Final Performance of 2023: Moorside Unit, Trafford General Hospital, 19 December 2023

Can you spot the title of our newest Christmas song in the picture?

It’s all Christmas jumpers, tinsel and fairy lights as we offer our Christmas repertoire of well-known carols, lesser known carols and popular Christmas songs. Some of them with unusual arrangements. We add to the mix a few songs that people might know from our normal repertoire.  

We visited the unit twice in 2022 and were given a very warm welcome. No less so this time. It’s so good to see staff and patients alike joining in the ones they know and moving in time to the ones they’ve not met before.  

We perform twice: once to the older residents and once to the younger folk. We’re stopped after the first song to the second group.

“Is it all right if we make a video?” asks our host. Of course it is.     

Tuesday is our normal rehearsal night.  Why not go to the unit and sing there instead, suggested one of our altos who works there. A very good idea indeed.   

We’re encouraged to practise between rehearsals and everything to make that easy is provided for us in Drop Box.  But as there are no more Christmas performances, we should really now start concentrating on our other repertoire,

Here’s a thing, though. Classic FM is full of Christmas carols and other Christmas songs at the moment. And I’ve even heard there the same arrangement of White Christmas as we use.   

Note to self: find out when Jeff is doing his 2024 Christmas song workshops and get them in the diary early.  

So, all there is to do now this year is, as in our newest Christmas song, to say that we want to wish you a merry Christmas.

And of course a happy new year.

New Year’s resolution = join a choir? We start up again on 2 January 7 pm, at GoChurch, Dallas Court,Media City.               

Singing for the Friends of Buile Hill Park 17 December 2023

 

 

There’s something rather special about this park, particularly on a December afternoon when the sun is already quite low and the sky is mottled grey, white and pink with the hint that the sun is shining somewhere.

It’s not particularly cold but it’s not that warm either: cosy hats, Christmas jumpers, and knitted scarves are all justified. The hot tea and mince pies are very welcome.     

We have a good audience: the Friends and their friends, some of our friends, and passers-by in the park.      

“It wouldn’t be Christmas if we didn’t sing a few carols for you,” I say to one of the organisers. “We love coming here.”  We do.  Well, we have had this event on our books for most of the year but as soon as it was announced a good portion of the choir signed up for it, even though this can be a busy weekend for everyone, the one just before Christmas.

We sing some of our favourites: Coventry Carol, Carol of the Bells, Going to Bethlehem, White Christmas, Hail Smiling Morn alongside such traditional carols as Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Away in a Manger  Silent Night and .Oh Little Town of Bethlehem  It is good to see people joining in the those carols and another of our favourites A Holly Jolly Christmas.

Now then, if you’re one of those people who joined in …. Are you busy on Tuesday evenings? If not, why not come and join us. See details here.

We’re persuaded to do an encore and we’re surprised to present another old favourite but this time not a Christmas one…. .   Everything I do ….     

Just a note, though, here and excuse the pun. I’m talking about favourites but if I’m truthful I don’t really have them; once I know a song and feel comfortable with it, I love it. I suspect it’s true for most of us.  

From where we stand to sing we can see the contours of the park. After all, it is Buile Hill Park. That and

some well-established trees and shrubs make it very picturesque indeed. Just behind us are some pretty terraced houses. It is getting darker but isn’t quite time to draw the curtains yet. Lights shine on to the street.

 

We’ve had a lovely time. Thank you for having us again.