MALDWYN POPE

Last night I was privileged to The Gala opening of ‘Let The People Sing’. It was a triumph. It brought the sold out theatre to its feet as we clapped and cried after experiencing a lifetime of emotions in a couple of hours.

If you hear an odd ‘clanging’ sound coming from Ffwrness Theatre in Llanelli next Thursday evening please don’t be alarmed. It will just be me and Steve Balsamo dropping some huge names in our intimate show ‘The Stories Behind The Songs.’

I got a call this week asking how I was feeling about going to see my musical ‘Amazing Grace’ being performed at the Sherman Theatre. Excited, emotional …yes, but before I could really think I just said, ‘relieved’.

This week two very separate parts of my life collided in an unexpected fashion. The common ground was…Newfoundland.

It’s been a good week, book launches, raising money, celebrating birthdays and singing around the country but it took a strawberry moon for me to stop for a moment to appreciate it all.

I took my granddaughter to see Wales v Italy I was expecting her to be dressed in something colourful. Maybe a red Welsh shirt. Maybe a new football kit. But my granddaughter has a mind of her own. She decided that she wanted to wear…her Tiger Onesie.

It was only a few weeks ago that I was splashing on the sun tan lotion dressed in my shorts and t-shirt In my head were 2 thoughts. One, I can’t ever imagine this wonderful weather ever ending and two, this is not going to last so make the most of it because this is probably our summer.

There are so many reasons why people get involved in charity work. Some might be successful business men meeting occasionally for lunch who underneath those suits have some of the softest hearts you’ll ever meet. Some of us are families trying our best to remember those we have loved and maybe lost. It’s all love to me.

And so begins the start of another musical adventure. After all these years you would have thought I’d be used to it, but this is the most difficult time for an artist. It feels as if I’m letting one of my children loose into the world on their own to fend for themselves.

I know I have been given many wonderful opportunities in my life but this week I had probably one of the greatest honours of my life in my own community, lighting the Oystermouth Castle Beacon and Lamp of Peace to commemorate VE Day.