When we arrived in Southport my first thought was to find the Church that I was going to perform in that afternoon and make sure there was somewhere to park 🙂
The weather was a typical example of a blustery day at a British seaside town in the middle of Winter. You have to take your chances with the weather in order to take a look around and as the weather broke and the rain stopped we decide to explore 🙂
Southport has a lovely wide main road running through it’s centre called Lord Street. It has large paved areas, gardens and squares running adjacent to the road. I am sure this must be a truly lovely place to visit in the Spring or the Summer.
Across from the Church and to our left we could see the Town Gardens, a beautifully paved square with a cafe at either end. I could imagine it looking completely different in the Summer with the sun beating down and the place bustling with people.
We walked quickly along as the wind started to pick up, I wanted to try and have a look inside one of the cafes and maybe get a drink.
But we were out of luck as there was no sign of life inside. We crossed the square and grabbed a couple of pictures of the Town Hall and the beautiful Arts Centre.
But as the weather worsened we had to turn back along the street towards the Church. We spotted a very curious looking arcade in between the Arts Centre and Town Hall but we could not go in as the wind was really picking up so we thought it best to make a dash for the Church.
Once back in the Church we quickly warmed up helped by the hot drinks, Gill who was with me tucked in to a mouth watering “cheese toastie” but as I was due to sing I had to wait 🙁
They did however prepare a lovely light lunch for afterwards 🙂
I will post more about the recital and the one in Bury tomorrow ( 14th February ) when I have time to look over the video 🙂
What lovely buildings. and a lovely lady in front. Ooh wait that was you.
Hope you enjoyed your singing.
Guess people do worry about the floods right now.
Keep smiling.
😉 thank you. I really enjoyed my singing, I can’t wait to see the videos my friend Gill took, she said her arm was aching.
Yesterday the storms caused as many problems as the rain, trees falling down on roads and closing them. Gill took 45 minutes to get to the train station to pick me up and two and a half hours to get back herself! Yikes.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Gorgeous pictures! Sounds like a lovely afternoon–despite the weather.
It was a lovely afternoon thanks Alisa. There were over 100 people in the church so despite the poor weather we had a good turnout.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Hope everything turned out well and people enjoyed the concert. Southport looks a very historic town with some grand stately buildings. Keep warm and all the very best. Iris 🙂
Hi Iris 😉
We got a great turnout and a lovely receptive audience, Gill had people ask her if she had any of my DVDs for sale, she’s always got a handful of my cards on her 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
What a good thing that you were able to make it back safe and sound. I thought about you when I heard of all the disruption that was taking place due to the wind and rain.
I was so lucky I went to the station an hour early, all the trains were cancelled after the one I got on! I had a busy day today so I didn’t want to miss it.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Yes, Southport’s a lovely place to visit on a sunny day, though don’t expect to do any paddling if you get to the beach, as the sea’s usually miles out. You missed out on the Marina too, if you didn’t get past Lord Street, but then on a day like yesterday, you wouldn’t have wanted to go that far out.
Looking forward to tomorrow in Bury (which is nothing like as scenic).
Martin
Hi Martin, I’ve sung there before last year it will be great going back to Bury it had wonderful acoustics. Hope you make it tomorrow.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Thanks for coming along to Bury Martin it was lovely meeting you 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
Love your look, the black lace and the suede? Mary Janes! You are stunning as always 🙂
Thanks Evelenmargaret, that’s a lovely compliment from a style queen such as you 😉
Mary Janes are so comfy for standing in a long time these were from Clarkes foot glove I think.
All the best
Charlotte
All the best to you !
Well done Gill , The photos were top knotch, really good. Charlotte I hope the singing went well,and you have recovered from your very long day. good luck for Friday I hope that goes well too.xx
The photos were good Gill took them on Mums camera and at first was taking 20 photos a minute on a special setting which was really funny.
It wasn’t too bad I slept on the train on the way back and went to bed about 10.
All the best
Charlotte
I love Southport, it really is lovely when the sun shines. You get a nice coffee and cake in the arcade too. Been to the church too, small world!
The church is really big and modern behind the historic frontage, I’d have loved a bit more time to browse around. It is a small world 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
Looking lovely as ever. 🙂 Also, good call on waiting until afterwards to eat that cheese toastie (or grilled cheese as we Americans like to call it); I’ve learned the hard way that sandwiches are just about the worst things to eat right before singing.
Hi Stephanie, I never eat for two to three hours before singing but I drink lots of water and eat bananas soon afterwards and I’m always hungry shortly after I’ve finished.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Thank you so much for sharing another wonderful post and such beautiful pictures. I felt as though I was strolling the streets with you!
I see so many beautiful photographs from around the world on blogs it’s nice to explore new places in the UK with you 😉
There was a postman who made rabbit ears with his fingers behind my head on the town hall photo I wish Gill had taken the photo now but she was busy chuckling.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Lovely spot, even in gloomy weather!
I do hope people were blown away by the performance and not the gales!
I had lots of lovely compliments so I hope so too. Elizabeth was fabulous too, Gill said it was wonderful and she tells me if she doesn’t like something I sing! Lol
Best wishes
Charlotte
A beautiful place and a beautiful afternoon! Dianne
Hi Diane I got there nice and early in case of delays on the line, had a rehearsal and changed there.
I originally thought this week was Bridge Week and I’d be at home. I had to travel back because today I had a vocal lesson, German for two hours, vocal tech, then German lieder so I would have hated to miss all that.
Some really beautiful pictures.We are having the same weather here so atleast I’m not missing out on the weather.You look really elegant in the last picture. Best of luck for your performance. 🙂 😀
Thanks Gaurab, they are lovely to visit but it is the audiences that make the difference. I just love performing and it gives me targets to achieve when I’m learning new repertoire like the French song, I don’t have much French repertoire so it’s great to sing this with flute and piano.
Best wishes
Charlotte
I actually have very limited knowledge about your genre but I enjoy the music, I like the lyrics which you wrote for few of the songs. Stay blessed 🙂
My family didn’t listen to classical music when I was growing up, they were more interested in Queen, Soft Cell, Tears for Fears, Erasure, Prince and Madonna 😉 lol so meeting my first vocal coach Jayne Wilson at High School was fantastic for me, she introduced me to music that makes my heart soar. When I’ve learnt a new complicated piece it’s so satisfying. Sometimes it takes a few listens for my parents to like certain songs but they’ve developed quite a good knowledge now. I love introducing new songs to you too 😉
All the best
Charlotte
Yes, slowly and steadily I will start understanding them as well. 😉 I think since I like them it shouldn’t be much hard task now 😉 😀
😉
That looks like a lovely place. When I finally get around to doing my road trip around Great Britain I’ll definitely visit Southport. 🙂
Hi Cecilia, lovely to see you again 🙂 I’m guessing you’ve been really busy but I saw you had a couple of new posts so I’ll pop along to have a read.
All the best
Charlotte
Yes, I’ve been crazy busy lately… and it’s not over yet. But I’ll try to post at least once a week from now on. 🙂
All the best,
Cecilia
Merci ! Very good story Charlotte. I love that you imagine the site was with another lights, people and noise. Best thoughts for 14.
All the best for you
Hi Pascal, glad you enjoyed my day trip to Southport. Yes I always try to look on the bright side 😉 however, it was very tranquil and peaceful and everywhere looks so clean when it rains hard.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Hey nice blog. Some great buildings in Southport. At least you managed have a little bit of a walk around 🙂
Thanks Kevin I started it in March last year, I’ve met so many lovely bloggers and love to share my training as I get so much support and encouragement.
Best wishes
Charlotte
I thoroughly enjoyed this blog posting Charlotte. You see, I used to live and work in Southport, so I recognised many of the buildings in your pictures. As you say, Southport is totally different in Summer, full of life, but it is (or was) desolate and depressing in winter.
For me, the desolation of winter was the hardest thing about living in Southport, but I would love to go back there again. Perhaps a short holiday later this year, now that you have inspired me to think about Southport again….
That’s really cool, I hope you manage to get back, my Dad took us to the beach where he grew up once in North Wales and we all had a lovely day.
Best wishes
Charlotte
I enjoyed the small tour of the place 🙂
I’m glad it’s nice seeing new places on your blog so I’m glad to offer a taste of the UK
Best wishes
Charlotte
Love those pics! That place really looked deserted. And of course I have to say how much I love your shoes in that last pic 🙂
I was really surprised how many people turned up when the town was so quiet when we arrived. I love these shoes too, I wore one pair out and got another pair exactly the same 😉
By the way have you seen any nice long vibrant red wigs recently?
Best wishes
Charlotte
My favorite place for vibrant colored wigs is here:
http://www.dolluxe.com/
Lots of fabulous stuff! Not sure about shipping outside the US though.
Thank you 😉
Beautiful pictures of such a peacefully quiet place. Hope all went well for you. You look lovely!
Thanks Janice, I had two lovely recitals, my Mums sent me to bed to rest after tea so I’ll be signing off soon or she’ll confiscate my iPad.
Best wishes
Charlotte
I was happy to see these places through your photos. I’ve never been on that side of the Atlantic Ocean before. (and nice dress shoes)
Glad to take you on a mini virtual tour Eric 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
Hope you took time out from your busy schedule to enjoy Valentine’s Day.
Keep on posting!
My parents were pampering me on Valentines 😉
Thanks for the tour of a new town for me. What a wise girl to check the venue and parking in plenty of time!
This is a practise my parents taught me, they work in transport logistics so google map searching and checking addresses and parking bays is something I’ve done at work since I was a teenager. I’m very lucky they have routing software and I know how to use it, although when I called my Dad lost once and he asked where I was I told him “near a field with cows” he nearly gave up on me, he found me on my apple phone tracker and told me the way home because my phone sat nav wasn’t picking up signal.
All the best Hilary,
Charlotte 😉
A beautiful town surrounding a beautiful woman!
Thank you very much 😉
All the best
Charlotte 😉
Your writing is fun to read as you’re very descriptive, which helps me visualize being there. The photos are nice too.