Birthday Party Dulwich Picture Gallery

14 January 2012

Dear Fiona

Please pass on to Nigel and the band my heartiest thanks for a tremendous performance at my party on Saturday. Everyone enjoyed the music immensely and it was the perfect coda to the evening. Annabelle has the most amazing voice and her performance was the crowning glory of the occasion. Thank you all so much.

Best wishes

Mark

Wedding at Blenheim

17th September 2011

Dear Dark Blues,

Thank you for the wonderful service that you provide, it created the perfect atmosphere and went a long way towards making it the most memorable day of our lives.

Yours

Andrew Roberts and Whitney May

Dark Blues Annual Picnic 2010

5th June 2010

Please forward me details of next years Dark Blues picnic so I can host another table. Great success this year, thanks and Well Done!

Nicola Waters

Great fun as always. Well done. We are hoping to host at least two tables next year. Thanks

Rachel Heaphy

Dear All, Just wanted to say a big thank you again for organising another fabulous evening. We all really enjoyed it as always. Thank you also for the position of our table, just brilliant. We were up dancing all night. Already looking forward to 2011!!

Regards Kate

Just a quick note to say thank you so much for a fabulous evening on Saturday, we had a great time – I have never been before, but definitely will be back next year. Please let me know the date so I can organise a bigger table !

The band (as expected) was first class – the best night out I’ve had in a long time.

Huge thanks for placing us in the marquee with the dance floor – just made the night totally perfect.

Hope you can manage to have some well earned rest this week Thanks very much again

Ali

This was the first time that my wife Dee and I attended this event and would like to congratulate you and your committee on a very well run event.

Alastair

Wedding

Spring, 2010

To all the Dark Blues,

Wow, what an amazing atmosphere you helped create for our wedding day. There has been many compliments on the band. You were all unbelieveable and what an incredible voice your lead singer has. You certainly got every one up on their feet in no time at all. Thank you so much and you exceeded the good reputation you have, and I will not hesitate to use or recommend you in the future. A big thank you again.

Georgie and Mig Adams

Birthday Party at Farnham Castle

June 30th, 2009

Nigel,

Absolutely fantastic!! Everyone loved The Dark Blues – perfect entertainment. A number of people said that it was so good they thought you must have been playing CD’s of the actual artists at times! You created a great atmosphere for people to really enjoy themselves. The event organiser at the Castle said you were the best live group they have had (she said that most live bands end up too loud and people evacuate the room). It was everything we hoped for and more – please pass on our thanks to all the team.

Best wishes,
Kevin

Family Wedding

16th February 2009

Dear Fiona, Nigel and the rest of the Dark Blues,

Enclosed with huge thanks and admiration is the balancing payment for the band’s performance at our wedding last week. The Dark Blues were hugely professional, hugely fun to be around and judged the mood and playlist to perfection! The wedding was undeniably better thanks to their presence! Thank you all very, very much!

Charlie and Alice Hague

Wedding Reception

Dear Nigel,

Many thanks for playing at our wedding reception last month. We wanted everyone to have a great time in the evening with fantastic music and lots of fun on the dancefloor, and you most certainly gave us that. Gavin said he wished you could have played for another four hours! My dad doesn’t often let his hair down so is great to see him enjoying himself so much – thank you for adding “summer of 69″ to your repertoire. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and just wish we could do it all again.

Best wishes,
Nicola and Gavin Newson, Brighton

Duke of Edinburgh

Dear Nigel,

Apologies for the delay in writing to you, things here have been a little hectic and we’re only now able to catch up with the mountains of paperwork! Anyway, just wanted to say a huge thank you from all of us for such a great performance. We thoroughly enjoyed it and many of the guests who stayed for the dancing thought you were fantastic. Please pass on our sincere thanks to the rest of the band and to Sal and of course to Fiona for all her help. We haven’t got any dancing evenings in the diary as yet but I’ll be sure to contact you when we do. Once again, thank you so much.

Warm wishes
Rachel Ormiston Events Executive

Wedding Party

Dear Fiona

Just a quick note to ask that you pass on our thanks to the Band for their fantastic playing and vocals (have I the right terminology?) last Saturday. They were just great and very supportive when the generator packs up and very generously offered to make up the lost hour. Sadly we couldn’t take them up on it as most of the guests had taxis and minicabs taking them home.

Best regards,
Honor James

Bat Mitzvah

Dear Nigel,

We were both ‘blown away’ by the Dark Blues’ performance last night. There is absolutely no doubt in our minds that the success of any party revolves around the performance of a great band, and yours was truly a great performance. The accumulation of all your experience enables you to read any audience and somehow know exactly what to play and when to play it. Your choice of songs was perfect and ensured a dance floor packed with smiling faces all night. This is what made the party for Tracy and me. The way you built the atmosphere through to an amazing finish was just brilliant and the party ended on a massive high. Nigel, this is not the first time that we have had the great pleasure of ‘working’ with you and will certainly not be the last. What you may not appreciate is that your professionalism enables us to totally relax in the knowledge that you will ‘do your thing’, and means that we are able to really enjoy our party with our guests. Can’t wait until the next time,

With kindest regards,
Mark Harris

Society of London Toastmasters

Dear Fiona,

Now that the excitement of our Banquet and Ball on Saturday has died down, I want to thank you and all the Dark Blues team for helping to make the evening so special. The months of planning paid off; the band was on superb form, Nigel a great compere, and everyone there enjoyed themselves thoroughly. Thanks to you, too, for making it all so easy and oiling the wheels! I know that Nigel and Deborah are away at the moment, but please let them, and the rest of the team, know how much I appreciate their support (specially on the financial side) which really helped a lot. It occurred to me as soon as I left the Cafe Royal that I hadn’t called for three cheers for The Dark Blues at the end of the dancing; a bad omission, but please do pass on my thanks and good wishes to then for everything They made all the difference to the evening.

With kindest regards,
Paul Campion President Society of London Toastmasters

Summer Party

Dear Susie and Team,

Re: Picnic 2nd June 2007 I felt I had to drop you a few lines on behalf of the 20 picnic players from Redbourn Physiotherapy Clinic. Thank you so much for such a wonderful evening, we all had a marvellous time, the Music was just fantastic and the only complaint was that all our feet hurt at the end; I don’t think any of us stopped!! lt is such a wonderful idea and we are only sorry that we have not been included in the previous years. lt was the perfect place to host our Summer Party and all in a good cause. Our table situation was just perfect (no 24) also, and we will be reserving it again for this year!! Please let us know when we can book. Please thank the team, Well Done!

Kind regards,
Kim Markwell Practice Manager

Ruby Wedding – Sussex

Dear Nigel,

We had a wonderful and memorable evening for our Ruby Anniversary last Saturday. Our thanks go to you and The Dark Blues for playing music from our era, which was appreciated by all generations, including our grandchildren. It speaks for itself that the dance floor was permanently full from start to finish. We have received so many lovely letters from our guests and each one without exception mentions how much they enjoyed the music. One or two of our older friends mentioned that the music and songs took them back to their ‘Deb’ days! Your Country and Western entertainment was thoroughly enjoyed – congratulations. Several of our friends thought that a band from Nashville was playing! One of our friends wrote to say they sang American Pie’, all the way home! Thank you and the rest of the team so much.

All best wishes,
V and N

Dark Blues’ Gig

Dear Ray,

Can I thank Nigel and the Dark Blues for a fantastic performance at The Vineyard in Newbury. Andrea and I were absolutely delighted and it really made the evening go with a swing!

Sincerely
Charlie Bruin

Wedding Party

Dear Dark Blues and all

We wanted to say thank you for your amazing performance at our wedding in Rye on 14th June. You were amazing. We have had so many guests writing all about you and saying they thought you were the best band at a private party they had ever come across. And thanks for the being so helpful when the generator packed up. Obviously we were very sad to lose you (And the lights!) for a bit, but as you said, it did seem to mean everybody was on the dance floor when the power returned. Thanks to Fiona for making everything organisational so easy.

Best wishes,
Katherine and Paddy

The Arts Educational School

Dear Fiona

I have great pleasure in enclosing our balance cheque in respect of our engagement of The Dark Blues on 7th July, 2006. It was a great night and I think everyone appreciated the Jitterbug Theme. It really worked well. The Band was great as usual and Annabelle was outstanding. Will you please pass on our special thanks to Nigel and the band for a fabulous evening yet again. I do hope that they enjoyed the evening as much as we did. Best Wishes to you all for a Happy Summer.

Yours Sincerely
Sue Busby Director of Development

Family Wedding

Fiona,

Thanks for your message. Just to say, as always, the band were absolutely fantastic! Despite the room being quite warm and a lovely evening outside, they kept the dance floor packed and have certainly gained some groupies amongst our friends!! Please pass on my thanks for helping to make a great evening,

Best wishes
Rebecca Farnsworth Associate Director Capitol House Russell St Leeds LS1 5SP (by email)

Anniversary Celebration

Dear Candy,

I just wanted to drop you a line and say how much we all enjoyed the Dark Blues at the Fuller’s 160th Anniversary Celebration. Nigel and the gang were absolutely fantastic and I have never seen such a consistently full dance floor. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the Dark Blues in the future, and it was real joy to see a group playing who were obviously having as much fun as those of us in the audience. Please pass on my thanks to Nigel and the band, and thank you for your organisation and help and advice about the disco side of the evening too. You certainly made our evening go with a swing!

Best Regards
Georgina Wald Public Relations Manager

Musicians’ Union

Dear Nigel,

The Congress has finished now – I’m exhausted, but really pleased at how well it went. Monday night was a fantastic occasion. Thank you so much for doing it. The band was perfect and I was most impressed by the way that you all accommodated some of the more eccentric members of FIM when they sat in. Please give the members of the band my heartfelt thanks and best wishes, you were all great ambassadors for British music and I was very proud and honoured to have you there. I wish you all a very happy Christmas and a busy and prosperous New Year.

Best wishes,
John John F. Smith, General Secretary Musicians’ Union (by email)

Mansion House event

Dear Fiona,

I enclose a cheque as requested in payment for your invoice with many thanks. Letter after letter sent to us have praised the Dark Blues for their playing in the Mansion House. Well done and thank you.

Robert Finch

Weekend Wedding Party

Dear Fiona,

Thank you for all your help in booking and co-ordinating The Dark Blues for last weekend. As I mentioned on the phone, they did an excellent job and the Curran’s were delighted with both the wedding on the Saturday and the lunch on Sunday. Nigel did a brilliant job of gauging the crowd and there was a tremendous atmosphere at both events. Molly Ronan from Blue Strawberry was also very impressed and I have no doubt that she will mention you next time she is asked to recommend a band. Many thanks to Nigel and the team – they were a delight to work with.

Fiona Koetser

LSO Event

Dear Nigel,

I just wanted to thank you and the band so much for playing for us on 9 May. It all worked out perfectly and everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. The music was just right and I was really delighted to see so many people on the dance floor – young and old! Thank you for making it work. Good luck to you all. I don’t know when we’ll next be having an orchestra party, but if we do we’ll certainJy call on you again. Kind Regrads and thank you again Libby Rice LSO Events Manager PS The older members of the orchestra were delighted to know that they were dancing to the drum beats of Tommy Cook’s grandson!

Sunflower Ball 2003

Dear Fiona

The Sunflower Ball was a great success due in no small way to The Dark Blues. All our guests danced the night away and the atmosphere was electric throughout. Please convey my thanks to Nigel and the band, especially Annabel for such wonderful entertainment. Thank you for all your help and assistance with this event.

Barbara Doherty Chairman, Sunflower Ball 2003

Amanda’s Wedding Party

Dear Fiona,

We would be grateful if you would pass on our thanks and appreciation to all members of the band – they were simply brilliant, and created a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere, enabling young and old to enjoy the evening with equal abandon.

Yours Sincerely
C.D. Baird

Wedding Party

Dear Nigel and All Dark Blues,

Another wonderful party in the bag —–! (I arrogantly say!!) but only thanks to your fantastic music and all the others who helped arrange the party. The letters we receiving, all make mention of the Dark Blues – so many from the young saying that the ‘mix’ was great and judging from the amount of people on the dance floor at any one moment – we all agree! Thank you once again for the fabulous noise you make – I can’t believe its all over but the photos show it all. I wish I could say we’ll do it again – but better to go ‘out’ on a high – though as Hattie keeps reminding me – there’s always her wedding – hey – ho. Many thanks to you all and with love PS. I shall never forget the conversations Fiona and I had about Garage/Trance Music!! (She was great to work with).

Ashdown Annual Ball

Nigel,

Thirty years ago The Dark Blues performed in a small village in Sussex at the first Ashdown Ball. They have been the major attraction ever since. They easily combine the music of the Stones with the latest pop sensation of the day and have the ability to adapt their programme to the mood of their audience. People return to our event year after year from all over the South East of England not least because they know that the Dark Blues will provide an evening of high calibre musicianship and varied musical entertainment. The Ashdown Ball would not be the same and would not regularly attract up to 1000 guests without The Dark Blues.

Arthur Rawlinson Chairman, The Ashdown Ball (via email)

Wedding Party

Dear Nigel and Dark Blues,

Thank you so much for all your efforts and talent on our wedding evening. We had such fun during the evening, and this is mainly down to you. So many people have commented on how great the music and dancing was – so we are really grateful that you played such a big part in making the atmosphere fun and enjoyable. We had such a magical day for both of us – and you helped to make it that way.

With best wishes,
Judy and Jeremy Hicks

Masked Ball

Dear Susi,

I just wanted to take this opportunity to write and thank you, Nigel and The Dark Blues for all your help at our Masked Ball in Claridges earlier this week. We had a marvellous time and have been flooded with complements regarding the music all week – you certainly know how to get people up and dancing!

Many Thanks and Kind Regards
Vanessa Peggs Quintain Estates & Development plc

Party

April 17th, 2002

Dear Fiona,
Thank you so much for organising The Dark Blues to come and play at the party on Saturday night. They were FANTASTIC. They really did make it the most fantastic party and everyone couldn’t stop dancing! The music they played was perfect for both generations and everyone I speak to keeps raving about them. We have recommended the band to lots of people so hopefully you will get some business from the guests at the party – you never know!

With thanks and best wishes
Susannah and Caroline