In 2010 for the first time the IPATF was held as part of another large and long-established festival – the Three Choirs Festival, and more particularly, the “fringe” part, Three Choirs Plus. In the previous twelve months many meetings were held with the organisers to establish in what ways the IPATF would be part of and complement the events offered by Three Choirs Plus, and a very exciting programme resulted from this. Three Choirs Plus benefitted by the extended range of events they could offer, and IPATF benefitted from world-wide publicity in the brochure and exposure to many who attended the Festival.
Three Choirs ran from Saturday 7th August to Sunday 15th August, Events on the earlier days were run by members local to Gloucester plus Bill Tuck who was able to come, while members of The Taborers Society attended IPATF proper, from 13th to 15th.
We staked our claim as being an interesting group to follow in the Festival by playing outside the Cathedral as the opening service of the Three Choirs Festival came to an end about midday on Saturday 7th. Many visitors paused to listen, and to take flyers we had produced to advertise our events later in the week. We also played outside the cathedral on the Tuesday and Thursday evenings as the audience was entering for the evening concerts.
We had timed our events for when there was no actual Three Choirs performance taking place as our aim was to complement rather than rival Three Choirs! We held beginners workshops on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings which attracted a large number of potential players. On Monday we gave an illustrated talk on “Edi Beo Thu”, Gloucester’s own medieval carol. Wednesday afternoon saw a varied concert beginning and ending with massed taborers, and featuring Waytes and Measures (including Gwilym and Carol Davies and Richard Sermon), solo p&t (Gillian Guest), dance to Bill Tuck’s playing, and the Gloucester Waites. Feedback from the audiences at all these events was extremely positive.
By Thursday all our overseas guests had arrived, so our evening slot outside the cathedral was even more varied than before, with Alberto playing Spanish style, Atsufumi Japanese style, and Karol and Ondrej Slovakian style.
Friday 13th was the start of our IPATF proper and throughout the day more of our members arrived. Following our established pattern, Friday was given over to the Symposium, and this year it had expanded to fill a whole day with eight very varied and interesting talks. Friday evening was a relaxed social get-together with eating, drinking, playing and generally catching up with friends. It was much enjoyed.
Saturday saw workshops, a Big Dub, and in the afternoon, a concert of world overtone flutes – English, Spanish, Slovakian and Japanese – given to an appreciative audience in St Nicholas’ church. In the evening we repaired to the Dick Whittington for the AGM followed by a feast and another few hours playing.
Sunday saw more workshops: Andy led us through dance music, before we attempted rhythmic intricacies with Alberto then Atsufumi. We were thankful for the fortuitous visit of a local resident who was able and willing to act as interpreter for our Slovakian guests. Many questions were asked and answered! After lunch in the Dick Whittington, there was more socialising until people had to leave to return home.
Once again we used St Nicholas church for our festival. Though the facilities are sadly lacking, the acoustics are wonderful and it is near everything else in Gloucester that we needed. Three Choirs were so happy and impressed with our contribution that Hereford enquired whether they could have us in 2011 when they host Three Choirs! TTS thought that being established as a part of that festival was not the right thing for us, so declined the honour.
IPATF 2010 was a success for the society socially, organisationally, musically and financially.