Staff
With an event that accommodates close to three hundred people including tutors, we need a few dedicated support staff to help run a smooth show. Most of the following have been involved with the event for many years and most are also musicians in their own right.
Moira Wirtz - Events Director
Moira has been involved with Sore Fingers Week from the very start back in 1996 using both her administrative and musical skills as a singer and player of the double bass to fine tune the event (to you and me, that means putting some order into John's chaotic ideas). Moira takes care of the event administration and will make sure you have a room and bed when you arrive. She also takes care of tutor hospitality and makes everybody who works for the event comfortable and happy. This stressful job has caused some of the students to dub her as "Cruella". Nobody dares challenge her though, she pays the wages!
Gill Harrison - Scratch band coordinator and concert organiser
Gill has been a key member on the team for several years now in the capacity of student scratch band and concert coordinator. A job which she has taken to with relish and which has earned her the name of "Gill the Barbarian". Well, you need to be a barbarian to tame all those inflated banjo heads! Gill will guide you (and the tutors) through your first experience of getting together with a band, your rehearsals and a performance on the big Sore Fingers Week stage complete with sound system and lights. Oh, the glory of it all, Gill's waiting to take you there!
Joe Rusby - Sound and recording engineer
Joe is one of Britain's most sought after sound engineers. His work with sister Kate and many other top rated folk and roots musicians has earned him the highest of reputations on the British acoustic music scene. Joe also works the sound on the main stage at Didmarton Bluegrass Festival, so he knows how to work with the top guns. Being a thoroughly nice chap, we haven't found anything about him that would suggest a silly nickname...yet! Joe will also be recording the student concert and produces the Sore Fingers annual student band CD. An absolute treasure for music lovers.
Rex Preston, Dave Kosky - Catering posse
When it was getting obvious that we needed to organise the tea breaks for so many people, we needed a team of caterers. Well, you could do worse than ask two of the best musicians around who in between washing up cups and prepping the next trea break will play some amazing music. Rex plays mandolin like a demon and Dave is one of the best flat-pick guitarists around. At the end of the week, they usually get a little spot in the tutor concert to show they can make serious music as well as a decent cup of coffee. Appropriate nicknames were applied here too: please let me introduce you to "Tea-Rex" and "Charkosky"!
Carolyn and Nigel Harris - Merchandising
Carolyn and Nigel first came along to chaperone daughter Jacey who plays a mean banjo - no doubt because of all the good tuition she has received at S.F.Week. Together, they manage the merchandising stall. With nearly twenty tutors who all have CDs and books to sell, keeping count of the money is a bit of a nightmare. Carolyn is a wizard with cash and has everything under control to the last penny. That means the tutors can get on with teaching knowing their merchandise is in safe hands, and with the Harris clan behind the counter, sell more goods! I defy anyone to go past the stall without been tempted into buying something, a bit like Aunty Wainwright's really.
John Wirtz - Course Co-ordinator
John was originally invited to work as the sound engineer at the first Sore Fingers Week back in 1996. When in year two, the then organisers Mike & Andrea Preston found themselves double booked, they asked John and Moira to caretake the event on their behalf. Following this experience, John became an integral part of the organising team and got involved with booking tutors, a job which he continues to do to this day. As things have become busier, John no longer works the mixing desk and usually hangs around (the bar mainly) handing out orders to people who already know what they are doing. Makes him feel good and justifies his unofficial title "The Captain"! You might see him M/Cing one of the concerts and even playing his guitar...in the bar!