Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th March, 2024

We went to our first Fremantle Songfest last weekend. It is held at St Paul’s Anglican Church, South Fremantle and we have been to the church before a couple of times. It has a beautiful amphitheatre and a very useful hall where choirs can meet to practice, plus lovely gardens.

The parking for the event was reserved, but they had negotiated for attendees to park in an Education Department carpark about a block away. We found this particularly useful as the Sherwood is a bit larger than a car.

We stayed at the Fremantle Village Caravan Park Friday and Saturday nights, driving a few kilometres to the church for the Friday night concert, and for the daily events Saturday and Sunday. Actually, both days we didn’t go there until the afternoon concerts were due to start. Stephen was singing with The Real Sing both afternoons and wanted to be rested and well prepared.

On Friday afternoon we arrived at about at the caravan park at about 4.00 p.m. in time to get settled in, have tea, then head to St Paul’s. Unfortunately Stephen had a fall near the kitchen and damaged his knee. We had a small First Aid Kit from which I managed to bandage him up. He didn’t hurt the knee structually, but took off quite a lot of skin.

On the way to the concert we stopped off to get some more patches, bandages and some Betadine. At that stage we weren’t sure how bad it was, but he went to see his doctor on Monday and had a patch taped on the wound and today when we changed that dressing the wound has still not healed although there was a bit more scabbing. According a a nurse that we consulted at the Songfest (friend, not official nurse) he might have taken off enough layers to get through to the fat underneath. From her description I would say that was the case.

And then we were free to enjoy the evening concert. Stephen hasn’t reported having any pain. If it becomes painful at any stage it is a sign that there is infection and he will go back to the doctor.

As to the concert, we found it a bit stuffy in the church, so went to enjoy the outdoor seating before the second half of the evening. Working Voices (us) sang one song as part of the ‘taster’ concert.

They were serving lunch on Saturday, but Stephen wanted to concentrate on his music, so we had lunch at the caravan park. It was hot in the Sherwood and we used the air conditioning on a low setting. There is very little shade provided in the van section of the caravan park.

The Real Sing were performing in the amphitheatre and I enjoyed the rest of the concert there, whilst Stephen went to a concert in the church. It was quite hot where we were sitting, but I still preferred being outside.

After the concert we tried to find parking down at South Beach to watch the sunset, but as so many other people had the same idea that we only found a parking spot after the sun had set. Still, we were able to enjoy some lovely colour on the clouds.

We then drove back to the parking area and had tea. In the evening on Saturday Bernard Carney sang some songs, then we had a singalong, with live music and the words available on our mobile phones through a technical process that is still quite mysterious to us.

On Sunday morning we left the caravan park at about 9.00 a.m. to find a park up for the morning. We ended up in a new looking parking area at Coogee. It was another sunny day, but with the ocean around us the breeze was cool and it was lovely.

We chatted with another motorhome owner for a bit, and Stephen made a visit to the shopping area where he bought some fresh rolls for lunch.

We had liaised with E, who was coming for the afternoon, and caught up with her when we arrived for the afternoon concert. The start time was later in the day, and I had made sure we had seats in the shade, so it was more enjoyable than Saturday. Stephen had a second concert with The Real Sing, and we both performed with Working Voices in the garden courtyard.

There was an evening service in the amphitheatre. We had discussed whether it would be a religious service and thought it wouldn’t be. However, the church minister is quite traditional, despite being a young woman with a few tattoos. But, it was a lovely feeling, with lots of singing and the special peace songs that people had spent the mornings learning.

We had energy for the drive home and managed to park perfectly in the carport the first time of trying. I say ‘we’ not ‘me’ as it is a joint effort, paricularly as our carport is quite a tight space. I wouldn’t be able to do it on my own.

Last time we arrived home was on an afternoon with our neighbour watching and we had a bad time backing and filling and not really ending up in the best position. Unfortunately we will be driving out again on Monday to have the Hilux serviced and can only hope that we are able to park it nicely again when we get home.

We feel that overall the weekend went rather well, apart from Stephen’s fall.