Music Ministry

My Christian music ministry started back in 1977 when I joined Holtwood Mission Band (HMB), as singer/guitarist. Since then a great variety of musical opportunities have come my way - exploring this website will give you a flavour of the last 30 odd years! 

Songwriting

A milestone came in late 2003 I was able to put onto CD a record of my work since the 1980s - so the 'Name in the Sand' album was very much catching-up!

In the Worldwide Unisong 2005 competition my song 'Horton Tower' made it to the finals, following which I was interviewed by the International Songwriters Association for the 'Songwriter' magazine.
You can read Part 1 by opening the Songwriter Profile PDF (240kb).
You can read Part 2 by opening the Songwriter Profile Pt2 PDF (419Kb). 

MARCH 2010 - LATEST NEWS 

The new CD "We Can All Be Free" is having some last minute percussion added to a couple of tracks.  It will then be finalised for the mastering engineer and will be released in 2010 - so we're almost there!   On Saturday 6th with Wimborne Community Theatre I'm hoping to take forward the music side of the forthcoming production 'Go with the Flow'.  If you would like to be involved as a musician or singer please contact me.  On the 20th I'll be with Dotty Crotchets for a charity ceilidh at Blandford Corn Exchange in Dorset.  On 28th I'll be with HMB at Witchampton Methodist Church.  My song "Because of You" on NCM#70 is continuing to receive worldwide radio plays with many encouraging reaction sheets from near and far.

May - on 13th & 14th May I'll be singing a few songs at the Christian Resources Exhibition at Sandown Park in Esher, Surrey.  More details of the CRE here.  Then on Saturday 15th at 7.00 I'll be in concert at Wimblington Methodist Church in Cambridgeshire - a different part of the country for me to visit which I'm really looking forward to.  Ticket details from Peter Whatley on 07801 541097 or email nartony@homecall.co.uk  

June - the provisional performance dates of "Go with the Flow" by Wimborne Community Theatre are 18th & 19th June.  Watch this space for more details.

EARLIER IN 2010

January - a bit of a catching-up month in the studio and preparing for a busy February, including promotional radio and press work for the visit to Holtwood of George Hamilton IV in February.  HMB led a couple of services locally and with Cottage Industry I called the dances for a Burns' Night Ceilidh for the SBS - an interesting evening! 

February - this month a track from the album called "Because of You" was  released by New Christian Music (NCM) on the NCM#70 compilation CD.  It was distributed to hundreds of radio stations and is being played on air in Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, South Africa,  the UK and Australia.  The positive feedback received from radio producers and presenters is amazing - thank you to Paul Davis and his team at NCM.  On the 13th flautist Becky Shears and I were made really welcome at the NCM Weekend in Leighton Buzzard where it was good to catch up with others in the Christian contemporary music field.   The weekend included the Radio Mic Awards Ceremony 2010 when the awards were presented by George Hamilton IV.  You can find out more about the weekend by clicking on http://www.newchristianmusic.co.uk   George then be returned to present "Easter in the Country" at Holtwood on the 20th as part of his short tour of the UK.  It was a tremendously blessed evening and Becky and I were delighted to play for the first half of the concert.  Once again, thank you George for your kindness and generosity and we wish many more blessings on your ministry - and stamina!  

2009 Highlights 

January - 2009 kicked off with a return to Moonfleet Manor on New Year's Day.  On the 17th I was with HMB as we entertained the Holt Skittles Association with a variety of songs, poems, etc appropriate for 'Olde 12th Night'.  On the 21st I was with the Holtwood Sisterhood, presenting "Musical Memoirs and Milestones", and was made really welcome - thank you ladies!  On the 31st I helped out at Horton Heath's Teddy Bear Exhibition in, well, a teddy bear sort of way.  It was a cold day - but the costume kept me warm!  Congratulations to Becky Shears on putting together a wonderful exhibition with almost 700 teddy bears in all sorts of situations.

February - plenty happened on the music front, both with HMB and Cottage Industry and I also made progress with the new CD.

March - on the 10th I spent a delightful afternoon singing for the Ladies Fellowship at St. Clements Church Hall in Poole.   On the 18th  I sang a couple of songs for the Holtwood Sisterhood's anniversary rally, including the first public airing of a new song "Even For Me".  On the 23rd I was the Coffee Morning Guest for the Friends of Colehill Library, presenting "Musical Memoirs and Milestones" which featured both my Christian and secular music - and a chat about how the songs came to be written.   Add to these my gigs with Cottage Industry, Dotty Crotchets & HMB and it all added up to another busy month!  

April - mainly in the studio plus a few services with HMB and gigs with Cottage Industry, including the St. George's Day Ceilidh in memory of Ray Sargent.

May -  On the 31st I was the guest of Eddie Hams on his Hope FM programme "Through The Gates", singing live and chatting with Eddie about some of the songs from the new CD "We Can All Be Free".  He was really generous with airtime and I was on for an hour and a half - thank you Eddie!  You can listen to Hope FM by clicking here.  On 30th May Hope FM celebrated 2 years of full-time broadcasting - well done, thank you and congratulations! 

June - On the 28th June I was one of the NCM artistes in concert at "Praise-on-the-Ouse" at the Bedford-Jersey Arts Festival.  This outreach concert, overlooking the River Ouse in Bedford, was organised by Paul Davis of the UK Christian Music Alliance and New Christian Music.  Click here for more details and to view a poster for the event.   June also saw the radio and media release of NCM #64 CD which included my song "We Can All Be Free". 

July - Out and about with Cottage Industry, HMB and Dotty Crochets as well as a couple of appearances with Wimborne Community Theatre.  "We Can All Be Free" on NCM#64 CD continued to receive worldwide radio airplay and encouraging feedback from programme producers and presenters, as well as riding high in the Christian music radio play charts for Europe and the UK. 

August - "We Can All Be Free" continued to receive radio airplay worldwide and the feedback received was really encouraging  The song is receiving airplay in literally dozens of countries including America, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands as well as radio stations in the UK - from London to Shetland.  A couple of the radio response sheets to NCM have commented that the song is "T-Rex with tinkling ivories" and "A touch of a young Cliff Richard" - I think that both of these are compliments!  Also a very busy month on the ceilidh side of things with a number of weddings and other social gatherings.

September - another busy month, the highlights of which were welcoming The Yetties in concert at Holtwood and 'singing for my supper' at Crendell Harvest Festival.  Crendell?  It's more or less where Dorset, Wiltshire and Hampshire all join together.  A great evening amongst great folk!

October - On the 5th I was honoured to lead a short service before the harvest sale at Horton Heath Methodist Church which was followed by sale of produce with the incomparable auctioneer Colin Besant.  Quite a busy month including gigs with Cottage Industry, Dotty Crotchets and Holtwood Mission Band plus some solo appearances.  On the 24th I took part in the Verwood Methodist Church Olde Tyme Variety Show which was really good fun  - thank you to all who supported the event which was to help celebrate the centenary of the church building. 

November - Photographer Ovi Omegar has kindly supplied the perfect image of a Dorset poppy field for the front cover of the new CD - thank you Ovi!  Becky Shears is now working to create the CD design in reality based on my fairly nebulous ideas!  On Sunday 1st Becky and I played at a full Hope Cafe in The Hub at Verwood which is a relaxed, non-threatening outreach venture by local Christians.  Thank you to Adrian Bowyer and the team from the Verwood Family Church for making us so welcome - we hope to return early in 2010. 

December - on Friday 4th Becky and I played some traditional and some original Christmas & Advent carols & songs for the Holtwood Hot Potato Club and on Monday 7th I entertained the good folk of Holt Monday Club.  It was great to have about 40/50 percussionists in the audience for each of these concerts - really made the Christmas songs come alive, especially the old wassailing songs!  On Sunday 13th I sang a selection of seasonal songs at Kinson Community Centre in Bournemouth, appearing with my good friends Route 66.  It was good to play "We Can All Be Free" with Route 66 for the first time.  Well done guys & gals!  Next it was time for carol singing in and around the Holt area.  On Sunday 27th I appeared live on Hope FM 90.1 as the studio guest for The Sunday Breakfast Show with Sheena & Derek Dayman - you can listen to Hope FM by clicking here.   Thank you Sheena & Derek for being so generous with your airtime.     

SOME PAST HIGHLIGHTS

Over the past few years, Flautist Becky Shears and I have played live and chatted on Hope FM (Bournemouth) and Forest FM 92.3 (Verwood) and I've made several solo appearances on Hope FM, on Premier Christian Radio (London) and on BBC Radio Solent (Southampton).   The great thing about radio broadcasting these days is that the programmes are also streamed live on the internet so can be heard anywhere in the world.  We've also played at Wimborne Folk Festival and at a whole variety of concerts, churches and social occasions in Dorset.