (I always describe David as quicksilver in human form). He will be giving one of his inimitable talks, this time on Mendelssohn and he will follow this with an hour's piano recital. After his very successful day on Beethoven, Stephen Elliot will concentrate on another giant - an English one this time - Vaughan Williams, on 21 February. I think this will be quite an eye opener for a lot of people. This will be followed by an hour recital of 20th century piano music on the Jackdaws Steinway grand by Mark Tanner. The last of the listeners' courses is a full weekend course with David Price (12 - 14 March) who will guide us through a weekend of Bach's Cantatas. What a joy, I can't wait. A new face to Jackdaws will be Christopher Roberts (February 5 - 7) who will give a course on sight reading. I suspect that any course which helps with sight reading will be very popular so book early! So there we are; why not sample a weekend - or two - and see for yourselves what a satisfying and exhilarating experience a Jackdaws course is. All helped by delectable meals, provided by Rosemarie, Lucinda and Alex. Maureen Lehane Wishart