The following was received from one of the attendees of the Kilve Weekend of October 2009.

Dear Angela and the "West Country Concertina Players",

As you know, learning to play a concertina from scratch can be very confusing for many beginners, especially if you don't play by ear, or you can't really understand what the dots on the page mean. So attending the above study weekend offering suitable lessons for beginners was an unexpected opportunity which I hoped would improve my knowledge and skills of the instrument.

My impressions and assessment of weekend Music for Beginners is as follows:

• A good explanation of the music programme for beginners was given by the tutor, along with the aims and objectives for the weekend.
• Each session turned out to be extremely interesting and give a clear understanding of the interaction between music and the concertina.
• Participants were given an opportunity to experience playing music with other beginners of varying abilities.
• By encouraging the group to work as a team throughout the weekend, participants found the session's great fun and enjoyed working out the various given projects.
• Outcomes from all sessions, (even the performance of Vincent's Waltz) turned out to be very positive. As a direct result, my knowledge, skill and playing ability have improved by leaps and bounds.
• The evening bar events turned out to be a pleasure and professionally very impressive.

So from a beginner's point of view, "Kilve Concertina Weekend" certainly exceeded my expectations and I was impressed how friendly and approachable everybody was. The high standard of teaching was inspiring and helped clarify much of the music terminology. I came away totally recharged with loads of new ideas for further self development. I am now looking forward to next year's visit.

My sincere thanks to the tutors and all those involved, for making this event such a great success.

Mike Stevens