23 May

Been in South Africa since my last post... made tonight's rehearsal a bit scary, as we have a concert tomorrow night. Will have to squeeze a bit of time into tomorrow's busy schedule to learn 'The Long and Winding Road' (OK, all you 60's buffs, you know it. But not the alto part of this particular arrangement..)

In the meantime, here's a picture of my very first sighting of a kingfisher. Not one we have here in the UK, but thrilling nonetheless!!

Rehearsal 2nd May

Last week's rehearsal (25th April) began with a photo session. It's a long time since we had a formal photo session, and Audrey Evans organised a photographer from the U3A to do the honours. He was very thorough, and I'm looking forward to seeing the results! I'm afraid I can't report on the following rehearsal, as I was at the 'no-voice' stage of a cold, so hot-footed it back home for a toddy as soon as the session was over. Made it to this week's rehearsal, albeit a little late, and dressed in Georgian Fair gear; came straight from a dress rehearsal for the Street Theatre. I missed the work on Guantanamera and The Girl from Ipanema, but caught the end of work on Faure's Ave Maria, which are part of the summer concert programme. Then we went through all of the programme for this Sunday's Georgian Fair concert at All Saints Church. We're opening the event at 2 pm; the grand finale is the Papcastle Phil, playing the specially commissioned arrangement of - well, it's hard to describe, but the title is '1812 in Cockermouth', so there could be some references to Tchaikovsky, and we've been promised special effects... can't wait!!

18th April rehearsal

Georgian Fair concert getting very close! Programme order now sorted, and tonight we went through most of it: Douglas Cook's Oh, love it is pleasing and The wild mountain thyme; Oh, won't you sit down; Azikatale; the Agnus Dei from Faure's Requiem, and Bobby Shaftoe. Note to all members: photo session next week before we start singing. Please be there at 18.45 wearing black (not necessarily what you'd wear for a concert) with your summer and winter touches of sweet pea and red, respectively, so we can have two official photos. The Marvejols trip will go ahead in summer 2013: we have a critically small but 'do-able' number of members who'd like to give it a go. Once the Georgian Fair is over, we'll have another meeting to further our plans. Meanwhile, Pat Tolley will write to Dominic Juive in Marvejols (who issued the invitation) to tell him the good news!!

Rehearsal 28th March

Last one before Easter. A night spent polishing up our a cappella repertoire ready for Cockermouth Live! and Isel Hall, both on 23rd June. Douglas Cook's arrangement of The Wild Mountain Thyme, which is at its best performed at quite a lick; the spiritual Wayfarin' stranger; Bobby Shaftoe, fun, showy & with a touch of humour; Zoltan Kodaly's Hippity-Hoppity (very glad we don't have to sing it in the original Czech!) William Cornysh's Ah, Robin, gentle Robin; a traditional South African piece Azikatal; Oh, won't you sit down, and Douglas Cook's Oh, love it is pleasing. We started off with two of our old South African favourites, Siya Hamba and Amen Siyakedumisa. Wow, busy night!!

Rehearsal 21st March

Worked tonight on two pieces to add to our unaccompanied repertoire. Kodaly's Hippity-Hoppity and Douglas Coombes' arrangement of Bobby Shaftoe. More work on Guantanamera, which dare I say it is approaching performance standard... finally!! Then the last few minutes on the introduction to Lennon & McCartney's Long and Winding Road. Doesn't bear any resemblance to that old Beatles recording of mine. I wonder who arranged it...

29 Feb, 7th & 14 March rehearsals

Bumper edition tonight!
Here's what has been rehearsed during the last three rehearsals.
7th March
Faure's Agnus Dei; He Ain't Heavy; Douglas Cook's 'O love it is pleasing' and an arrangement by Philip Wood of the Fenham College Song... there must be a story there somewhere....
29th Feb (sorry, dates out of order!)
The Long and Winding Road; Girl from Ipenima; Guantanamera
14th March
Emphasis on unaccompanied works tonight. William Cornysh's Ah, Robin, gentle Robin; O won't you sit down; both our Douglas Cook songs, Oh love it is pleasing and The wild mountain thyme;a spiritual, Wayfarin' stranger, and a traditional South African song, both arranged by Peter Hunt, Azikatale.

Choir Social at Victoria Hall

Friday 24th February, a social evening, to talk through what would be involved in taking the choir to our twin town of Marvejols for a week's 'singing holiday' in 2013. But also, a smashing evening - something our choir seems to be particularly good at; possibly because of the friendships and camaraderie engendered by earlier visits to Marvejols, as Chris Albon pointed out... men bonding over copious amounts of wine... who would have believed it??
It was hard to find a suitable venue for a Friday night event. Victoria Hall ticks all the boxes! Lovely, cosy and  intimate, perfectly equipped (proper kitchen, plenty of tables and chairs, ). Thanks to all the washers up, and to Bob Harwood whose experience in organising these trips is second to none.

As always with our 'party nights', there was a terrific provision of food and drink. My first attempt at making Aligot might not have been perfect - scissors weren't necessary to cut off portions, which I'm told is the traditional method; but it was delicious and, thankfully,  not a scrap left. (Mind, I won't be tempted to mash six pounds of potatoes again in a great hurry... )

Rehearsal 22nd February

Welcome back after half term, and welcome back Val H., who isn't quite 100% yet but sounds much healthier than at her last rehearsal! Please don't overdo it, Val!!
Lovely rehearsal. Finished Guantanamera, which seemed terribly long whilst we were learning it, but suddenly quite short once we got to performance stage!Then work on two of our unaccompanied numbers, Oh won't you sit down, and Azikatale, a traditonal  South African melody.
Reminder to all: we are having a social on Friday night at Victoria Hall, to talk about a possible visit to twin town Marvejols in summer 2013. Bring a plate of something to eat for supper (aligot provided, hope my recipe works!) and Bob Harwood will talk about what a trip would entail.

Rehearsal 8th February

Another rehearsal without MD Val Hetherington, who is struggling to shake off a chesty cold. As it's last week before our half-term break, here's hoping she crawls back into bed and lets Pete nurse her back to health!!
We are blessed in having Anne-Marie Kerr and Phil Wood to take over  on such occasions, and so a very good rehearsal. Began with a (not quite) performance standard He Ain't Heavy, followed by Guantanamera AND WE CAN NOW SING THE CHORUS WITHOUT LOOKING AT OUR MUSIC!! Phil took over for a very thorough session of Faure's Ave Maria (including some swapping of lines between sops and altos - Faure was very optimistic thinking altos could get up to F sharp without screeching!  Finished with work on the Agnus Dei from Faure's Requiem, which almost reached its full lush and gorgeous potential! Half term next week, next rerhearsal 22nd (two days before our Marvejols social evening).

Rehearsal 1st February

 Tonight we worked on Ah, Robin, gentle Robin, which will be one of the a capella numbers for our Georgian Fair performance that we can also sing at Cockermouth Live! and at Isel Hall, if that event is confirmed - should have an update on that by next week; and another a capella number, Oh, won't you sit down, which some of us have sung before. After the break we did more work on the Agnus Dei from Faure's Requiem, and finished off with a performance of Guantamanera.
We have finally managed to find a venue for our Marvejols Planning Evening. It will be held at the Victoria Hall in High Sand Lane, on Friday 24th February. Choir members are encouraged to come along and enjoy a good social evening, irrespective of whether or not they plan to join our mooted trip in summer 2013. Bring something nice for supper to share! I would like to try to make some aligot (a cheese and potato dish that is often served with sausages) - Janet Mansfield has offered to lend me her jam pan. I've been researching recipes on line, but I'm sure there are plenty of people in town who've already sampled the real thing in Marvejols who will be able to point me in the right direction! Bob Harwood is to be asked to come and tell us what would be involved - he undertook all the planning arrangements for previous trips.