16.11.14

Holy shmoley!
That was amazing. My day at Abbey Road Studios.
It started at 4.15am after 5 hours sleep. Ha ha ha, i got my own back on the puppy by waking him up early instead of the other way round.
4.45 Jenni and Linda arrived armed with bread rolls and butter. I had cooked some bacon, so rolls were made for when we were on board our London bound coach. 5 minutes later Jo and Steve arrived, our taxi to the station.
We boarded our double decker coach - with on board loo! Chatted, giggled, laughed, took photos,  ate bacon  sandwiches, sang our recording songs, all the way. Our driver, Paul, was really good fun, and very cheeky.
The bacon rolls were gone by the time we left the coach depot!
Arrived at Abbey Road at 9am and we had to wait til 9.30 before we could go in. Because of my recent health problems - don't know if you're aware I've had chemo????? - i was allowed inside with 3 others who also had health issues.
We were told we were not allowed to take photos inside the Abbey Road except for when we were in the actual studio. Strictly NO photos to be taken.
The main reception was gorgeous. Bright red walls with ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS in large white letters.
So heres an 'illegal' photo!!!

Then outside for proper photos of us on the steps of the main entrance. There was about 140 of us, and Jenny our leader! Marianne was our photographer for the day and tried to capture the essence of the day. Im looking forward to seeing what she's produced.

Here's Jenny - crazy cat woman! She loves pulling silly faces! A very talented lady, i don't know how she remembers all the parts of each song, bass, alto and soprano, and thats for every song, and sometimes theres 6 part harmonies! And she makes us all laugh!

Then into studio 2 - our green room. 

There were various pianos and recording equipment in there. An old analogue mixing deck used for Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd, one of my favourites. A piano used during the recording of Skyfall. An old plinky plonky piano used for Lady Madonna - The Beatles - need i say? A grand piano that was used by Elton John and Gary Barlow. And in the back of Studio 2 was the area that was used a lot for when the Beatles recorded! It was all so interesting and exciting. 

Then we were ushered into Studio 1. Time for us to shine! Time for us to put on our Diva hats!

We sang Someone like you - Adeles hit, Joyful Joyful from Sister Act and Bridge over Troubled Water - Art Garfunkel. We had a couple of takes at each one. Really enjoyed it. 

Joyful Joyful was amazing. Jenni did a solo for it and it was amazing. Really amazing. She was an absolute star. So pleased it went soooooo well for her.

Then all too soon, it was over. Time to get our stuff and head back to the coach - across the infamous zebra crossing. 

Here we are. All smiling and happy after a wonderful day.

It was a truly amazing day. So many laughs, so much fun. We all bonded - all 140 of us!
Id really like to do it all over again.
Hopefully next time we don't have to get up at 4.15am. I have, on my return, fallen asleep about 4 times!