Summer Update

Summer Term ended with a number of enjoyable events: a summer concert at St. Cuthbert's Church in Embleton, inclusion in the choir event at Cockermouth Live!, which took place in All Saints' Church, and of course our own summer concert at Christ Church, Cockermouth, which proved a real hit with the audience who especially enjoyed the massed singing numbers, with words provided on the overhead display. Our guests where the Cockermouth School Boys' Choir, who go from strength to strength; their a capella singing is confident, accomplished and a joy to hear. Term ended with a bring-and-share supper at the Harwood's house in Crosby. A glorious summer evening, and the delicious food goes without saying!! Pictures taken during the rehearsal for our summjer concert.

6 May 2014

Very busy recently. The choir from Marvejols arrived on Sunday 27th April for their stay, with several choir members acting as hosts. On the same day the choir sang at Wendy Sanders' last service at Christ Church. The church was packed and it was a very joyous occasion for Wendy. On Monday 28th, Les Truc'Ulants (great name!) sang their first concert of the week at St. Cuthbert's in Embleton. They are consummate musicians and the packed audience, which included a number of our own choir members, were wildly enthusiastic. On Wednesday, they joined us for a shared rehearsal followed by a buffet supper (any excuse, we're a very sociable group!). Thursday was the hightlight of the week. Six local choirs, plus a number of the school's different choral groups, performed short programmes in a mammoth choir festival at Cockermouth School. The final performance by Les Truc'Ulants was a triumph; by this time those of us privileged to hear them more than the once had already decided on our favourites from their repertoire, and it was wonderful to hear them one more time. We all agreed that we'd love it for future events of this type to take place!

Spring News

Lots of events lined up for spring and summer, and lovely varied repertoire being polished for performance. Our first outing will be to join Wendy Sanders' last service as Parish Rector. what else for her special request but a John Rutter piece?? Once she's retired, we're all hoping this means she'll be able to come to more choir rehearsals - that lovely strong voice makes such a difference to our 'front line'! On April 30th, Truc'Ulant, a family choir visiting from the Marvejols area, will join is for a rehearsal, and we intend turning it into one of those lovely social events that the choir do so well. A bring and share supper. We'll also put the finishing touches to our joint programme for the Gala Choir Event being held at Cockermouth School the next night. June 20th, we are singing at St. Cuthbert's in Embleton. June 28th we're taking part in Cockermouth Live!, which is part of the 3-day Cockermouth Festival. Last but not least, our summer concert in July, just before our summer break.

15 January 2014

Two weeks into the Spring term, and a good start made on our new season's repertoire. Two more Barbershop numbers - 'Can't help lovin' that man' and 'Summertime'; and a medley from West Side Story, which Val has adapted for our voices. All great fun to sing, and challenging enough to be interesting without being too hard! Last week we completed a short questionnaire about what we've liked most over the last year, and tested our own voices. Val will let us know the results of these in due course. We also talked about the concerts and events that are lined up so far this year. Summer concert is 5th July: the previous Saturday is the Cockermouth 'Live!' event, which we have taken part in on previous occasions. There is also the possibility of a concert at St. Cuthbert's in Embleton on 21 June. The French family choir Tru'Ulant will be visiting the week after Easter, and it is hoped there will be a big 'choir fest' at Cockermouth School, with a number of local groups taking part. And we already have THREE Christmas events lined up - that's without our own concert!! All in all, lots to look forward to, and plenty to work on. Watch this space!!