Enrolment

Today I completed my enrolment at South Thames College, I am studying a level 5 diploma in teaching, I will be going to Wandsworth once a week on a Monday and to Kingston College to learn how to teach their music performance BTEC on Tuesdays for the next two years, after that I will be qualified to teach in any post 16 setting!

because of the pandemic I had no gigs for 17 months and because I wasn’t travelling I had lots more time to try new things and I also wanted to add another income stream to my skill set in case I was ever in this position again. I completed a level three access to education and training in the summer so that if I liked it I would have the option of doing the course that I have now decided to do.

I also completed a level two qualification in specific learning difficulties.

Zebedee has managed to secure himself a job in a gym, in return for 3x4 hour shifts a week he receives free membership and can take anybody into the gym for personal training and anything he earns will be his own, the alternative would be to pay £600 a month for this so he would rather work. He qualified as a personal trainer just before the pandemic. He is a brilliant artist and has resurrected a dream he had a few years ago of becoming a tattoo artist, he has been going round local tattoo shops with his portfolio and today he really impressed one of the places who are actually looking for an apprentice, they said he was the only person who has actually gone in in person with their work and they’re giving him a trial day on Saturday to see how he gets on with people and if that goes well then they will take him on as an apprentice! It’s quite a lengthy process, you basically work for nothing cleaning up and learning the ropes, that leads onto preparing transfers and at that point you will start earning money and eventually you will qualify as a tattoo artist under your mentor, it could take him two years. His girlfriend wants to become a piercer and has just done a course in that, I think that being with her has given him a lot of confidence and stability.

The other wonderful thing that’s happened today is that recently I was invited to a music industry online support group which runs every two weeks, at the last session there was some new young people so I asked the organisers if Gulliver and Erin could become members, they went through the interview process and were accepted and today had their first session with us, they will put in a breakout room with Ricky Wilde brother of Kim Wilde who writes all her songs and songs for other people and he has invited them to go to a gig with him tomorrow night! He also asked if he could hear some of Gulliver‘s music and he sent him one of his compositions and he was extremely complimentary, I’m so pleased for everybody! It’s a great feeling to see my boys finding their way!

I watched Erin‘s end of year show from her university with her and Gulliver, and she is head and shoulders above most of the people there, I’m so excited for her future. Gulliver and Erin seem very motivated and are learning lots of new songs, working towards being able to start getting gigs together.

Max made us a delicious curry for dinner, the five of us sat together, I put on my album by blue lab beats which is brilliant.

In 1990 when I used to go to Neil Conti‘s club Backstage at the borderline it was often hosted by Quame from D-influence, Blue lab beats is his son’s band, a mix of hip-hop and jazz, really fantastic.

Happy days.