Latest News as at 29.07.10:

Piccolo is finished for the summer - back Wednesday September 8th

Sing and Tonic with a Twist -Get your Children and Staff singing and keep them singing: New Training from Piccolo starting September 2010

Have you or your staff been 'Piccolo-ed'? We are running a series of 3 workshops, one in September, October and November 2010 on a Wednesday morning for those people who would like to improve their singing skills and ensure their song times continue to be fun and different.
Feedback from all of our training to date has shown that staff would benefit from having some session plans they can use in their settings together with the means and confidence to teach and encourage their colleagues to join in and continue to plan new sessions. These workshops aim to do just that.
Who is the course for?
For people working in an early years setting with babies to children aged 4 who:
Either have attended previous Piccolo workshops and would like to develop their singing skills and pass these on to their colleagues and children.
Or who already enjoy singing and leading children's sessions and would like to further develop their skills and repertoire

If you are interested please click here to find out more:

The BIG SING with Piccolo - come and celebrate 10 years of singing and help us raise funds for Emma Maltby Memorial Fund/Teenage Cancer Trust. All the family are welcome - Sunday September 12th 2010

We are welcoming anyone who has enjoyed singing with us over the last ten years, plus family and friends to join us for a BIG SING at Linskill Community Centre on Sunday 12th September at 2pm. No need to book or buy a ticket - just bring a donation for our nominated charity and your singing voices and a smile! We'll sing some Piccolo favourites and no doubt see some puppets too. We hope to serve refreshments for a small cost.

Birthday Winners May and June 2010 - sorry we're late!

Happy Birthday to Evan Wilkinson who was one in May, and to Jack Beech who was two in June, both winners of our Birthday CD draw. To enter your child's name, e mail us with your child's name, date of birth and address and we'll add them to the birthday draw until they are five years old

National Childminding week 12th-19th June - did you sing the song written by Piccolo to celebrate?

New Venue at the Coast from June 9th : St Mary's Cullercoats

As of June 9th our Whitley bay sessions currently held at St Mary's Claremont Gardens will move to St Mary's Farringdon Road, Cullercoats, about a mile and a half away. Same name - different church! A map of the location will go on our Find Us page very soon. Times and prices stay the same.

What's different? Carpet - Hooray! A cosier venue, better loos/baby change facility, easier to heat, and nicer for the small babies especially. Easy to get to on foot, metro or by car, and easy parking, with car park. We hope this does not inconvenience too many of you and think that the sessions will be more enjoyable all round in this venue.

Mondays at Linksill remain the same, as do Thursdays in Heaton.

Boogle Oogle Oogle CD available now!

At last our new songs are available, including Clickety Clack, the Boogle Oogle, Making Shapes and The Raspberry Song. For full details see our shop. Both pre-school and primary aged children will appreciate these lively and original songs. Adults can't help but join in and enjoy learning simple harmonies with their children. Sung by Anna and Abi, with some fun new arrangements including special guests Pauline Brandon on the fiddle and Tony Davis on piano.Have a listen here.

Interested in working with Piccolo? Live on Tyneside or nearby?

We are always on the look out for people who are keen to work with us in leading sessions for babies and young children or in local schools, especially if you play guitar! If you are keen to get involved in Piccolo, do get in touch by e mailing us or giving us a ring on 0191 2528765. You may not know that all of our Piccolo team started out as mums coming to Piccolo with their children!

Piccolo's Dance Baby Sing CD reaches Mother and baby Awards Final!

Centre for Life Early Years Days - more planned from the Autumn What a busy 4th May! Several more dates have been arranged, for under fives to enjoy the Centre for Life. See our calendar for details You can now buy our CDs at Life's gift shop too.

Piccolo picks up GOLD award!

We are thrilled to say Piccolo has won an award for the Shake Rattle and Sing CD! On 18th September Abi and Anna travelled to Manchester to the Practical pre-school Magazine awards ceremony to collect a GOLD award for their CD. Testers (parents and pre-school settings) said the CD was " Terrific value for money...lots of good variations on traditional songs and rhymes...there were many requests for 'Sleepy Head'..would be lovely in small groups or for use in the home." It's fantastic that our music for young children is recognised as being great quality, good fun and value for money.

To order this award winning CD visit our shop, you can listen on-line and order with FREE p+p, deliveries normally take just a few days.

We asked people "Why do you come to Piccolo?" and they said this:

Friendly setting, lovely traditional and modern music, leaders who are naturals with children - will be sad to stop after 6 years of Piccolo!
Warm friendly atmosphere, Great bonding time with children
Enjoy the live music, good variation of songs, very friendly to newcomers
Like flexibility of not having to commit every week, always made to feel very welcome, like the fact it's live music - better than a CD like in other classes.
Brilliant -we've hardly missed a session in over three years
It's an amazing class - worth all your hard work on Thursdays
No matter how little sleep I've had it always perks us up to have a sing
A hot drink brought to you; live music and instruments, meeting friends.
Lovely songs, well organised and fun. Very GOOD QUALITY!
However stressful the morning has been we always leave Piccolo smiling

Piccolo birthday parties and nursery visits -NEW!

Piccolo is 10 years old next Spring! Come and join in a reunion sing...

Online CD Orders: Shopping the easy way - Free delivery!

You can now pay for CD orders online using PayPal. See our CDs page for details of all products including 'Gift Wrap and Send' - an easy way to sort out gifts for Christmas, birthdays and new babies. You order your CDs or book, and we wrap them and post them with a card, showing your message to your friend or relative. Easy Peasy! Our CDs are always available to buy at sessions at a specially discounted price of £7.99 each, by cash or cheque.