Held on Monday 18^th October 2021 at 7.30 at the London Road Church, Harleston

Stella welcomed Karen (Accompanist) and choir members and declared the meeting open.

• Apologies for absence

Apologies were received from Nathaniel Gee, Ann Plested, Carol Hammond, Pat Green, Bryan Green and Joanna Barfield.

• Minutes of the last AGM (September 2019)

On the proposal of Jo Curry, seconded by John Awty, the minutes were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

• Chair’s Report

Stella began her report by saying how different things have been since she became Chair in September 2019.  Although we were able to present a Christmas concert in December of that year, entitled ‘The twelve days of Christmas’, by the following March, we were into lockdown and rehearsals came to a halt.  After a while, when we realised just how long this might go on for, a small Zoom choir, led by Karen, was started and we worked on various items from ‘Choral Classics’.

At last, by the summer, restrictions had relaxed enough for some of us to enjoy a Garden Party hosted by John and Julia Awty.  We sang items from the Zoom rehearsals and Julia gave a very interesting quiz on words from musicals, operas and other compositions.

Stella feels very proud that we’re still here 2 years later as many other groups are not.  She thanked the following people:

• The whole committee for their willingness to join in the many Zoom meetings
• Joanna, for being such a caring and efficient Membership Secretary.
• Paul Cope, Joanna’s partner, for all his technical help with Zoom and with re-organising the website.
• John Awty, for arranging the Zoom sessions and producing the online music.  He has also taken on the post of Assistant Memberships Secretary, available to all at rehearsals.
• Julia for her pristine organisation as Librarian and handholding when needed.
• Malcolm for managing the money so efficiently through this tricky time.
• John Formston and Caroline for their input in difficult situations.
• Amanda, who joined as Minutes Secretary this year, for producing accurate minutes in a short time.
• Nathaniel for supporting the choir in his role as Patron.
• Karen, for her expert advice and knowledge that has helped to rebuild the society as well as her invaluable sense of humour.
• The members who continued to pay their subscriptions, seeing us through the last months.

Stella finished by saying we have a great concert to prepare for over the next few weeks and have shown how we are learning from experiences and adapting.  She is proud to be our Chairman.

On the proposal of John Awty, seconded by Peter Heard, the report was accepted.

• Treasurer’s Report

Malcolm had distributed copies of the annual accounts (a copy of these will be filed with the Minutes).  His report follows.

‘Because of Covid 19 the choir has not operated as such since March 2020.   However, since then the committee has continued to meet and a number of financial changes and strategic changes have taken place.   So I will summarise the events as they occurred, starting with the beginning of the 2019/2020 year.

October 2019  –  Supporter donation made to the choir  –  £2,000

December 2019 – Christmas Concert.  Funds broke even, thanks to donation from our Patron.

March 2020 – National Lockdown.  We had enjoyed 9 weeks of rehearsals up until then, balance of rent carried forward to 29^th November 2021.

March/April 2020  –  Gift Aid £980.

September 2020 – Halesworth Festival of Voices granted us £767 following our bid for funds following their closure.

August 2020 – Payments made to Conductor and Accompanist for retention of services £1,400

February 2021  –  Conductor Janette Ruocco resigned from choir.

March – April 2021   –  Further payment made to Accompanist for retention of services to the choir.  –  £1,080.

March 2021 –  Members made donations to the choir funds. – £1,455.

May 2021  –  Donation from the family of Jethro.

Since the beginning of the 2019/20 financial year, largely thanks to some very generous donations we have managed to show a positive financial position, which will enable us to have some flexibility with future workshops/concerts etc.  The bank balance as at 31^st August 2021 is a healthy £7,768.’

 On the proposal of Julia Awty, seconded by Caroline Rodbourne, it was agreed to accept the accounts.

• Re-appointment of Auditor

On the proposal of Malcolm Butcher, seconded by John Awty, Robin Farrar was re-appointed as Auditor.

• Friends of Harleston Choral Society’s Report

Fiona reported that, after a good start in the early 2000’s, numbers of friends have gradually decreased, despite various methods used to recruit.  The Covid restrictions have meant that she hasn’t contacted the remaining friends to ask them for their subscriptions so no money has been coming in.  In any case, the subscriptions didn’t cover the cost of the 2 free tickets and drinks at concerts so it was decided that the Friends should be disbanded.  Fiona has notified those remaining and a few of them have said they will still support the choir.

She finished by saying she had enjoyed her years as Friends’ Secretary but is still happy to help in other ways.

      6A   Patron’s Report

Nathaniel apologized for being unable to attend the meeting but sent his good wishes.  There was nothing for him to report but said he was grateful to all the Committee and pleased to hear that we are again in existence.

• Changes to the Constitution

On the proposal of Stella Brownsea, seconded by John Formston, the following changes were agreed:

• The title of Conductor should be changed to Musical Director.
• The AGM will be held in the autumn term (as opposed to the specified month of September), thus allowing time for new members to settle into the choir.
• The Musical Director will be responsible for selecting the music to be performed, in agreement with the Committee.

• Election of Committee members for the year 2021/22

Members were reminded that Kate Peacher, Publicity Secretary, is resigning, thus creating a vacancy.  There are three other vacancies making four in all as the Constitution allows for a maximum of twelve.

• On the proposal of Heather Butcher, seconded by Malcolm Butcher, it was agreed to elect Fiona Bartlett to the Committee.
• On the proposal of John Awty, seconded by Malcolm Butcher, it was agreed to elect Jo Curry to the Committee
• On the proposal of Fiona Bartlett, seconded by Julia Awty, it was agreed to elect Heather Butcher to the Committee.

Amanda Fletcher had been co-opted as Minutes Secretary during the Covid restrictions earlier in the year.  Amanda confirmed to Stella that she would like to remain on the Committee in this capacity.

There were other members of the Committee who would have been due for re-election this year.  However, the choir did not meet in person for nearly eighteen months so the year 2020/21 will not be counted so their re-election has been deferred until next year.

• Date of next AGM: Autumn term 2022

Document can be viewed here as a printable pdf file

October 2022

Constitution Document

The Group’s Name

The group shall be called ‘Harleston Choral Society’ of Harleston Norfolk.

The Aims of the Society are:

To promote, improve, develop and maintain public education in, and appreciation of, the art and science of choral music in all its aspects by the presentation of public choral concerts; and for the general purposes of such charitable bodies, or such other purposes as shall be exclusively charitable, as the Committee may from time to time decide.

Membership

Membership is open to all.  Registration at the start of term, with attendance recorded weekly.  Members to pay, at start of term, the agreed amount, with some concessions to be available as required.  The charges will be agreed by a quorum representative of the Society.

General Business

The affairs of the group are controlled by Committee consisting of a Chair, Secretary and Treasurer, with a maximum of twelve members at any one time.  The Music Director will be an ex-officio member and will be responsible for selecting the music to be performed, in agreement with the Committee.  The Committee will be elected at the AGM from and by the members of the group, on a democratic basis, for three years in the first instance, but with the opportunity to continue for a further three years.  The Committee will meet no less than four times per year.

There shall be a quorum at Committee meetings of one third of the Committee membership.

Payment or benefit

The Music Director and Accompanist shall be paid an honorarium every term.

The income and property of the Society whencesoever derived shall be applied solely towards promoting the objects of the Society as set forth above and no portion thereof shall be paid or transferred either directly or indirectly to any member or members of the Society except in payment of legitimate expenses incurred on behalf of the Society.

The Society shall receive donations, grants in aid and financial guarantees.  Tickets for any or all of its concerts and other events shall be offered for sale to the public.

Duties

The Committee will undertake:

• To control the affairs of the Choir
• To keep accurate accounts of the Society by the Treasurer, which should be available for inspection by any member, and inspected by an independent examiner before the AGM
• To maintain a bank account in the Society’s name, requiring two signatures from Chair, Treasurer and two other Committee members
• To make decisions on the basis of a single majority vote; in the event of a tied result the Chair shall be entitled to a casting vote.

General Meetings

The AGM will take place in the autumn term each year.  An agenda of the business of the AGM will be circulated to all members 14 days before a meeting.

Alterations to the Constitution

Any alteration to the Constitution will need to be agreed at the AGM and notice of 14 days must be given.

Possible dissolution of the Society

In the event of the necessity for the dissolution of the Society or the inability of an available Committee to function effectively, the leadership of the Society shall be assumed by the trustees, Julia Awty, Caroline Rodbourne and Jo Curry, with full powers to mediate as necessary.  Any assets remaining upon dissolution, after the payment of proper debts and liabilities, shall be transferred to a charitable institution or institutions having similar objectives to those of the Society.

Amended by AGM October 2022

Click here for downloadable, printable pdf version

Hi everyone

I do hope you are all safe and well and your loved ones also.

It is good to be able to write this newsletter to you all with so much positive news for a change. You may know some of the news but this is to ensure we are all up to date. I should think by now all our membership has had both Covid injections, which in itself helps us to think a little more positively.

A full page advert and a further smaller one have recently been put in the “Grapevine” (Harleston’s local magazine). We are delighted to report we had 7 prospective members reply to them and I am sure we look forward to welcoming them when term starts.

Speaking of which, the date is Monday 13th September at 7pm (to accommodate collecting new music ready for a 7.30pm start). 

We are delighted the members of London Road Church are able to welcome us back but there are a few conditions:

1. We bring our own drinks.

2. We may move any chairs (which are in a certain arrangement for church members) but must replace them at the end.

3. We are undertaking to wipe any surfaces we have touched, (backs of chairs, any surface in the loos, tables etc) but the Committee are considering the best way to do this.

Prospective MDs During the last few months the Committee has been actively searching for a new MD for the Society. We have made great progress and will hopefully be asking candidates to come along and take some of the rehearsal in early October when we have all settled down into singing again.

Repertoire Karen would like to conduct us for the Christmas concert with a small ensemble. The programme will consist of some of the music we have studied on Zoom from “Choral Classics”, some Christmas choruses from “The Messiah”, Christmas carols from just the choir and further ones for audience participation. If you have any of the following books please bring them on 13th:

“Choral Classics”, “Messiah” Prout version, “Carols for Choirs” books 1 & 2. Library copies will be available of the first two. 

The concert date is Saturday 18th December with rehearsals on Friday 17th, evening and Saturday 18th, afternoon in St John’s Church, Harleston.

On a sad note: we were sorry to learn of the death of Jethro Free during the lockdown. Most of you will know of this already but we felt we ought to record the loss of this well-loved, wonderfully outgoing member of the choir. Jethro made the little dais for our previous MD to stand on and it has been agreed to put some sort of inscription on the dais in his memory.

Further information: The Committee were pleased that Amanda Fletcher agreed to be co-opted as Secretary. Indeed, she has been keeping brilliant notes of our many Zoom meetings during lockdown.

The website is having a facelift and the Members’ area has a new password:

Happy2Sing 

It is already in place and the capital letters are important.

The prospective date for the AGM is 18th October and subscriptions will be due on that date. 

Garden Party: A really lovely afternoon was had by all who attended the garden party at John and Julia’s on 1st August. We attempted to sing some of the items we had been practising on Zoom during the previous few months and apparently it sounded quite good! We all took our own picnic and Julia presented us with a very interesting quiz of “First Lines” from classical, pop and show music. Thank you John and Julia for allowing us to use “Awty Manor” as Karen called it.

I hope I’ve remembered everything and you are all still concentrating. I’m sure we are all looking forward to next Monday and singing together again. 

Best wishes

Stella (Chair)

Dear Members,

I hope you are all well and keeping safe and warm.

It does seem aeons since we last met and spoke but, with the increased positivity that the vaccine roll-outs are having, the Committee has been considering our future on Zoom – it does seem our only social life now!

We are determined, not only for the choir to continue but also our commitment to Janette and Karen. We have continued to keep in touch with them over the last difficult months and they have expressed a desire to stay with us.

The Committee is proposing supporting them for another 2 terms ( i.e until September) when, hopefully, we will be able to resume some sort of “normal” rehearsal. We are able to finance some of this from our current funds. However, we need another source, so we are asking those in the choir who can to make a contribution. We recognise that circumstances may have changed for some of you in the pandemic so don’t want any member to feel under obligation.

If you would like to, please send cheques to Malcolm Butcher, our Treasurer, at The Dell, Billingford, Diss, Norfolk, IP21 4HL. Cheques should be made payable to Harleston Choral Society For those of you who do their banking online the details are as follows:- Sort Code 10-12-51 Account No. 51366033. We are asking for all transactions to be done by the end of February.

Meanwhile, Janette and Karen are “getting their heads together” to
prepare possible Zoom rehearsals. Early stages at the moment but we will fill you in when we know more. I hope this is exciting for you all and re-lights your musical fire.

Stay safe and we hope to hear from you soon. Stella

Download here in printable form

Harleston Choral Society

It is rather fortunate we don’t know what is over the horizon and in store for us. Whoever would have thought this time last year it would be necessary to postpone the AGM and have only 2 reports in lieu, to have no rehearsals since March and not have the joy of seeing each other and singing together? We haven’t experienced the excitement of preparing for and performing our Summer concert.

However, to go back to the beginning of the Society’s year, we started rehearsing for the Christmas concert and the offerings from the choir of Vaughan Williams’ “The First Nowell”, Peter Hunt’s “I Saw Three Ships”, Rutter’s “Nativity Carol and two Chilcott pieces- “Behold That Star” and “The 12 Days Of Christmas”. The hard work was very obvious and Janette’s encouragement also.

We had been invited to take part in the Harleston Town Christmas Concert and 14 members had the pleasure of doing so on 14th December. We performed “I Saw Three Ships” and loved the Primary School’s rendition of “All I want for Christmas is a Hippopotamus”!

The Christmas concert was a great experience with an enthusiastic and very appreciative audience. Our 2 soloists together with Janette’s encouraging smiles gave us the confidence we needed. Our grateful thanks to all the people helping behind the scenes.

On to the New Year. Term started on January 13th when we had hoped to study Rutter’s “Feel the Spirit”, Bob Chilcott’s “Songs and Cries” (where we would be joined by the Primary School) and George Shearing’s “Songs and Sonnets”. We were also planning a fund-raising Quiz Evening in March. At this point, Covid-19 arrived and the best-laid plans of mice and men went slightly astray. Everything was cancelled, including a fundraising a capella concert planned by another group of Janette’s for May.

The Committee have been trying to stay sane ever since, staying in touch with members and constantly re-organising and changing plans to fit directions from the Government.

Membership We held an Open rehearsal evening to encourage new members in January and it was very successful as 6 people joined us. However, others had decided not to rejoin for the year in September. As a result, our membership before Covid was fairly stable – 45 members at present compared with 46 at September 2019.

My thanks are due to a great many people for their support and hard work during the year – Nathaniel, for being a very supportive Patron, Heather for all the printing, Paul for managing the website and our Zoom meeting. The Committee have been so supportive in sorting out the many problems during the year, we couldn’t survive without them. Thank you to Karen for bringing expertise, fun and Liverpool to rehearsals, and lastly to Janette. The Christmas concert is in our memories and will encourage us to work towards starting again as soon as we are allowed.

I look forward to 2021 and seeing you all again to continue our musical journey.

Stella Brownsea (Chair)

September 2020

 1^st SEPTEMBER

This is my financial report to cover the finances for Harleston Choral Society for the financial year ending on 31^st August 2020.

We have had income from subscriptions for two-term sessions, totalling £3500 in all.

We have also received gift aid of £980 which includes £250 relating to Nathaniel’s donation.   Total donations this year were £3851, which includes £750 from Halesworth Festival of Voices which we were granted from the remaining funds now that they have ceased operating.

It was agreed that we pay Janette and Karen up to the concert date in June and then a further fee through to December 2020.   These are referred to as retaining fees in the accounts.  The payment for the hire of London Road Church is for a full year but I have agreed with Neil Irvine that the money paid from Easter to June can be carried forward to when we re-start rehearsals.   This equates to 12 weeks which is £324.

The December concert brought in an income of £1709 and the costs incurred came to £2475.   We have made a payment of £100 towards the hire of a grand piano, but instead of Giller Pianos returning the funds, they decided to give us a credit note as they are having severe financial problems, like a lot of firms.

The bank balance for the Society is now £7,295.

Malcolm

Dear members of Harleston Choral Society,

It has been such a long time since we met that I suppose, like me, you all feel HCS has gone into liquidation and the wonderful concerts and enjoyable rehearsals are just a dream. Far from it!

Your committee and Janette are doing all they can to keep things ticking over so that, when we can start again, we are more than ready. We have met twice since lockdown, once on Zoom in May and last Tuesday we met in glorious sunshine in Malcolm and Heather’s garden – socially distancing of course. I will endeavour to tell you in a nutshell of the progress.

Money At our first meeting we agreed we should pay Janette and Karen until the end of the term and then at our last meeting we agreed to go even further and “retain” them until December. They are both very grateful for our help and support.

Hall availability Both London Road and St. John’s Churches are currently unavailable for rehearsals as no singing is allowed. There are due to be meetings in the next few weeks and we are investigating other possibilities.

Current guidance Wherever we sing there are potential risks, hazards and regulations, one of which is singing in a mask. Janette has provided the Committee with a precis of these regs. and suggests we practise at home initially in a mask every day to acclimatise. It was proposed at the meeting we just think about practising together when we start for perhaps an hour, not have a concert in mind (at least to start with) just to get back to enjoying singing together.

Music Hold on to your music for now until there are more definite plans.

Contact details Obviously these will be very important in the future so if any of yours have changed please let Joanna (Membership secretary) know asap.

Secretary We really do need a Secretary so if any member would like to know more please contact us.

AGM We have investigated the legalities of postponing it and, as long as a Treasurer’s report and an Annual report are produced we are fine. Also, all of the committee are prepared to carry on serving so we are very fortunate.

We will meet again, (I’m trying not to sound like Vera Lynn!) When we have any more information we’ll let you know. At some point we will be asking you all your views and feelings on returning to rehearsals. but not until the news is more definite.

Meanwhile, stay safe and well.

Stella

Harleston Choral Society, Report on Minutes of Committee Meeting

Thursday, 6^th February, 2020

The Committee discussed the success of the Christmas Concert 2019, where more tickets were sold than ever before; the feedback from audience members was more than enthusiastic; and Janette’s praise and appreciation of our singing was very positive indeed.  In addition to this we raised £115 funds from the raffle thanks to Fiona Bartlett’s organization.

The ‘Sing With Us’ rehearsal in January had attracted seven new participants with six people remaining to stay to sing with us – for those newbies we are pleased and grateful that you felt welcomed and confident to come back and we are pleased you are now singing with Harleston Choral Society.

Whilst it is very pleasing to note that we have some new members, we would like more, particularly bass voices and tenors.  Janette is chasing up possible singers to join us. Do you have any partners or friends you could persuade?

Our annual Quiz Social Evening will be on Saturday, 21^st March this year – it is a fun night with teams of six pitting their wits against each other on a variety of question topics.  Food is provided in the cost of the ticket – baked potatoes with a variety of fillings and a selection of stunningly tempting desserts!  Ask Caroline Rodbourne (Altos) if you need to know more.

We discussed the a cappella concert featuring Janette’s group of singers, 8 Voices, to raise funds for the choir.  This will be at St Mary’s Church, Redenhall on Sunday, 10th May, 2020 at 4pm – tickets £10. We hope as many of our choir members, their partners and friends will be able to fill the church. “Soul Music” will be a treat for the ears and spirit so please do come. 

It is H.C.S.’s 20^th Anniversary this year so we hope to make a display of some of our archive photos, posters, programmes, reviews and concert lists at our Summer Concert at the back of St John’s Church.

We would like to thank Malcolm Butcher for following up the submission to Festival Voices, in a bid to secure some of their funding, as they seek to disband and re-distribute their funds to worthy recipients.  The Committee is investigating how to make submissions to Music for All for funding future projects and expenses. 

HCS has now taken over total management of our website and, whilst there were some glitches during the handover, we hope these have now been ironed out. We will continue to develop it and would be grateful for your feedback. (see note in bold at the end)

Fiona Bartlett is now administering H.C.S. Friends.  Thanks to Carol Hammond for her past commitment to this role. 

Future Dates for Your Diary:

• Quiz Evening 2020 – Saturday, 21^st March at St James Village Hall 
• End of Spring Term 2020 – Monday, 30^th March
• Start of Summer Term 2020 – Monday, 20^th April – (begin at 7pm for payment of subscriptions please) 
• Fundraising concert with 8 Voices – Sunday 10 May, Redenhall Church
• Summer concert Rehearsal – Friday, 26^th June at 7pm
• Summer Concert and end of term 2020 – Saturday, 27^th June

Next Committee Meeting is: 

Thursday, 14^th May, 2020.  If you have any suggestions or concerns you would like raised and discussed please speak to a committee member. We are also intending to have a ‘suggestions box’ at the back of the church, near our registration sheets for this purpose.

Sue Foster (Feb 2020)

Downloadable here as a printable pdf

Dear Fellow Choir Members,

I hope it is not too late to hope you all had a good Christmas and to wish you all a Happy and Musical New Year.

We have another challenging and interesting year ahead of us and, with Janette encouraging and quietly pushing us, we will attain even higher levels of enjoyment and musicality. I know I continually feel amazed at Janette’s ability to enable choir members to overcome a difficult passage of music without realising they have done so! Thank you also to Karen for bringing her sense of humour and musical ability to assist Janette, even when she wasn’t feeling 100%.

Our year started with the initial rehearsals for “Dido and Aeneas”. Janette so helpfully put the story on our website, otherwise I think those of us who had never come across the piece before would not have had a clue what was going on! The anthems gave us so much training in correct breathing.

We held another really enjoyable quiz evening in March at St. James’ Village Hall and, just for once, it wasn’t raining. The food was wonderful and our brain cells worked overtime. Thank you to everyone who helped in any way, the teamwork was amazing. (Sorry, I’ve used that word again!)

We continued with D & A until our wonderful concert in June. Everyone seemed to give of their very best; the anthems were so moving and I don’t think anyone present that night will forget the support and encouragement we had from our solo witches and sailor!

Our next event was a wonderful garden party held in the garden of Julia and John Awty. The weather was sunny, some people even wore hats, and the food provided by members resulted in quite a few recipes being swapped. Once again, our grateful thanks go to Julia and John for lending us their garden for the afternoon.

Autumn term started on September 9th and we were being introduced to Bob Chilcott’s extraordinary “Twelve days of Christmas” and “Behold that Star”. Vaughan Williams’ “The First Nowell” almost seemed a rest after tackling the “12 days”. However, it really grew on everyone and we all got familiar with the condition of “earworms”.

The AGM intervened on 23rd September with 4 members standing down from the committee. Jo Curry (chair) was handing over to me, Jenny Hyams (secretary) to both Kate Peacher (publicity secretary) and Sue Foster (minutes secretary), and Carol Hammond (friends’ secretary) to Fiona Bartlett. John Formston also joined the committee as a member. I know we thanked all the leaving members at the time, but the Society owes them so much for their selfless contribution behind the scenes over the last few years. I would also like to thank the present committee for all their support during these last 3 months. We are certainly learning to work together. We have also been saddened by the death of Kate’s husband, Joanna’s mother and her partner’s father.

We were invited to take part in the Harleston Town Christmas Concert and 14 members had the great pleasure of doing so on 10th December. It had been decided to sing “I saw three ships” unaccompanied, as it was going to be one of our contributions in our Christmas concert. Little did we know that 400 miniature paper ships had been made and hung from inside the church roof to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower sailing to America. I did try to point out to Canon Nigel that we could try to sing “I saw 400 ships come sailing in” but it wouldn’t scan properly. It was a lovely evening with contributions from several societies in the town. We were treated to a performance from the Primary School, with whom we hope to sing in our Summer Concert, telling us that “All we want for Christmas is a Hippopotamus”.

Finally, the Christmas concert was upon us. We had an enthusiastic and very appreciative audience – and quite a large one at that. I always feel it is a pity that Choral Societies only have the one performance; there is always something one would sing differently if given a second chance!

Our two soloists, Jo Westaway and Gary Griffiths, together with Janette’s encouraging smiles, gave us the confidence we needed to pull it off. Well done everyone and thank you to all the people helping behind the scenes.

Some of us even had enough energy to get together for a coffee and eats at “The Broken Egg” just outside Harleston on the following Monday morning. Joanna had arranged this and it was such a warm and relaxed way of winding down and finishing of the Choral year.

During the year we were delighted to welcome several new members – Ron Dekker, Dorothy Frost, Nicola Hadingham, Susan Hall, Judy Jenkins, Gordon Lindsay, Jan Long and Ros Webster.
John Buckmaster was also with us from January to June.

So, on to the New Year. Term starts 13th January, with a 7.00pm start to enable members to return their sparkly clean copies from the Christmas concert and pay subs. There is a wonderful new programme prepared by Janette and not a “gold ring” in sight!

Then on 20th January there is the Open Evening for prospective new members also starting at 7.00pm (to enable us to welcome them and settle in before we start singing)

Do look at the website for dates for your diary and I look forward to a fantastic year with you all in 2020.

Stella

Dear Harleston Choral Society

Congratulations on a first class concert on Saturday night at St John’s!

It was terrific to have such an enthusiastic audience who were in such good voice in the audience carols and were so warm in their appreciation of your musical offerings. I thought that you did very well in all of the items, particularly so when letting your hair down in the Twelve Days of Christmas. You did well in the carols that you sang on your own – and our two soloists, Sue and John, shone in Behold that Star. Perhaps we need to add an S to the title??

The First Nowell was always going to be a challenge as there were not that many numbers where you had any substantial singing and the bits that you did have were interspersed with instrumental or solo items, or items just for upper or lower voices. I thought that the men did a great job in the lower voices only passages, but I was full of admiration for how well the sopranos and altos did in the four-verse item with the soprano soloist – the parts were tricky but the sopranos and altos brought the whole thing off very well indeed. Well done!

Our two soloists for the evening, Jo Westaway and Gary Griffiths, brought a lot of stylish singing to the Vaughan Williams, which I felt helped to bind the performance. I hope that finally hearing the whole thing in the concert helped to make sense of it from the choir’s point of view.

I know that the soloists and the instrumentalists felt that they had been treated like royalty during the concert tea – so many thanks to Julia and her team for making and serving that. Thanks also to John Awty’s team of stage assemblers and dismantlers – as always, the operation was so efficient that it appeared effortless, which is no mean feat with all of the items that need to be transported in and out of the trailer.

The concert was a lovely occasion and many of the audience came up to tell me exactly that at the end. I hope that you also received positive feedback from your own audience members.

Finally, I would like to thank each and every one of you for putting so much effort into learning the pieces both outside and in rehearsals, and for being such a rewarding group of people to work with. Since January 2018 we have embarked upon an amazing musical journey together and I am really looking forward to starting the summer concert repertoire with you in January 2020.

With all good wishes to you and your families for Christmas and the New Year.

Janette