21 Club feels the ‘heartbeat’

THE month of love was celebrated in style by 21 Club members, who came out dressed elegantly in reds and pinks.

The Lords and Legends conference room was festooned with hearts from the bright overlays to the stunning centrepieces handcrafted by Lyn Sutherland. St Valentine must have felt honoured.

Guest speaker/entertainer was Greg McLeod. Greg currently teaches arts and culture at Athlone Park Primary and is the drummer for local band, Upfront. This he manages to fit into his busy life at Amanzimtoti Bowling Club.

He has been drumming since the age of 10 and although he plays several instruments, he is clearly passionate about percussion.

“The drum represents the heartbeat, transporting you to a place of stillness and interconnectivity, a place inside yourself, where boundaries drop, egos fall away and the rhythms of the drum weave through hands and touch your soul.”

In his younger years Greg played at places like Top of Carlton, numerous Holiday Inns, The Skyline and Umhlanga Sands. He backed artists like Richard Loring, Barbara Ray, Lauren Copley, Flippie van Vuuren and Dianne Chandler. This stopped when he became principal of St Dunstan’s Memorial Diocesan School in Benoni in 1986.

Fortunately for all, 20 years later, he tracked down his drums and auditioned for the three-piece band, Upfront.

Greg demonstrated the use of the snare drum, the high hat, toms, cymbals and bass drum and a number of percussion instruments. He went through the various beats – waltz, bossa nova, quickstep (vastrap), the twist, reggae and the good old Scottish march to Scotland the Brave, encouraging the members to join in.

A joyful sing-along ensued. Several members joined Greg on stage and tried out the percussion instruments, which added to the fun. Many thanks to Greg for giving everyone a better understanding of the magic of drumming.

21 Club will be supporting Joff, Colin and Greg of Upfront, at Lords and Legends at the Thursday night market for the next five weeks.

The next luncheon will be called ‘Evergreen’ in honour of St Patrick. Guest speaker is Tamlyn, a beauty therapist who will be sharing some ideas on being evergreen.

The luncheon will be held on Wednesday, 26 March at Lords and Legends conference room at noon for 12.30pm. Members are reminded that confirmation of intention to attend or not, and names of guests, must be received by Lyn on 082-572-1328082-572-1328 or 031-903-4026031-903-4026 or Golda on 083-633-6338083-633-6338 or 031-916-7001031-916-7001 no later than Friday, 19 March. Guests will be accommodated if there is room.