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As a musician, you get used to a lot of comings and goings. It can be a very fluid lifestyle and the nature of the industry means that people can move around a bit more than is the case in many other professions.

I think that is one of the real negatives to our job. It can often feel like you are only just starting to put down roots before you have to up and leave again. This is now officially the longest time I've been in one place since I stepped off the plane from Ireland, all wide-eyed, innocent, and frankly, petrified, ready to start music college. Working at such close quarters with your colleagues - there can be times when it feels like they are the people you see the most - there can be a great deal of camaraderie within the ranks and moving on can be very difficult, even if you are excited about what the next chapter holds.

This has been a week of goodbyes - but also of hellos. With our final London prom, we said goodbye to Acting Principal Bassoon, Amy Harman. Her dedication to all things pink and sparkly, to Girls Aloud, and to great hair will be hugely missed. We do however look forward to the return of our Principal Bassoon, Jarek Augustyniak, who also has great hair.

Over the last month, we've had lots of new faces in the Orchestra (you can read short interviews with our three latest recruits, Darren, Eilidh and Amy, on the Orchestra's website) and this week we also have a newbie in the viola section! Martin Schaefer joins us as Viola No. 3, and his first concert will be as part of the Vale of Glamorgan Festival. If you see him after a concert, do give him a hearty welcome. He's difficult to miss - he's quite tall and a very lovely chap.

The first part of this week is dedicated to the Vale of Glamorgan festival, a celebration of contemporary music. This gives both us and our audiences a chance to say another hello, this time to our new Resident Composer, Mark Bowden. In our concert, we will be premiering his new work 'Lyra' for Cello and Orchestra.

On Saturday evening we will say a final farewell to summer (if it hasn't gone already) with our Prom in the Park (at the Castle). Held at Caerphilly Castle this year (don't our players look pretty in the photograph for it - check out the Proms in the Park website), the theme is 'Magic and Wizardry', although I've been told I am not allowed to dress up as Bellatrix LeStrange (a touch unfair if you ask me, especially as we're playing music from Harry Potter). Fingers crossed for good weather. Regardless of the weather, I'm sure the community singing at the end will be hearty. I'll let you know next week how many layers of black I am wearing by the end of the evening!