Previous Concerts & Events:
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Concerts & Events in 2017 and before.
This page:
Concerts & Events in 2018 to 2019
Concerts & Events in 2019
Winter Social, Sat 9th February 2019
We were on familiar ground for this year's winter social, only making the short trip downstairs from the ballroom to the cellar bar.
There was a very good turn out, representing everyone from the old stalwarts to our newest and youngest members.
The evening began with an icebreaker quiz, where every round the teams of two moved on to work with other partners. This proved to be highly successful and meant that we all got to chat to a variety of people we wouldn't normally come across. Dave H and Maggie B won by a huge margin, which means they will be in great demand for any future quiz teams!!
As always, the food you provided was delicious, varied and imaginative. It was a real feast and we managed to polish off most of it.
Running through the evening were three activities: the book stall:the homemade stall and the "Guess Who" photo competition. These were all well patronised and raised welcome money to swell our coffers. Lia won the photo competition guessing 12 out of 17 faces.
Everyone was socialising so spontaneously that the time ran away with us and it was with surprise that we realised we only had 30 minutes left, so reluctantly we were obliged to postpone the karaoke and the singalong. Many thanks to Steve Moore for going to all the trouble of setting up the karaoke. At least he knows how to do it for the next time!! Looking forward to it already!
A huge thank you to the committee who work brilliantly as a team and pulled together to ensure a seamless and thoroughly enjoyable evening.
Concerts & Events in 2018
Great Hucklow Singing Weekend, Fri 20th to Sun 22nd July 2018
On Friday evening we welcomed old and new friends, looking forward to the activities of the next two days. Dinner was as good as we remembered, and made all the more enjoyable this year because it was followed by a celebration of Dianne's birthday with a delicious cake baked by the chef. The evening was spent revisiting our repertoire spanning the years, which gave a pleasing balance of old and new songs, catering for everyone at some point in the course of the evening.
On Saturday morning we met our workshop leader, Val Regan - what a discovery! From the moment she addressed us, we knew we were in expert hands- her calm, humorous, and confident teaching style made for a dynamic enjoyable and very satisfying singing experience for us all. The songs Val chose looked very challenging, (one being in Mexican and the other with verses in English, Spanish, Arabic and an African dialect) but as soon as she started teaching us we learned very quickly and felt we were making a great sound. Her encouraging remarks made us feel super-confident. Over the two workshops Val interwove the learning of the two songs with fun rhythms and warmups. By Sunday lunchtime we could sing both songs and felt anything was possible. A huge thank you to Val - we must get her back to Stamford!!
Saturday afternoon was spent in a variety of ways: walking: site seeing: relaxing. By Saturday evening it was party time! An inexhaustible choice of music was made available courtesy of online music streaming and wireless speakers, to cater for everyone's requests. Even the most obscure was found! Norah offered tango and jive lessons which were enthusiastically taken up, whilst those of us not dancing certainly exercised our voices, accompanying all the golden oldies requests. Thank you to all those who entertained us!!
Val Regan leads the choir in a singing workshop.
Summer Concert at Bourne Baptist Church, Saturday 7th July 2018
After months of hard work the choir assembled on Saturday July 7th at the Baptist Church, Bourne, ready to sing its heart out for the summer concert. In front of an audience of friends, families and church members, and under the directorship of Emmanuel, we gave what some said was ‘the best concert ever’!
Our programme of some 20 songs was a varied mix of Emmanuel’s own compositions (some in the Nigerian language), English folk songs, traditional gospel and world music, often incorporating haunting new harmonies by Emmanuel. Our sound was also at times given extra depth and authenticity by the addition of drumming by Elizabeth, Emmanuel’s wife.
According to some, what made the concert particularly special, was the joy of singing we conveyed to our audience with one person coming up and saying ‘I just wanted to get up and sing too!’. No doubt we have to thank Emmanuel for that, his choice of music for us, his infectious enthusiasm throughout the year and his constant encouragement during the performance.
The deafening applause, cheering and stomping as our last song ended left us in no doubt that an encore was called for. Another rendering of the gospel song ‘Oh Happy Day’ , accompanied by clapping from choir and audience, could genuinely be said to have raised the rafters!
While there is much sadness that Emmanuel has to move on, it was a wonderful and memorable evening to mark the end of his time with us.
Christmas Party, Saturday 13th January 2018
On the 13th January about 35 people, choir members, family and friends, gathered to make merry at our annual Christmas party. Once again we had engaged the wonderful services of the band Ock ‘n’ Dough who hail from Northamptonshire and can claim to be the world’s only Anglo-Latvian Zydecajun Ceilidh Band ! As expected, we were treated to a wonderful evening of tunes which took us from far away Latvia to the bayous of the Deep South with some good old Celtic country dance music thrown into the mix. The irresistible rhythms ensured that the dance floor was nearly always full, with just a break for some very welcome supper in the middle of the evening - delicious fare provided by all who came. It was a fantastic evening out and a wonderful way to chase away any gathering winter blues on a cold January night!
The Choir and friends with Ceilidh Band Ock ‘n’ Dough
Wassailing at Stamford Community Orchard, Saturday 6th January 2018
Wassailing
6th January
2018
The wassail event has been revived in Stamford because of the long association with apple growing in this area. On a chilly but dry winter’s evening, about 120 people of all ages gathered at the Stamford Community Orchard to perform this old medieval ritual and the choir was asked to take part. We readily took up this invitation as we like to seize opportunities to take part in community activities. There was much jollity and merriment as morris dancers danced, people banged on pots and pans and the choir performed several songs, while mulled cider was served to keep those cockles warmed. . all in the hope of bringing on a successful apple harvest this coming year ! As well as singing some old numbers, we revived a wassailing song especially for the occasion and led the crowd. We certainly sung our hearts out and have already been invited back for next year, so hopefully we made a worthwhile contribution to this community event.. and we won’t get blamed if the apple harvest is poor this year !
Booking the choir
We are always looking for performance opportunities (the more unusual the better!). We have already performed in a prison, and done our first wedding. For more information check out the Booking the Choir page.