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It's not everyday that you get to perform in the grounds of a castle, a beautifully restored (courtesy of Lottery money) castle overlooking the stunning sea at Tankerton slopes.  We arrived in the Doris mobile – our new Mazda Bongo, carrying most of the team.  The sun was out and a crowd was gathering. Ivo, the pianist, was with the family Neame (as they are locals) and Spencer's substitute Dave (Spencer was stuck in France following a festival gig) arrived from north London.

I posed on a Kudos bicycle.
 
A retro style electric bike – very nice. Doris is a fan of bikes and had a Schwinn Cruiser bike herself.

It's always good to meet fellow Doris fans and I met a great local one called Andy, who contributed his photos from the day – thanks Andy.  He came along with his dog;  I think Doris would approve. He's also a Karen Carpenter fan – great taste!

It was good to be back in my vintage dresses from San Francisco (due to the pleurisy at the beginning of the year); this green one being one of them.

As quite often for outdoor gigs especially ones on the coast you have to be prepared for the wind so I had my lovely pegs attached to the music. The poor sound engineer was told that it was going to be singer and backing track so imagine his horror having cleared the stage to find he had to put the whole lot back again but all went well and waiting in the wings was local celebrity Ben Mills from X Factor who was due to preform after us.  

Here's to the next one!

A big thanks to Chris West for organising all these fantastic local events.  He always brings the sun with him.