Craig Yates: Chord to Board

Today I arrived at Porthcawl about 9.40am and the team discussed the order for the video and which songs will fit best with the visuals they have filmed. We now have poems for five songs written by the kids called, "Setting him free", "Brigita Brown", "6000th in the world", "Time to fight" and "From bored to board".

Unfortunately the weather is too bad today so the lifeguard told us we are unable to surf today. The kids are a bit disappointed about being stuck inside all day – it's amazing how young people aren't fazed by horrendous weather – but on the bright side this means we get all day to work on the music. I lead a warm up with a group to get us started, we do some stretches and play some games. The kids then split into 3 groups and we work on the songs that we started yesterday. After about an hour, I'm pulled out of my group and given a wetsuit to put on for a photo shoot. It's damp and sandy and takes some time to get on but I manage it eventually! We head down to the beach, thankfully it has now stopped raining and brightened up a little. The pictures are great fun and involve some of the musicians, surfers and me. I'm then asked to put on a tuxedo jacket over my wetsuit and have some comedy shots taken. After the shoot I go back to work with the groups on the songs before we break for lunch.

At lunchtime a BBC camera crew arrive from Last Choir Standing to film me on the beach for the VT for Saturday's show. I'm filmed climbing over rocks and looking very thoughtful with Coney Beach as a back drop.

After lunch we all meet again in the church hall, we work on the songs with the musicians for a while then decide to cancel the session due to the weather – thankfully the weather forecast for tomorrow looks a lot better. Off to Cardiff now for more rehearsals for Last Choir Standing then it's back to the surf board tomorrow!