A Weekend of Fun Days – 1 Swinton Grove

A grassy knoll, shaded by trees. Girls dressed in bee costumes, giving out wildflower seeds. An ice-cream van, a fire-engine and a bouncy castle. Games galore. And perfect weather for the Family Fun Day.

This was the start of a busy weekend for the Ordsall Acappella Singers. We helped to start the day off by singing just after the mayor had opened the event. We then moved as a group around the park and serenaded the various sideshows – and of course, the queue for the ice-cream. The Gaskell Society wanted a picture of us in front of the house. We were happy to oblige and each held up a leaflet. However, it did mean that one of their members had to stand in the middle of the road to take the photo. That was a little scary.

We are looking forward to visiting the house, which is right next to this delightful little park, when the renovations are finished. We hope we’ll get to sing there.

The Friends of Swinton Grove were generous and provided us all with a healthy home-made burger lunch.

It was a lovely afternoon. There was just enough breeze and enough shade to make it pleasant and not too hot but also enough sunshine to invite local families into the park.  

We performed our final set on the grassy knoll in the shade. For most people we were just a background sound, hopefully a pleasant one. One young girl, about eleven or twelve I’m guessing, seemed fascinated and followed us from spot to spot. I hope she’ll get to join a choir one day.

We hope we pleased the people who listened. We certainly enjoyed ourselves.     

At the Victoria Baths 5 May 2013

Yes, we’ve been doing it again. We’ve been singing in the bath. We’ve now performed at this beautiful old building half a dozen or so times. We always sing in one of the old pools. They are fortunately devoid of water but full of good acoustics. What shall we do if they ever put the water back?

The Victoria Baths is another place worthy of a visit for the Manchester tourist. It was opened in 1906 and is still splendid with its many period decorative features:- stained glass, terracotta tiles and mosaic floors. It is currently undergoing extensive restoration and each time we visit we see small improvements. There was a little sun yesterday and it brought out the best in the leaded windows and skylights.

About two thirds of our members were there yesterday and we had a good balance of the four parts. We aired some current repertoire and again started with Dance in the Street. That worked so well in this space. Nellie the Elephant was trundled out. That’s usually popular with the little ones though the adults seemed to enjoy it this time too. We performed The Long and Winding Road for the first time in public. It’s a lovely song, anyway, and this particular arrangement suits our voices. Gwen Sangster took the solo parts in Longer. We also resurrected an old favourite – Joshua – the one where we do the scary eyes.

We did two slots and it was good in the break to look at some of the exhibits. This included the information about the restoration of the Gaskell House, another brave project and we hope that once it’s finished we may get to sing there also.

We almost lost our musical director, Jeff Borradaile, though. He’d managed to get locked into our practice room where he’d taken a nap. Jeff was completely unfazed, of course. We just thought we might have to sing in the corridor. However, someone came with a key.     

Sampling the cake was also an activity during the break. Cake is always important to the Ordsall Acappella Singers and the Victoria Baths’ ones are to be recommended, as is their tomato and basil soup.

Thanks to the Victoria Baths for having us and to their lovely visitors who were so appreciative.