St Mary’s Centenary Buxton, 22 April 2017

The light shines through the window at that back of the church, casting a pool of brightness on those of us at the front. Will we do the Shakespeare one, we wonder?   “Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,” he tells us. What a sharp contrast to the very first time we performed at the Buxton Fringe, when a sudden storm brought us our audience as folk rushed for shelter. 

Actually, it wasn’t too hot. It was just right. Look at the photo we managed to take outside. 

“Those of us who are kneeling had better stand at the back. We don’t want them seeing our wet knees.” 

There was no need. It was actually warm enough that by the time we started our performance the dampness had gone. 

What an obedient audience, we thought – or at least hoped. We’d said doors would be open by 2.45 and by 2.40 there were only the helpers and one guest. We needn’t have worried. Everyone else was outside enjoying the sunshine. By 3.00 p.m. the middle of the church was pretty full. There were many familiar faces in the audience. The friends of St Mary’s Church are now our friends. They always look after us so well.  

I spot a Buxton Fringe badge. “We meet at last,” says the wearer.  It is Keith Savage who  is the Buxton Fringe, and who reviewed us and highly commended us two years ago. We’ve exchanged several emails over the years. Keith and the people who run the Fringe are always so helpful and enthusiastic, too. 

Once again, it is quite magical performing with the people we rehearse with every Tuesday evening. We don’t stand in our parts and Jeff only conducts I Say a Little Prayer. We have to do a lot of counting and really end those phrases well. Someone writes in the comments: “Lovely professional sound and clear diction.” We manage then? We are helped also by the warmth of the audience. On the whole, also, I think we rather like this new regime of being “scattered”.  

It is a real privilege to help St Mary’s start their centenary celebrations. They have a whole series of events and have produced a pretty little post card. Well worth a visit. 

Cake, of course, is also glorious. What a spread!   

    

“Hope you get home all right,” says one of the church members. “There’s snow predicted.” What?  Perhaps we need to refer to our mate Bill S’s words again. “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May.” Well, it’s not May yet, actually, and Buxton is pretty high up. 

We don’t sing the Shakespeare song. Not this time.   

There isn’t a problem with snow either. The drive home is glorious.         

Newsletter 15 february 2017

Dear all,

We’re now getting very excited about going to the MACC. Last night we had quite an intense rehearsal. We hardly sat down at all and we didn’t really notice that we’d been on our feet for the best part of two hours. We spent the second half of our rehearsal singing in a different part of the room from normal, with clusters of people from each part in several places.  Challenging but rewarding. It really makes you focus in a similar way that the small group singing does.

And we have an extra concert. See STOP PRESS below for extra details.

The evening before the MACC we’re singing with two other choirs: the Volya Ukranian Male Voice Choir and Men2Sing. This takes place at : Manchester Universities' Catholic Chaplaincy
Avila House
335-337 Oxford Rd
Manchester
M13 9PG

And it’s FREE. Book your ticket by clicking on the link below.              

Forthcoming Events

You can also often 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. 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.    

STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS 

 

Extra new concert Saturday 25^th February 2017

The Manchester Amateur Choral Competition is hosting a concert this year and has invited some of the best talent from around the country to come and sing.
Join us on Saturday 25th February for a fantastic evening of music before the competition heats up on Sunday.
Tickets are Free!

Book yours here.

 

 

Manchester Amateur Choral Competition 26 February 2017 

… fondly known as the MACC. Yes, we’re entering this again. The songs have been selected … more or less ….. Ha, ha, they’re a secret! We sing for fifteen minutes. It is open to the public – click on the link above -so you might like to come and support us. There is a fantastic atmosphere and although the choirs are in competition with each other they are also very supportive of one another. Guaranteed you’ll hear some great singing.       

Salford Choral and Vocal Festival 4 March

How could we not join in this?  It will to some extent be similar to what we’re doing for the  MACC – note how close together the two events are. But there’s more. In addition, we’ll be entering some small groups of up to ten people. This is something we’ve been working on recently. We’ve been meeting an hour early and singing in small groups – often with just one person singing each part. That really stretches you. It’s a sharp contrast to singing in the bigger choir but it’s great because you can really hear the other parts clearly.  

Find out more about the festival here.          

 

Buxton St Mary’s 22 April Centenary Concert 3.00 p.m.

We have been invited to provide a concert for St Mary’s, with whom we have become great friends over the years that we’ve been going to the Fringe Festival at Buxton. They celebrate their centenary this year. Tickets will be the same price as for our main Buxton concerts:

£5.00 full price

£3.00 concessions (children, unwaged, senior citizens)

Family ticket £12.00 – up to four individuals in one party, where at least one person must be a concession

Children 5 and under free.

The church is arranging the ticketing for this and it should be available by the end of the month. It will be possible to pay on the door but only if there are seats remaining. Book your ticket here to guarantee a place.  

 

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 here.  Prices as above.

Victoria Baths 9 July and 10 September

We’ll be singing at about 1.00 p.m. and 2.15 on both occasions, though watch out for updates on this newsletter. 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.      

Happy singing and listening everyone.