Our annual choir weekend this year has turned in something super special! We performed a lunchtime recital in Tewksbury Abbey on Thursday 17th Sept, which included some of our favourite hymns and traditional pieces. We met Beryl, a volunteer from the Abbey shop, who found our singing especially moving as it brought back memories of her a child, hearing her dad sing ‘Morte Christe’. She was especially thrilled to hear it live! We were equally thrilled by her ‘knitted monks’… all 250 of them…

Friday brought a day trip to Burton-on-t’Water and Broadway… some sightseeing and the opportunity for 2 flash mobs! The first one of which, the baritones performed ‘in-the-water’ (once removing shoes and socks of course!) and the by the memorial in Broadway. After an evening meal, we were joined by members of the Churchdown and Cotswolds choirs for a fun social evening, finishing with some impromptu 3 choir singing.

Saturday – our concert with the fabulous Cotswold Male Voice choir. The venue was the Kings Theatre in Gloucester, now run voluntarily by an amazing team bringing the theatre back in community use! We again finished with rousing joint numbers… and a trip to the bar!

There’s something so incredibly special about being together away these 3 days. A sense of togetherness, and belonging… and a love of singing… anywhere and everywhere!

A huge thank you to Michael and Dawn, and Paul and Ruth who have planned and pulled together this whole weekend. What a pleasure it’s been! Roll on next year’s choir tour… watch this space!

We are really looking forward to our annual weekend away next week! We begin our away trip with a lunchtime concert in Tewksbury Abbey next Thursday, 17th September at 1pm. It’s free for all to come, non-ticketed.

Friday brings a leisure day to Bourton-on-the-water followed by a shared evening of fun and entertainment with members of both the Cotswolds and Churchdown Male Voice Choirs.

Saturday brings a morning rehearsal, a trip to Gloucester, and a performance in the Kings Theatre, alongside the men of the Cotswolds Male Voice Choir. What a privilege it is to go annually and perform with other male voice choirs around the country! And the forecast is for ☀️

We have had the most wonderful weekend welcoming two fantastic choirs and their music teams to Yorkshire! Friday night was a ‘jamboree’ social evening hosted by the visiting choirs at the Holiday Inn, and Saturday we sang in the magnificent Penistone Paramount theatre. We had the opportunity to sing joint sets in both half of the program, an evening thoroughly enjoyed by all!
we were presented with gifts of a Coventry ceramic elephant, and a Rugby rugby signed ball.
What a privilege it was to share such a beautiful weekend together…!

A wonderful, and super joyful evening. Extra special for us as 10 new choir members made their debut concert. Welcome to Andrew S and Andrew W (basses), Ian, Pete P and Pete BG (baritones), Gordon, David and Luke (2nd tenors), and to Wes and Joe. (top tenors). We were so proud of all our members, especially the new recruits. They’ll be 4 more making their debut performances in July!

A huge congratulations to the Singers Collective on their stunning program, everyone was completely blown away by Becky and Ruth’s Flower duet, but such a wonderful selection of solos, duos and whole group pieces, Thank you all… Chris, Mike, Anne, Becky and Ruth, what a talented group you truly are.

The concert came to a close with a set of Les Mis numbers with the combined groups, and an audience singalong of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. Thanks to Tess for these pics from the balcony.

A wonderful, uplifting and thought provoking evening at St. John’s in Penistone. Stories of hope, and light after dark times told on ‘Voices of Hope’ audio recordings. Alongside amazing art, creativity and encouragement. We loved all the ‘Trees of Life’ woven in to the displays. Huge thanks to Mick Rowe and her inspirational ideas. We were thrilled to be able to add some voices in song, We loved a bit of improv gospel “Amazing Grace” with the fabulous Lorna.
We were super grateful to the support from Julie Curtis in accompanying on the piano.
Do take a look at brilliant photography from Kat at Bumblebugs Photography
For more info on the ‘Suicide Sucks’, and their ‘Have you got 8 mins mate’ campaign check out their website https://www.suicidesucks.co.uk/

What a night we had at the Paramount. Old Silkstone Band are so talented, with amazing soloists, especially their horn section and their euphonium player! A special thank you to Norman for working with the band on Great Is Thy Faithfulness, so we could perform it as a joint item!

15 people who have been coming along to our Ready Steady Sing course came along to perform Don’t Fence Me In, and the Drunken Sailor with the choir. For an Encore we performed our Gospel Medley, thanks to Michael B for bringing his bass guitar (and hat!) along!

12 RSSers (at least) have decided to join our choir. It’s been such a brilliant experience for us all ❤️🎵🎉

• Here’s our Drunken Sailor – arranged by our MD Rachel, and performed by us (the choir and RSS), Philip (piano), Matthew (fiddle), Ralph (spoons and harmonica) and Gordon (Irish pipes)

Mulligan’s Muskateers, as requested by founding member Peter Green, losely inspired by American civil war hero Hercules Mulligan, a contemporary of Alexander Hamilton (of Hamilton the musical fame!)

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/hercules-mulligan

We can’t quite believe it’s all over… or is it?

Our last Ready Steady Sing was on Sunday 1st March, St. David’s Day, we warmed up with Calon Lan, and All Through the Night. The breath work, tuning and lyrical lines were incredible.
Philip (our pianist, and professional vocal coach), led us though a session on vocal range, and how to accurately find both higher, and lower notes, with good control, tone and support. We have all learnt so much from his sessions, even the choir members coming along, and our MD, who has been loving the vocal training.

Our MD, Rachel, took a session on conducting, so we can all now conduct, and understand how to follow conducting, in both simple and compound time. Such fun!

We worked hard on the pieces we are singing with the choir at the Paramount on March 21st. Don’t Fence Me In (complete with coconuts!) our MDs arrangement of Drunken Sailor (with our newly formed choir folk band!) and the Gospel Medley. We can’t wait to share with our friends, and family.

We’ve had fantastic feedback on the course, bowled over by how much you’ve all enjoyed it. This Monday, 9th, and next Monday, 16th sees RSS members joining MGMVC at the beginning of the practice to rehearse our joint items.

We can’t say thank you enough to those choir and committee members who made this possible – to Paul P for applying for funding, to Dave A for coordinating the events, to Jon J for all the correspondence, to Di A for tea making and welcomes, to John O’B for being the most fab tech team… and to all the members who came along to make everyone so welcome and support the singing.. and newly formed folk band (Ralph, Matthew and Gordon) what a team ❤️🎶

We’re looking forward to welcoming about 20 new faces to the Institute tonight, as we begin our ‘learn to sing course’! The snow is turned to hideous rain, so pack your brolly… as well as your smile and your singing voice. See you there at 6pm!

Thank you to you all for sharing Christmas with us! 3 super successful concerts – with the Penistone Ladies, with Thurlstone Brass Band and with our friends at the Millhouse Green Institute.

Highlights this year were the super arrangement of ‘Do You hear what I hear?’ for brass and voices, and our own arrangement of Stop the Cavalry for voices and instrumentalists!

We thoroughly enjoyed performing Phil’s Shchedryk arrangement as a whole choir in Ukranian, with violin as traditional accompaniment. There’s been pub carols twice – once after Christmas dinner at the Dog and Partridge, and once at the Blacksmiths in Millhouse. We’ve had a whole host of soloists, duos, group sings (an excellent Gaudete!) and so much fun and laughter. Merry Christmas all 🧑‍🎄 🎄 🌟