Prague was fantastic! What an amazing city!

Prague was great! A fantastic trip, which all the kids enjoyed loads and which all the staff seemed to have a pretty decent time on too. The accomodation was the luxuary Olypick Hotel, a four star offering with lovely rooms and fantastic food - the breakfast and dinner offerings were really tasty especially the goulash which had chunks of really succulent beef in it! During the trip we took time to do some sightseeing including the Jewish Quarter, Wencless Square, The Astrological Clock, Terezin (the Concentration camp and ghetto) and the Charles Bridge as well as some other bits and bobs! We also imersed ourselves in culture with outdoor swimming pools, ice cream cafes and a trip or two to the huge TESCO hypermarket!

All in all it was a fantastic trip and it's kind of a shame to be back facing all the church work once again! Got a PCC meeting tonight (fun!) and Thursday is my trip to Torquay to have my ankle examined - pain! Anyhoo, I'd better go, I've got to write a publicity committee report on the Church open day in September! God Bless...

This is the out of office auto reply! I'm away on holiday hurrah!

Off to Prague tomorrow morning! Got to go to Exeter and buy some clothes this afternoon (and get some euros as well!). It's all very busy!!!

London was great yesterday - Me, Dave and Alex had a right laugh and enjoyed the delights that the city has to offer, with a bit of shopping, travel and museums! Just thinking about putting together a going away CD for Prague! Sorting out the playlist at the moment...

Anyhoo, I'd better go. Don't try and reach me - I'll be out the office!! God Bless...

Take a breath and get ready for the next onslaught!

Busy, busy! Getting ready for a week away in prague with the school anext week and sorting everything else out at the same time (including a trip to London tomo!). This week has been pretty good so far. Bit of schools work, organising stuff for church (open day meeting was so much better than I ever expected) and spedning some time with the young people!

Listening to Save Tonight - the eagle eyed cherry classic and a mix together of Dandy Warhols and Moose T's I'm Horny! Gold dust! Just been sorting out the minutes from lasts night's meeting and checking I have enough money to grab some euros for the journey across europe.

Anyhoo, I'd better go! Got to eat some lunch before Gatehouse! God Bless...

A busy week which opens with Essay writing, includes a trip to London and concludes with a long bus journey to Prague!

Sat at the computer on a Monday morning trying to get some momentum for what is going to be a VERY busy week! Today I have my OU essay to complete and post, labels to stick in books ready to go and give to all primary school leavers, craft club and the last youth house group of the academic year! Tomorrow I'm in school, then off to present books to young people, followed by a full church meeting about the Open Day I have proposed in September (should be fun!). Wednesday I'm handing books out again and getting some studying in. Thursday I'm in London for the whole day celebrating the end of Exams with some of the youth! Friday I've got a publicity commitee meeting, and I'm going to pack and go shopping for my trip - Saturday I leave for the trip to Prague - it's a very long journey!

The past week has been quite good - though very draining! Soul Exeter on Saturday night was fantastic. With the football and spree going on we expected less kids, but the atmosphere was still really cool and Daniel and Suzie led and spoke awesomely. Was grand! Then yesterday (Sunday) I was leading the 11.15 service and we did a football themed offering! It was fantastic and a load of kids stayed around afterwards to eat their picnics and then to play football on the Newhay. Final score was 4-4 (nice Christian draw!), my team was winning with five minutes to go but two of my players got sent off (for diving!!!!) and I suddenly became unable to save the ball! Tee Hee! That's football for you!

Anyhoo, I have a lot to do and I'd better get on with it! God Bless...

The H3 2006 Review by Andrew Guilder :)

H3 took place at Brawdwell Abbey, Milton Keynes from the 30th June to 2nd July 2006 and featured an eclectic range of bands from across the sphere of British Christian music. Divided between two stages (a Marquee stage and a Main courtyard stage) and with a campsite on the side H3 is the three counties closest Christian equivalent to Glastonbury - apart from the weather was fantastic and there wasn't quite as many people!

Friday night's programme saw three bands on main stage - Kurious, Soul'd out and Mowglee - it was a decent sized dome stage backed onto a courtyard which gave it an intimate feel yet could fit in a good thousand or so revellers. Kurious, the first band on, are a YFC band who tour schools, and they brought us a collection of covers with a couple of their own songs, the highlight being a cover of Angel and Airwaves song the adventure. The second band on Soul'd Out are a collection of various artists from the Soul'd Out Entertainment record label; these guys are top notch rappers, and though the crowd were tough (not a South London or Notts group!) they were fantastic in both performance and music. The end of the night saw four piece rock group Mowglee perform, who were as usual fantastic - the highlight of their set was a rock cover of a classic Elvis track, it worked a treat.

On Saturday morning I decided to explore the Marquee stage and see what the talent on there were like. I have to say I was not disappointed. The Quench Band - part of the battle of the bands competition - were fantastic (I was disappointed that they didn't win) doing some great rocky worship covers. Suzie and Dan was a two-piece with Dan playing keys and Suzie Wade singing. She had a fantastic vocal and interacted very well with the crowd, the encore especially had everyone clapping along. Dan and Dan was another two-piece, Dan Hobbs played keys and sang backing in one of the songs, Dan Sheills played various guitars and sang. The performance of his own material was great, especially when he dived into Vicky Beechings 'Yesterday, Today and Forever' mid-song.

I saw three other bands on Saturday, on the main stage somethingABOUTnothing a young four-piece group from Kent who were great. They had some brilliant material and their crowd interaction was impressive for 15-17 year olds - well worth looking out for in the future. I also saw the Austin Frances Connection who were perhaps one of the highlights of the weekend. Placed on the marquee stage (a shocking decision - a lot of the bands here were much better than the main stage!) AFC brought some summer fuelled hip-hop perfect for a Saturday evening as the sun set, a three piece band with a singer, a guitarist, and a lad known as 'hobbit' who is one of the UK's premier beat boxers, they had the crowd bopping and cheering in delight at their talents. The songs were cheeky and the lyrics beautifully funny, they also framed the talent of the young beat boxer! Finally on main stage I watched the delights of [dweeb] perhaps one of the maddest bands of all time! Their music was loud and proud, but their most noticeable quality was their crowd interaction - they really got everyone moving and jumping around! A very good band!

On Sunday I relaxed more and didn't see quite so many bands, there was less I was interested in viewing. The highlight of the day was a rocking group called Electrolyte. They're a three-piece from Essex, who brought songs with a lot of pace and that really rocked! Impressively all three members harmonised perfectly all throughout the gig (incredible when you think about it!) that added great depth to the music. Another band to keep an eye on!

Faults would be some dodgy stage allocating and the lack of showers on site (I had to wash with baby wipes!), they could also do with running the two stages at the same time; the movement was a great opportunity for people to disappear! The marquee stage would be a great venue for tables, chairs, refreshments, and 'choiry style' or 'acoustic' music, whilst the main stage is definitely suited for the rock and urban bands (and the Battle of the Band contest too)! Although it did have its faults overall H3 was a great weekend - there was a lot of talent around and a lot of great music (especially on the Saturday). It's definitely a festival that I have already booked in my diary for next year.

Visit the H3 Gallery @ Andy's Album. Also look out for full interviews, bios on bigfattoothbrush and soulexeter v2 (coming soon!!) where the August podcast will also feature a number of the bands, interviews and clips of their music!

Writing up a full review on my mobile phone might just kill me so you're just going to have to wait! Lets just say it's reignited my passion for music and I have really enjoyed myself :-) anyhoo I'm sleeping in a caravan with the recording equipment & no doubt they will be here soon to get ready for tomorrow. Best get some sleep :-) God bless