In the Well Again (Buxton Festival Fringe 2025)

A text arrives just as I finish my breakfast. There’s a tree on the line between Hazel Grove and Buxton. The trains should be running again at ‘approximately’ 8.45. I know that several people are travelling on the 8.51 – and that includes our front of house assistant. It’ll be fine. We’ll manage.

And we do. The 8.51 runs on time. The roads are clear. The weather is a little cooler than in previous days and wet but not too wet.

We more than manage.

The door to the United Reform Church is already open. Choir members begin to arrive, one of them with the bag of flowers. We do warm up exercises. We have a run through of a few songs – some of them all the way though others just the beginning.

The audience begin to arrive. I remind the two people on the door to look out for the reviewer. Later Elizabeth tells me she felt herself tense up when he announced who he was.

Note, though, at the Buxton Festival Fringe they ‘review’ not’ judge’ or ‘adjudicate’. Reviews are always detailed and encouraging.

And so our first concert begins. The hour passes quickly.

In no time we are setting off down the hill to sing in the Pump Room. 

“Come back at 2.30,” shout a group of people dressed as something that looks as if it will be very entertaining.

‘We can’t,’ one of us cries.  ‘We’ll be rehearsing for our second concert by then.  3pm at St Mary’s and there’s cake. Come along.’ Yes, that’s the Festival Fringe. The people who looked after us at the United Reform Church tell us that they have five more groups attending that day.

Last year I thought that singing in the Well was one of the most magical things I’d ever done, This year did not disappoint. And a strange headless nurse joined us.

The rain persists. None of the street-side tables at the cafes and pubs can be used. Somehow we all manage to find lunch, often accompanied by Morris dancing and other entertainment, and make our way to St Mary’s for 2 pm.

Here we are greeted like old friends. Well it’s been a few years.  Jill Hulme form St Mary’s and I count on our fingers. We started coming to Buxton in 2010. There were no performances in 2020 and 2021 because of Covid. So we’ve attended thirteen Festival Fringe events and an extra one just for St Mary’s.

This is a more relaxed affair here.  Is this our second home?

It’s a hard-working day. Our soloists, Victoria and Martin, do us proud in What I Did for Love and Why We Sing. Breathing correctly and energetically makes all the difference in Ave Verum and Grant Us Peace. Our new masterpiece is Time (Jennifer Lucy Cook) and for a few moments we become AI machines. And yes timing is really important here. Fix You and I Carry Your Heart are challenging but rewarding for tenor 1s.  Cool Moon is an old favourite but still needs some care. Make You Feel My Love, Why Walk When You Can Fly and Somewhere Only We Know are pleasing arrangements of popular songs.  Harbour is perhaps what we’re all about and our encore, Everything We Do, is one that always gives us a lot of joy.

The time really does fly by, even faster than in the song. Soon we’re eating cake, enjoying a cup of tea, and chatting to the audience. ‘Are the purple flowers significant?’ asks one lady. That’s the second time we’ve been asked that this year. Well, we like purple and we used to wear a ‘dash’ of purple but the purples were too diverse.    

The good people at St Mary’s are always so friendly and helpful.

The Buxton Fringe Festival is such a delightful affair and we’re so grateful for all the effort that the organisers make for us. We’ll see you next year.

And thank you for the thoughtful and encouraging review:   https://www.buxtonfringe.org.uk/reviews2025mus.html

It’s all over by 4.50.  A very gentle rain falls as we make our way home. We’re all tired but pleased with how the day went.   

 

Three Concerts, One Day, Buxton Fringe 2024

 

Now we have added something new to our repertoire.  We are accustomed to singing in the bath and have frequently done so at one of our favourite venues Victoria Baths, Manchester. Now we have upstaged ourselves: on Saturday we sang in the well.

Yes, we had the privilege of singing in Buxton’s beautiful Pump Room. This recently restored Grade II listed building was initially used for locals and visitors to “take the waters”.  It now houses a small café and gift shop and, of course, the well.

The acoustics there are quite magical and we sang around the well, facing each other which was also a little different.

The water in is still much of the time but every so often bubbles up. Charmingly it did so as we reached the tenth bar of Why Walk if You Can Fly.  Almost as if it too was enjoying the music.

We had our normal two concerts at the United Reformed Church in the morning and St Mary’s in the afternoon.  At both churches we were looked after kindly. We couldn’t offer tea and cakes in the morning as we had to leave promptly because there was another booking straight afterwards. Anyway, we probably wouldn’t have been able to go to the Pump Room if we had. But there was plenty of cake at St Mary’s later. 

 

Our audiences were lovely too: so receptive and welcoming. We always enjoy chatting to them after our concerts.   

We did something a little different this year. Choir members introduced blocks of songs: ones that create a calm atmosphere, some that offer peace, others that celebrate nature and finally love songs, each about a different sort of love.  

For the final ten minutes in each concert we sang favourite songs from our repertoire.

As ever, it was a lovely day out and socialising with fellow choir members over lunch, over a drink after our final concert or over a meal on the way home all adds to the fun.

The icing on the cake has to be the warm-hearted review by Jean Ball: https://www.buxtonfringe.org.uk/reviews2024mus.html. And naturally we are delighted about being nominated for an award.     

Buxton Fringe 20 July 2019

 

We do cake!

The Fringe is alive and vibrant as ever despite the early morning rain. My sat nav brings me  via a crazy route and gets me there twenty minutes early. In time, in fact, to see the East Kent Morris Dancers cross the road in front of the United Reformed Church. Ooh.  Are they going to dance outside the church? Will it be a problem?  Of course it won’t.  We have rhythm and music as well.   

It’s still raining as folk begin to arrive, some anxious that there may not be any tickets left and others clutching the print outs of their advance booking. Meanwhile inside our gang is busy setting out teacups and the cakes, and, of course, rehearsing. 

“Don’t worry,” I say to those assembled in the lobby. “There’s room for all.”   

Our reviewer attends this first concert. You can read the full review here.  (You’ll need to scroll down).

We sing for an hour, an hour which just flies by. There are some songs they’ve heard before and plenty of new ones as well. Jeff puts us through our paces with The Water is Wide, The Blessing, Cool Moon, Poor Wayfaring Stranger, Over the Rainbow, I Say a Little Prayer, Somewhere Out There, I Got Rhythm, One Day Like This, Fix You, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Everything I Do, I Do it for You, Kiss the Girl and Here Comes the Sun. Amanda and Helen are our soloists.

Then the elves get busy again. There are cakes and tea aplenty. We also treat (well we enjoy it anyway) our audience to Sway as they eat and drink.  

The Fringe moves on. Minutes after we’ve cleared up another group arrives with a harpsichord and I exchange notes with their organiser about the fun that is the Buxton Fringe. As we stroll around in the now reasonably sunny Buxton we come across all kinds of interesting performances. 

Soon it is time to make our way to St Mary’s where we enjoy a very warm welcome. The tables are set up ready for the cake and the water is boiling. It’s a lovely place to sing and we recognise some regulars in the audience. 

Again the hour passes very quickly and soon we’re into cake and tea again. “I must help you to clear up this cake,” says one of our fans, taking another slice.

Our audiences are lovely and it’s always great to chat to them after our performance. We’ve also had, as ever, enthusiastic support from local businesses and organisations  who’ve taken and displayed our leaflets. 

Some of us go on to eat at the Tap House. Well it’s a brewery outlet and so it is noisy but the food is fine and the beer pretty good as is the company, of course. The staff are friendly, and hardworking.  

  

And outside the East Kent Morris Dancers are performing.      

Postscript   https://www.buxtonfringe.org.uk/awards2019.html