Newsletter 12 July 2017

Last shout out for Buxton  

Buxton Fringe 15 July 2017

We’ll be singing at our usual two venues:

United Reformed Church Buxton 11.00  a.m.

St Mary’s Church Buxton 3.00 p.m.

Book your tickets at  https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/EJKKHD If this link doesn’t work copy and paste it. This allows you to book separately for each event. https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/ordsallsingers/events takes you to both events. Some people have reported some difficulty with this. You can also text 07778 866661 to reserve tickets.

Tickets: £5.00 full price, £3.00 concessions, children under five free, family ticket £12.00 (up to four people, one of whom must be a concession) 

If you've not been to Buxton before we can really recommend this. It's a lovely place. The Fringe Festival is exciting, the weather forecast is great for this Saturday and there'll be plenty of cake.     

Breaking for the Summer

We have just two more rehearsals before we break for the summer. What shall we do on a Tuesday evening in August? Many members will of course be taking their annual holidays. But we all have our music and we are able to listen to recordings so there will still be plenty of singing. And there is one more event to go – see details below – as well as one in the autumn.  

     

Forthcoming Events

You can also find details on our Facebook page and we’ll usually put links on Twitter as well.

At most of our events you can get tickets on the door. However, we do recommend getting tickets in advance where we offer this. It helps us and it guarantees that you won’t be turned away at the door. We’ve not had to do that yet but we’ve come close to it.     

 

Ordsall Festival 22 July

This takes place in Ordsall Park Salford. We’ll be performing at home, in effect. It’s always good to remind ourselves of where we come from. We'll be singing between 12.30 and 2.15.

 

Victoria Baths 10 September

We’ll be singing at about 1.00 p.m. and 2.15 though watch out for updates on this newsletter and on our Facebook page. If you’ve not been before the Victoria Baths are well worth a visit. 

We now are singing there regularly a couple of times a year. You can read about our previous visits here.

  

Looking further ahead

We’re already looking to the autumn and winter. We have several unconfirmed events but as soon as the details are clear we'll get them out to you. They're quite exciting, actually….  

Past Events

We had a busy weekend last weekend.

Read about our performance at Swinton Grove here.

And Victoria Baths here.

Happy singing and listening, everyone.

 

Swinton Grove Family Fun Day 8 July 2017

There's always a great feeling of anticipation when we arrive for this event. People are setting up stalls. There are as ever some old favourites and something new as well.

"Look, the birds of prey are here again."

"I wonder whether they'll perform like they did last year." 

The ElizabethGaskill House opens its back gate. They provide an excellent tea room. Certainly worth a visit whilst you're here.

  

The Fun Day starts at 12.00 and we're part of the opening ceremony. It's pleasantly warm and most people sit in the shade whilst we wait. Yes, it's certainly looking like it's going to be a beautiful day. 

Naturally we sing One Day Like This, followed by a few other songs that are firmly in our repertoire. As we sing we can smell the food cooking. There's always a good lunch provided at this event.

It's a lovely, lovely occasion as ever.

Ice cream features largely for many of us.

Swinton Grove is grand on a warm Saturday in July. We hope we'll be invited again.

Sunshine and ice-creams: Swinton Grove Park Family Fun Day 4 July 2015

11.35 and folk begin to arrive. The grass steams gently as a warm sun clears the water left from last night’s storm. Already we’re seeking some shade. We’ve come here for several years now and we always associate it with sun. It’s such a happy event.

“Black is the new … black.” It’s our turn to sing. “Black with a touch of purple. The Ordsall  A Cappella Singers from Ordsall and beyond.”  Spot on. That is us indeed.

We’re a little reduced in numbers today and Jeff joins the basses and occasionally the tenors. Yet there are enough of us and we’re balanced. We just get on with it. We have the luxury of mics for the main event though they rather draw us into smaller groups. No matter: it works.

We sing a short set of songs that somehow go with the occasion: Viva la Musica, Smile, Here, There and Everywhere / Long Winding Road, Under the Boardwalk and Kiss the Girl. One gentleman has arrived late so we sing Soul Wind especially for him.

We’re treated to lunch. Many of us opt for the chicken leg and salad, which are very enjoyable. We’re made to feel very welcome.

Next it’s time for an ice-cream and another sing, this time on the mound below the trees, quite near to the bouncy castle. This time it’s I Got Rhythm, Joshua, Blue Skies and Viva la Musica again. It’s amazing how much an ice-cream can look like a hand-held mike …

The fun day is going well. We finish our stint and then we’re off duty. Several of us make our way over to the Elizabeth Gaskell House where we enjoy tea in real mugs and cake on real china plates. What value for money, too.  A whole pot of Earl Grey and a slice of lemon drizzle for just £2.00.

Where would we be without cake?

Don’t forget, there’ll be plenty of it and of our songs in Buxton 25 July! See you there?

A Weekend of Fun Days 2 Chester Race Course

It was even hotter today. And there’s not a lot of shade on a race-course. We did manage to find a few seats under some umbrellas and it was very pleasant chilling out between sets, keeping cool and chatting. There was a bar, but no one went for the Pims at £5.00 a portion. Other drinks were much more reasonably priced.

One of the coolest places was inside the Pavilion where all of the live musical entertainment took place. This offered us a fine opportunity to listen to some good music.

We were invited to sing at Co-operative Family Fun Day. We’re pleased they asked us. We’ve sung for them three times before at Christmas but this is the first time at a Family Fun Day.  

It was the first glimpse of many of us at the inside of a race-course and few had realised just how close this particular one is to the centre of the town. It was fascinating coming across the vocabulary associated with horse-raining on this afternoon when something so totally different was happening.

We actually rehearsed in one of the changing rooms which also doubled up as a place where we could leave non-valuable items. There was just enough space for us all to get in though a couple of people did opt to sing in the shower. The sound was amazing.  Could we repeat it, though, in the bigger space?

We completed two sets of about twenty-five minutes each. The Pavilion holds a lot of people and for both performances we had a respectable and appreciative audience – even if they had only come in for a drink and to get out of the sun. Was it my imagination or were there more  people there for the second set? Certainly there were people on every row if not every seat. True, the sun was possibly at its hottest by then but I even had the impression they were listening a little harder. Had our reputation gone before us? Or was it just the heat?

We tried to replicate what we’d done yesterday but really the area was too exposed to sing in for long. However, we did join and entertain the ice-cream queue again. With Teddy Bears’  Picnic. Could we get gigs at theme parks entertaining the queues? That could be fun – singing on the rides as well, maybe. We’re game for most things.

One or two from the queue joined in Teddy Bear but one young girl looked highly uncomfortable. I hope we didn’t scare her too much – though we do intend to scare with that one.  

Yes, the second set was rewarding. Three young lads sat on the front row and Jeff let them choose whether we should sing How much is that Doggy in the Window, Teddy Bears’ Picnic or Nellie the Elephant. They opted for Nellie so there was a bit of galumphing.

A few rows back some very elegantly dressed older ladies seemed to enjoy our little show.

We did something a little different with Longer this time: our regular soloists – Ann, Ella and Susan all sang together. It worked rather well and gave some volume to the solo part.

Was the icing on the cake when one of the older ladies stood up to clap?

Well we’ve worked hard this weekend but it’s all been great fun.  When’s the next one? Oh, yes, Buxton next week.