Chapter 23.

They went and joined the rest of the orchestra, Willow starting to take control. The mayhem wasn’t helped by camera and sound crews setting things out. Mister Bamborough arrived in tails, and it got settled enough to run a sound check.

After that, they left the hall and went to the side rooms where there was a meal for them. When that was finished, and they had got comfortable, checked their teeth and make-up, they lined up in order to wait for their entrance. Willow took the opportunity to have a word with Zara.

“Last night of the Proms for you, my friend.”

“It is, Willow. Next week, I’m starting a regular spot at a nightclub, with my quintet. It’s not as much money as the old band, but it is work until I get my album out. Clive has told me that I would likely be in the charts before Christmas.”

“I’ll buy it, that’s for sure. Is Geoff joining you in the city?”

“He wants to, but I’m not sure if I want him to. We’ve become like a married couple, and he wants stability, where I want to get out and take a chance. I’m dragging my heels looking at somewhere to live. He wants a house, and I want an apartment.”

“Take it from me, apartment living is great, especially if you have one over a restaurant.”

The call came for ‘five minutes’ so they all stood up straight. Tonight, Willow was to lead them out, including the school choir. Then, the choir of the ENO would join them, followed by the soloists and the conductor. It all worked smoothly to applause. Willow controlled the tuning, and the ensemble stood as the others came out. At two minutes past the programmed time, they were into the piece. There was the first break, and then repeated the entry, but a bit more quickly. When they reached the Hallelujah Chorus, the audience stood as per the custom.

In the Stoneleigh Club, where two hundred and fifty diners were watching the live broadcast on the big TV, they all stood as well, Wendy holding her husband’s arm as they watched their daughter leading the orchestra.

When the final Amen was sung, the audience stood and cheered them, echoed in the club. The soloists were all given flowers, as was Willow, and there were several bows and picking out individual players before they left the stage and the program ended. For the players, it was a trip back to the hotel and a good night of well-deserved sleep, while the school contractors gathered up all the larger instruments to take back to the school in the morning.

Next morning, after breakfast, they all wished Zara the best of luck as she left, with her overnight bag, to go back to her aunts’ and her new life. The rest of them got on the coaches for the trip back to Coventry, with Willow being dropped off first.

The following week set the scene for the rest of the month. School, Zoom lectures, sometimes in the club, and working on new songs. The Music Studies was into Composition this term, and Willow took it all in. The work on the Leicester site was moving forward, with the old shed removed and donated to one of the schools as a storage shed. The car park and inside the long shed was resurfaced with bright new lines. The new parking area in the long shed was given better lighting as well. The next statement arrived in the first week of September, with another four hundred and sixty thousand as her share. She asked Peter to transfer four hundred and fifty thousand to WR Holdings, and then transferred a hundred thousand into her personal account. She also got the Leicester accountant to set up a new account for Summer Love Studios, as a subsidiary of WR Holdings, and transferred two hundred thousand to his trust account as seed money.

The studio people had quoted on soundproofing the big shed, but Willow was holding off on that until the concrete floor had been covered in laminate flooring on low joists, to make it more like a stage or a dance floor. Willow had resumes from several console operators but hadn’t decided on any yet. She intended to pick the best three and bring them into the studio to interview and record something. She had spoken to Petunia, who was keen to have more on disc. Summer Rose was, at the moment, resting on its laurels. They had issued enough albums in the year, and now all had enough behind them to pursue other, more personal, things. Gina and Maisie were spending more weekends in Europe.

As October progressed, the floor of the shed was completed, and the soundproofing was being fixed. Willow had spoken to the referees and then contacted the best-looking applicants to arrange interviews. The others were sent an email to tell them that they had not been successful this time but would be kept in mind. As they had all indicated very little genuine experience but a desire to learn, it wasn’t a difficult choice.

She had scheduled them all to come to the site on a Saturday afternoon. One had done work experience with the company that built the studio and had been working in a radio station in Dundee for a few years as the producer. The other two had some time in studios, one in Birmingham and the other in Liverpool. What clinched their pick was that both had put photography or filmmaking as their hobbies.

Wendy took her to the site after lunch and they were chatting to the Alliance ladies when the first one arrived. Willow went out to the carpark. A rather stunning blonde got out of the car.

“Welcome, I’m Willow.”

“Good to meet you, Willow. I’ve Sydney Morris, here for the interview.”

“If you follow me, Sydney, we’ll go into our office, and you can relax. I have brought all three of the final applicants here today. The reason will become clear as we talk.”

She took Sydney up to the office.

“Take a seat. Do you want a drink, hot or cold?”

“Something cold, please. You look familiar.”

“Well, I have had a bit of time in the news this year. I’m Willow Rose.”

“Wow! This is a real pleasure, meeting you in the flesh. I have your albums.”

“If you have the Berlin DVD, you’re in good company, as that went Triple Platinum recently.”

She was looking out the window and saw two other cars come in and park.

“Hold on a moment, I’ll go and get the others.”

She went down and smiled.

“Good afternoon, you two. You, sir, must be Josh Hamilton, so you must be Sarah Wilkinson. I’m Willow Rose. Please follow me upstairs where we can have a chat.”

They followed her upstairs and she introduced them to each other, got them drinks and sat down.

“I expect that you’re wondering why I have brought the three of you in today as the advertisement was only for one position. In the past, we have had three lads from my school to do the studio work. The main mixer operator is now working in Abbey Road, and the two that concentrated on visual work are both in a company making band videos. What I’m looking for is a team to replace them, but able to fill in with any position.”

She started to ask them questions and draw them out. Sarah had family in Leicester and wanted to come home again; Josh was at a crossroads in his life, having broken up with his girlfriend in Birmingham and looking for somewhere away from the city as a new start. Sydney had been working as a DJ in Liverpool clubs but had some mixer experience. When the talk petered out, Willow told them that it was time to show them around.

“Where we’re in is our band headquarters. It looks a bit sparce as we only have a part-timer who looks after our property. All fan mail is dealt with by the label in London, as well as any tour organising.”

They went down and she opened the door to the big shed.

“This is in the process of being turned into an arts rehearsal space. I hope that we can have bands rehearsing, dancers and actors. It used to be a distribution centre. The company that you had work experience in, Sarah, are doing the soundproofing.”

She then led them into the long shed.

“This doesn’t look a likely studio location. This shed had been used for pallet racking and I’ve had the wall between that, and the old forklift workshop removed.”

She opened the door to the studio.

“This is where you will, hopefully, be spending a lot of time.”

She led them into the corridor, stopping to switch all the lights and master power on.

“This board has to be fully switched on, or else the next door will set off alarms. One of the switches turns them on and off, but I won’t tell you which one just yet. Please go through.”

The three went into the rest room, and immediately went to the wall with the awards. Willow gave them time to read a few and then went to the door to the control room.

“Through here is what our previous operator called ‘heaven on earth’.”

The room had been powered up from the switchboard, so all the lights were on across the mixing board.

“This was installed last year. We have enough mixing ability to record an orchestra, which we have done twice. The storage is twenty-four track digital and there’s the twenty-four track tape as back-up. There is a post-production unit on the back wall, which can produce issue-worthy CDs or DVDs. In the corner there, with the three screens, is the control unit for the twelve cameras that are located in the studio itself. They can be set with a main view, and then you can switch to another view at the press of a button, all the cameras are able to be removed, so there’s nothing to stop you using them on tripods.”

She went to the big switch on the mixing desk.

“This is the actual studio.”

As she switched it on, the others gasped at the sight of the long space with some keyboards, amps, and drums sitting there.

“We have recorded up to fifty players at once, using small, six-channel, mixers to feed into the main board. We recorded the original ‘Homegrown’ album here, with the DVD shot in Abbey Road. All the other albums started life in here, as well as the latest G-Force and Hikers ones. I’m planning to advertise this as a commercial studio for other bands, something we couldn’t do until I was able to get the permission changed to commercial use.”

“This is just wonderful, Willow. The board is bigger than anything I’ve seen, but it’s just the one control, duplicated. Are there jack plugs in the studio that are numbered?”

“There are, and they’re duplicated down the entire studio. Down at the back there is a way through to a storage area, and then security doors to the lane behind us. The air is a split system, set to twenty-two degrees ‘C’, and the walls are eighteen inches thick. Now, in the rest area we came through, there is a stocked kitchenette and his’n’hers toilets. I expect that you thought there may be a test, well, I’ll show you how the visual recording works, and then I’ll go into the studio and play a few things for you to record. There’s no rush, we can take all afternoon, but the plan is for us to end up with four CD’s and four DVDs of what we’ve done.”

It didn’t take long to show them the way to swap vision and record it. Sarah spent a little while finding out where the switches were for the speakers in the control room. Willow unplugged the transmitter for the buds, explaining that they used these, as it was what they used on stage. The three said that they were ready.

“Right. We’ll do this for real. You are in charge of the recording. Tell me where you want me to sit, set up the microphones you want to use, and make sure you have the visuals you want to use before we record.”

The four of them went into the studio, and Willow was sat at her keyboard, with it plugged into one of the amps. She had a boom with a microphone set up, and the three went back into the control room to do a vision and sound check. When Sarah said it was all good, Willow could see the tape moving and started to play. She did a version of a Carpenters song that she had sung, all that time ago, on stage at the club.

When she finished, Sarah asked her to play some more until told to stop. Willow played a solo version of ‘Finding a Friend’ and ‘Her Day’ before going on with a few numbers that she had been playing around with at home. When Sarah called to stop, she went into the control room and the four of them worked the post-production system to output CDs and DVDs. Willow had watched this done enough times to be able to show them the ropes.

“How are you all with this? I know it’s a steep learning curve.”

They all had smiles and both Josh and Sydney looked at Sarah. She thought for a bit, then asked.

“How much do you pay, and what are our duties?”

“Let’s sit in the first room and talk.”

They went and sat down. Willow looked in the fridge.

“There’s ice creams, anybody want one?”

When they were all sitting comfortably, Willow gave them more information.

“I’m prepared to pay forty thousand a year to each of you. I have bought a house in a nearby street that had been converted to three flats. That will be available to you at outgoing costs only. You can set up in the office we were first in, and, as a team, you will be in charge of the studio, taking bookings and scheduling recording sessions. I will be standing back, but behind you all the way. There will be advertising to attract customers who want to record in the Summer Love Studio, and there will be rehearsal space in the big shed, which will need to be co-ordinated with the Arts Alliance ladies in the ground floor office. You will be expected to keep the place clean and tidy, including the kitchen and toilets. If you want to, there will be an opportunity to teach others about this equipment at the Blue Coat School in Coventry, which has a post-production suite.”

Sydney grinned.

“What about relocation expenses?”

“Not a problem, within reason. If you say that you want to be part of this, we’ll get you signed on as an employee of the WR Holdings company, with a debit card for expenses. The accountant will expect a wad of receipts at the end of each month. That will include fuel, although the house is close enough to walk.”

They all said that they wanted the jobs, so Willow took them to the house and gave each one a key ring, with the site gate, the new studio key, and the door keys for one flat on each ring.

“I’ll let you talk about which one gets which flat. I’ll be back in the office when you’ve sorted yourselves out. I’ll need to arrange for my accountant to create a contract for each of you. When you come back to the office, I’ll give you an information sheet each, which gives his contact details and my contact details. You’ll be on the books as soon as he gets your signature.”

When they returned to the office, she gave them the information, pointed out the boardroom table where they could talk to bands and plan sessions, the introduced them to the Alliance ladies and her mother. On the way home, Wendy looked over and commented.

“They seem a nice bunch. That Sydney is a real stunner, isn’t she?”

“They are good, Mum.”

Willow slid the CD into the player, and they listened to her singing on the way home. Willow thought that it was good as is, and wondered about what it would sound like with a bit of tweaking.

She emailed the accountant with the names of her team, to list each one as a ‘Studio Technician’ and to start an employment folder for each one, from the day they signed the contract, and to prepare three debit cards with WR Holdings as the card owner. All three had contacted him and were on board from Wednesday. Willow expected them to take a week or more before she was contacted that they were in place. When they did that, she spoke to Petunia about getting her band recorded properly, and it was arranged for the following Saturday, from eleven in the morning. Willow emailed Sarah that she had a session to record a band at that time, and to treat them kindly, as they were all only twelve.

In her quiet times, Willow had been thinking about recording. She had been listening to some of the great female singers of the forties to sixties, finding a lot of material that they had played as the dance band. She emailed Sarah, booking the Monday of the half-term holiday as a recording session for herself. She noted that she wanted the result to sound like it had been recorded in a smoky club in the fifties and suggested that she look in the manual to see how she could produce that sound.

Before that, though, she ordered a large erectable blue screen and a Steinway Baby Grand to be delivered to the studio, with Sarah as the contact. She emailed Sarah that they were coming, and for her to go to see about how you can get out of the back door and into the lane.

On the Monday of the last week of the half-term, a very thankful Petunia gave her a copy of the Vines album, saying that her father had been very impressed with the way they had been looked after, and would pay any costs incurred.

The half-term ended, without any new tour or engagement booked, so Willow looked forward to a week where she could study the uni course, now in the fourth, and final, module. Gina was in Italy with Maisie, looking at the property they liked. On the Monday, she called for an Uber to take her to Leicester. There, she recorded one song to see if Sarah had nailed the sound, and then proceeded to record another fifteen tracks, just her and her voice with piano backing. The result started with a jazzy version of ‘Finding a Friend’ and finished with one she had written, ‘Where are they now?’ that was bridged with old songs about love, happiness, heartache and sheer joy. She already had twenty-four copies of the artwork for the cover. It was a picture of a willow tree, beside a mirror-like water, with her signature across it. The title was ‘A Girl has to have Standards’. The back of the cardboard had the names of the songs, with the writers, and the team at Summer Love Studio.

She stayed with them while they produced two dozen copies of the album and packed them in CD containers. She gave each of the team a copy as a keepsake and took them to a local restaurant for lunch. Sarah offered to drive her home, so Willow directed her to go via Coventry. There, she guided her to the Blue Coat School, and took her in. At reception, she asked the girl if Mister Bamborough or Miss Russell was in and was told that Mister Bamborough was in his office. She took Sarah to his office and knocked.

When she heard the call to enter, she led Sarah into the office.

“Good afternoon, Willow. What are you doing here on a holiday?”

“Good afternoon, Sir. This is Sarah Wilkinson. She is the new operator at the studio, replacing Xavier. I’ve brought her here to meet you and look at the suite of equipment that you now have.”

“Yes, I didn’t think that Xavier would up and leave us. Mind you, a job in the Abbey Road studio is not one to refuse. Good afternoon, Sarah. I’m Howard Bamborough, and I’m in charge of music studies here. Follow me and I’ll show you the room.”

By the time they left, Sarah had been taken on as a temporary teacher, with one evening a week to teach pupils how to use the equipment. She had looked at the visual equipment and had promised to bring Josh and Sydney in to see about teaching as well.

That afternoon, when Willow turned on her laptop, there was an email from Terry with her project for the end of the course. It was another ‘company in trouble’ and he wanted her to email it to her as soon as she had finished it. Her final exam was set on the twenty-first of December, and that Ted would take her if she was at her apartment. She acknowledged the email and started looking at the project for the rest of the week, only taking time off to go into Coventry with her mother on Tuesday morning to post a copy of her album to Jill for evaluation, another to her grandmother, a third to Evelyn as an early Christmas present, and to wander the shops before getting an Uber home.

The following Monday, Gina told Willow that they had settled on the property, and that she was booked to start at the music school in January. The leaving age in Italy was sixteen, and she had signed up with a private tutor to take her through to her sixteenth birthday at the end of May. She had advised Jill of this and also gave Willow a letter, with her accountant’s letterhead, giving Willow the full ownership of the name ‘Summer Rose’. Willow didn’t mention that she had already registered the name as a trademark.

“This is all a bit quick, friend.”

“I know, but it’s the chance for me to move on. The tutors at the music school listened to me play and promised to get me playing as a soloist by the end of next year. I have you to thank for it all, my best friend forever.”

“What tipped the scales?”

“We found a lovely villa, with plenty of room for a Grand Piano, and we were looking around the property when we came across a man, pruning the few rows of vines. We got talking, with me translating for Mum, and found out that he was the son of the man who had leased our land. The result was that we were taken to his father’s house, that backed on to our place, and stayed for dinner. The father, Guiseppe, is a widower, and he and Mum got on like a house on fire, in a mix of Italian, fractured English, and French, which Mum speaks. We signed the paperwork two days later and I transferred the price straight away.”

“I had a Steinway Baby Grand put into the studio. How would you like to record a couple of albums worth of your playing. My gift to you.”

“That would be fantastic. Do you have an operator?”

“I now have a full team on the payroll. They’re good. I had them record an album for me last week. I have a copy for you here. Have a listen and let me know what you think tomorrow.”

On Tuesday, the next statement came through, with each share at four hundred and twenty thousand. Her WR Holding account had another four hundred thousand added to it, handy as the accounts for upgrading the big shed had come in at just over three hundred and fifty thousand. Gina had told her that the CD was beautiful and should be released.

“That last track. That was about the band and our friends, wasn’t it?”

“If you want to think that, then yes. It was written so that anyone can fill in their own memories. With the way the others have been, I wonder if we’ll ever play in public again. I can see us getting together in the studio, but I had the feeling that Australia may have been our last gasp. I’m not sad about it, and I’ll be happy to be proved wrong, but we had played a lot of those songs as a dance band, and the album sort of grew.”

This part of the term, the Music Studies were all about the Bandinerie from JS Bach. A bandinerie was an odd dance form that had been explored by many composers, and sometimes used as the basis of a movement within a bigger work.

The year moved on, with Willow completing the project and emailing the result to Terry. Wilhelm sent in his report, with the shopping centre now in their hands, with a management team, and the modernisation being planned, with an architect being appointed. Jill had called Willow to tell her that her solo album had been launched in time for Christmas. Willow replied that she would be in the city for the Christmas break and would be staying at her apartment.

Willow had placed adverts in the music papers, and online, with Sarah as the contact point, and there was some interest being generated. The big shed was now hosting school groups several days in the week, with the Arts Alliance over the moon. Gina had been into the studio and recorded two CDs of classical piano works, reporting that the new team were fantastic, and the Steinway was beautiful. She gave Willow a set, signed to her best friend forever.

At the beginning of December, there was another statement, with the sales dipping slightly, and each share three hundred and seventy thousand. Willow had four hundred thousand transferred to WR Holdings, taking that to over fourteen million.

They moved into the revision week and the exam week. This year, the Bishop had decided to have a choral carol service instead of a bigger show, so the orchestra had only worked on other works through the last term, and the larger choir was out in hospitals and aged care homes.

Willow emailed Sarah to tell her that the team would have two weeks holiday on full pay, getting a thank you email with a Christmas card attached in return,

After the exams, and a tearful farewell to Gina, the Rose family locked the house and went into London. They had an invitation to another ‘black tie’ party at the Dorchester. This time, however, it was only Willow who was to receive an award, her Gold Record for ‘Standards’, which had outsold ‘Fireworks’ ten to one. The evening was as glittery as the last one, with Wendy and Willow in new dresses for the occasion. She collected the one to be given to Sarah for production, to give to her in the New Year. She thought that it may be something they could do in front of her family and friends, with the Leicester paper covering a local girl making waves.

On the Monday, Ted took Willow to the Royal Holloway, where she sat for the exam, with Terry checking it while she waited, and then presented her with her framed certificate. He also gave her two other framed items, both from Hugh Kelly, and both in acknowledgement of her input, one for one subsidiary, and the second for another subsidiary. Terry asked her if he could send her more problems to solve, and Willow grinned and told him that it would cost five hundred pounds an hour, minimum of fifty hours.

That week, she went shopping for presents for her parents. She had already sent something to her grandmother. They ate out, every single day, and saw the New Year in at a good vantage point, without any riots. It had been a very busy year, and Willow wondered what the next would bring.

Marianne Gregory © 2025
End of Book 4