Some people say that how you start a new year is how the new year will continue. I think that's nonsense. However, if the year continued to contain some of what today has contained I'd be pleased with that.
This is my first post in a gratitude diary. My hope is to post something for which I am thankful on each day or for each day. Reality is that I won't manage it every day. Some days I'll post one picture and a sentence or two. Some days I'll post something mundane or simple, something that we'd all mostly take for granted. Today I start big. Lots of text. Lots of photos. And more excitement than can be contained in one post. I was home by lunchtime from everything here. I've walked since then and have lots more photos taken close to where I live.
In many places there is a tradition on Boxing Day for people to go for a swim in the sea. Or more accurately mostly they run into the sea and then get back onto dry land as quickly as possible because the North Sea isn't exactly warm at this time of year. A few stay in and swim. There are people who swim in the sea round North East England every day and there are surfers at Tynemouth on most days through the winter.
Whitley Bay has changed this crazy but exhilarating and positive tradition. In Whitley Bay people got for their swim or dip on New Year's Day at eleven in the morning.
It's something I've done quite often over the last couple of years. A singer-songwriter named Beccy Owen runs pop-up choirs in the area and sometimes elsewhere. Look her up. Buy her albums. She's pretty mint. The idea is that a group of people who have never met before in quite that configuration gather together. We learn a few songs over an hour or two. And then we go out and perform whatever we've learned. Simple. Some people come once. Some of us join the one-off choirs quite often.
Beccy has added a lot of joy to my life and to the lives of lots of other people through pop-up choirs and through everything else she's been involved with creatively in the North East over the years. She's also a brilliant person and it's a joy to know her.
Today we met as a brand new choir to sing to the swimmers. We rehearsed. We sang. We broke up. That choir no longer exists. That doesn't mean that I won't be singing with any of those people again. I'm sure I'll sing with at least some of them this year, sometimes in totally unexpected places.
This year I was there too. Not swimming. Not even dipping one already cold foot into the water. I was there to sing in a choir for one rehearsal and performance only.
It's something I've done quite often over the last couple of years. A singer-songwriter named Beccy Owen runs pop-up choirs in the area and sometimes elsewhere. Look her up. Buy her albums. She's pretty mint. The idea is that a group of people who have never met before in quite that configuration gather together. We learn a few songs over an hour or two. And then we go out and perform whatever we've learned. Simple. Some people come once. Some of us join the one-off choirs quite often.
In the past couple of years I've sung in Beccy's choirs in Newcastle City Centre, at the Baltic Art Gallery in Gateshead, outside Hexham Abbey, inside Hexham Abbey at the Culture Awards Ceremony, at Alphabetti Theatre, in the Ouseburn Valley, at the "Women Who Mean Business" lunch, at St. Mary's Heritage Centre, at the awards ceremony for the Newcastle International Film Festival, and probably other places I can't remember right now.
Beccy has added a lot of joy to my life and to the lives of lots of other people through pop-up choirs and through everything else she's been involved with creatively in the North East over the years. She's also a brilliant person and it's a joy to know her.
Today we met as a brand new choir to sing to the swimmers. We rehearsed. We sang. We broke up. That choir no longer exists. That doesn't mean that I won't be singing with any of those people again. I'm sure I'll sing with at least some of them this year, sometimes in totally unexpected places.
I didn't know what to expect. How many people would turn up to sing on New Year's Day when we've all been awake late and there's no public transport? How would I even get to Whitley Bay? Thankfully a total stranger offered me a lift this morning. How few people come and swim on New Year's Day? Why are we all doing nutty things when a lie in might have been nice?!
My lift arrived early. We were first but that was okay. Yes, it was cold this morning. But the sun was bright. There was hardly a cloud to be seen. And there was almost no wind. The low sun shone above Tynemouth and everything was glorious. I used the time to wander down to the beach and take some pictures on the quiet beach. I'm so glad I did that before we sang. The beach didn't remain quiet, as pictures will show.
And then people began to arrive. In all we had close to forty people in our choir today. As for the crowds, I've learned that part of Whitley Bay is very crowded for the swim. Many dozens of swimmers supported by hundreds of people.
I am very grateful for the first morning of this year. For the offer of a lift that made it possible. For the superb weather. For the chance to be with good people. For the opportunity to sing with people. And for the fact that there are so many people prepared to jump in the North Sea on New Year's Day or support those who do jump in the sea.
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