The idea for a jam: The seeds of idea for the pre-jam were sown back in 2004 when I first attended Hampshire Jam 3 and was mildly disappointed to discover it wasn't really a jam at all. It was a great festival though and one which I would really like to play at. So when it was announced that this year was most likely going to be the last one, Steve Humphries and I tried to get on the bill (as Astrogator), so when the final bill was announced and we weren't on it I decided to organise something myself. The hardest part was finding a venue, but luckily with a bit of help from Steve Jenkins (HJ organiser), I got in touch with Liphook village hall and managed to book it for the Friday prior to the main Hampshire Jam. After that it was just a matter of finding willing participants, making sure that they didn't bring too much equipment and deciding on a bit of structure, to prevent it descending into total chaos.

My account: Well, I've just had a great weekend, possibly the best 2 days of live EM so far, with the Hampshire Jam and the preceding Hampshire Jam 'Jam', or 'pre-Jam' or whatever.

Steve Humphries arrived at my house around 9 am, we had a bit of breakfast and a nice cup of tea, packed his gear into my car and headed off to Liphook at about 10:15

Steve and I made good time down to Liphook, arriving about 1:15, got some lunch, did a bit of shopping and went to pick the keys up early at 2:45.

I had a minor panic when I realised that I had forgotten to bring my cheque book to leave the damages deposit. Luckily there was a cash point nearby so I could get cash instead.

The village hall was excellent, perfect for what we wanted to do.

Everyone one got set-up roughly on schedule and we were ready to go at 6:30, but waited 5 minutes for one of the audience, who'd nipped out to get some booze.

Steve got to be MC and did the introductions and we got started at 6:35 with John, Dave and Xan, who produced a most excellent start to the proceedings.

There was another moment of panic when it became apparent that in the rush I hadn't actually made sure everyone knew how things were supposed to go, which was as one continuous set, with the people on for an hour being the 'bridges' as the others changed, so there was a bit off running around letting everyone know. after this it all went pretty much to plan, which was pretty amazing, so thanks to everyone for helping.

As I was on the door or organising most of the time I wasn't playing the rest of the evening turned into a bit of a blur, but wherever I was in the building I could still hear the music, thanks to John's excellent PA, and I don't remember any bad bits. Things faltered occasionally at the bridges as people worked out what to play, but apart from that I thought it went very well, and certainly exceeded my expectations.

We finished just before 10 and Stephan and Dave did Stephan's infamous SF medley for an encore, which was very entertaining

Audience-wise we had about 15 and I all but made back the money for the hall hire.

I guess a lot of people couldn't get away from work in time, or only got a 'pass' for one night, or weren't sure about travelling for what might be a bit of an unknown quantity.

Those that did come seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves and included HJ organiser Steve Jenkins, Grant Middleton, a group of Poles, an American, a Belgian and super EM fans Trevor, Dave and Marion.

I'd be happy to do it all again next year if there is a HJ6, or even somewhere else if there isn't, if enough other people are interested.

At the main jam on Saturday there was quite a lot of interest in the 'fringe' event as everyone seemed to be calling it, so hopefully it could attract more people if there's a next time.