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.
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