Caring about music is nice, but it’s pretty easy.  We like stuff, we don’t like stuff, we grievously insult people with different opinions from ourselves… the usual tedious carping.

However, once a year we get the chance to do something a little bit more, and to actually make a bit of a contribution to the world: Mrs Toad organises the Stockbridge collection for the RNLI – the lifeboats for you acronymophobes – and on Saturday 28th April we will be asking you for a little help.

Every year we collect for the RNLI between 10am and 4pm here in Stockbridge and every year our friends and various music allies turn out to help us.  We are very grateful for the help, and once again this year we will be asking for it.  Usually the incentives we offer involve roast lamb and plenty of wine, but this year we can add another gentle inducement:

On the evening of the 28th April Edinburgh’s sonic alchemists The Leg will be launching their new album An Eagle to Saturn at a mystery venue in Edinburgh’s Old Town, and if you choose to be so nice as to help us collect for the lifeboats beforehand then Mrs. Toad and I will pay for your ticket to the album launch show.  As well as plying you with roast meat and wine.

So in other words, if you don’t turn up and help out, you must be a pretty dismal sort of fucker; shame on you. Tickets for The Leg album launch can be bought in person from me, from the band, or from Avalanche Records in the Grassmarket.

Around this time of year Mrs. Toad has developed a strange habit of getting off her lazy arse and actually doing something for a change.  That something is collecting for the Royal National Lifeboat Association.

The RNLI is a spectacular dodge of responsibility by the government in that they allow such a crucial rescue service to remain entirely dependent on charity and on the work of volunteers.  This is frankly unbelievable if you ask me, but certainly increases the urgency of supporting the people with the courage to volunteer and the commitment to do the work.  Imagine if the fucking fire brigade were a charity!

Anyhow, somewhat incredulous outrage aside, once a year volunteers hit the streets to shake a tin and collect for the RNLI.  Mrs. Toad runs the Stockbridge collection, and we would really appreciate help from any of you who feel you can spare a couple of hours of your time this weekend.

It’s pretty simple, Mrs. Toad and I will cook a big old roast lamb, and people can turn up whenever they like and spend an hour or two (or whatever you can spare) shaking a tin at various locations around Stockbridge, and we will feed you wine and roast lamb for your efforts.  We will also record a podcast (which is inevitably rather messy – here’s last year’s) at the end of the evening, which is supposed to feature sea songs and various stuff like that.  It’s pretty good fun, honestly, so if you fancy coming along between 10am and 4pm this Saturday (1st May – not Sunday, as I originally posted) and making a bit of a contribution then please let me know.

Broken Records – And They All Fell Into the Sea (Live on 6Music)

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This Saturday Mrs. Toad is in charge of collecting for the lifeboats in Stockbridge, and any help we can get with the collection would be hugely appreciated.  We will repay you all with beer and food throughout the afternoon, so it should be sociable and plenty of fun, but an hour or so of your time would be much appreciated.

The RNLI is a charitable body and hence rely entirely on public donations.  This is a fucking scandalous tax dodge by the government, if you ask me, but that doesn’t change the fact that the support of the public is absolutely crucial to what they do.  A lot of the readers of this site were up in Anstruther recently, which has a lifeboat station of its own, and was once home to a considerable fishing fleet.  Pittenweem appears to be more of a working harbour than Anstruther these days, but in general those communities who hosted us have given their fair share and it might be nice if we respected their commitment by showing a little willing of our own, as a way of repaying their hospitality.

The first collections will go out at about ten in the morning, no-one need do more than an hour, and whilst we are starting with tea and cakes we will finish up with scran and bevvies in the evening, and quite possibly some antisocially loud music at night time.  So if you can possibly help and fancy coming round, please get in touch.  Giving a few quid would also be a big help, but actually participating and helping out is much harder to do where charity is concerned, so we’d really appreciate it if you could come round and lend a hand.

The Divine Comedy – A Seafood Song

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And, erm, I hope it’s not too tasteless, but this is the obvious song to choose:
British Sea Power – Fear of Drowning

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