Henry in Guyana

It's been a busy few days again, I have just returned from playing the piano at a rehearsal for the St. Stanislaus College choir, made up of 11-13 year olds mainly. I am not really an experienced accompanist so it will take a little work, but tomorrow we are rehearsing in the Cathedral which should be fun. I have yet to come across any pianos in really good condition, most are fairly tired uprights that don't quite hold their tuning and it goes down from there. Both the Catholic and Anglican Cathedrals have magnificent-looking organs, but I haven't heard either of them; I hope they are in good condition but I think organs cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to refurbish so they may also be a little tired.

On Friday I attended sports day which was quite a jolly affair. It is run by the school governors and as a result was quite a slick operation. There was a varying level of support from the teachers, but there was a good number who really threw themselves into it which was appreciated by the students.

The atmosphere was very strong - much more than the sports days I have attended. It was held at the former national cricket ground, where in its prime a number of cricket stars played. The event began with a very impressive march past, where each of the four houses had a team of dressed-up marchers who had to march in time and parade in front of some judges (complete with drummers who may have been from the army). Have a look at this video which captures a bit of the atmosphere. I'd actually seen some rehearsing at school but not really understood why a small girl was bossing a load of others around in the assembly forum.

Once this was over the main competition began which contained all the usual events. There were some hotly contested teachers races too (which got the crowd roaring), as well as some more fun ones including tug-of-war, sack races and my favourite - late for school. This race involved perhaps some of the less athletic students starting in just their shorts and a vest. At the starting pistol they had to get dressed from a pile of clothes with shirts, ties, shoelaces etc all sorted and make it to the finish line.

All in all it was really a good day out and most importantly the students seemed to enjoy themselves and have a great competitive spirit. Hopefully in the future it can be as successful as an entirely staff-run event.