Two Songwriters From Wangford Write Special Songs For Special Occasions

Young musicians set up small business to create bespoke songs for clients.

This news story opens with scenes of a group in a small plane preparing for a parachute jump over the countryside with coloured flares. A country-sounding song accompanying these scenes was composed and performed specially for Lynda Shaw who explains that she decided not to jump after all, but she still has the song. Nigel Orchard and Mandy Orchard are seen in their cottage home at Wangford, Suffolk. Mandy is singing and Nigel playing keyboard and together as Songsters they write and play songs for special occasions. Interviewed sitting on the sofa with their dog they say they are now professional musicians as they have funding for their business for the first year through a Manpower Services Enterprise grant. They charge £20 a song, and Mandy says it is hard to advertise their service in the newspapers so that people realise they are not just getting "some guy howling into a tape recorder". They songs are original, researched and personal. Gavin Jones asked for a song for his girlfriend Maria Deacon on her 18th birthday. It was played on a tape at her party, and she was a bit embarrassed, but she likes the song. Nigel and Mandy aim to get better known as musicians through this project, and they have a responsibility to their family and supporters, so they want it to work. The reporter was Tony Adams for this video made to be shown in a news story on Anglia Television early evening news / magazine programme About Anglia.

Keywords

Music; Musical composition; Song writing; Small businesses; Parachute jumps; Birthdays