Music fundraiser for Kayak students

Nigel Brooke presents a concert to raise funds for local kayakers.
PHOTO / Paul Brooks

Osteopath and musician Nigel Brooke has been dogged with ill health recently, but it hasn’t stopped him picking up his guitar to raise funds for two local kayakers.

Whanganui High School students Jack Clifton and Lucas Thompson are representing the country in the Junior World Kayak Champs in Pitesti, Romania in August. They have been named in the four-man New Zealand Canoe Racing team and are fundraising in earnest for the event.

Kayaker fundraising is not new to Nigel.

In 2014 he and Errol Christiansen produced an album of original jazz music to raise funds to send Nigel’s son Toby Brooke to the Junior World Championships in Szaged, Hungary, that year.

Nigel is a practising osteopath but he has a strong musical background, having trained at the City of Leeds College of Music in the 1970s. He later played electric bass with Gary Boyle, a jazz fusion guitarist who had worked with Dusty Springfield, and Brain Auger and the Trinity. Nigel was a founder member of Brendan Croker and the Five O’Clock Shadows, recording two albums with the group.

Now he has a nylonstringed Spanish guitar and plans an hour of classical, romantic, flamenco and Latin American music in a concert next month.

Lately he has been struggling with a condition which has affected his mobility, strength and, for a time, his guitar playing.

“I am still able to get a lot of enjoyment out of playing, to the point that, last year, I decided to buy a better guitar.”

He has re-evaluated, looking at what he can do, rather than what his new limits are. Fortunately, music is still his passion and he retains his musicality and skill, even if he has lost some of his speed. People can expect a high standard of playing when he performs on June 16.

“I’ll do two half-hour sets and keep it really informal,” he says. “I’ll talk between pieces and try and make it fun.”

Jack and Lucas will be at the concert so people can meet the people the fundraising is for.

“It’s always been a community effort for the funding so I’ll do it while I still can.”

While the concert is for Jack and Lucas, Nigel is looking forward to playing for people who would not normally hear his music.

“It’ll be nice to share it, but it’s not about me. If I have a skill that can raise a bit of money for them, that’s cool. I’m not promising perfection, but I am promising a nice range of styles from across the centuries.”

The concert includes a “sumptuous” afternoon tea on Sunday, June 16, 2-4pm, in the dining area at the Quaker Settlement, 76 Virginia Rd.

Tickets are $25 from Jude Clifton on 027 636 1529. Numbers are limited and there are no door sales.

Midweek 29/5/19