Recent Events
Songs of Praise
Sunday March 8th 2020
Kings Community Church Hedge End
This was an afternoon meeting for older folk where we sang a mixture of songs for the congregation to sing along with and songs from the choir.
Despite fears that health concerns might cause many to stay away there were about 40-50 in the congregation who joined in the singing most enthusiastically
Southampton Art Gallery
Saturday 29th February 2020
Our first outing of the year saw us at the Art Gallery which has a high vaulted ceiling, which gives a long echo, meaning that we sounded quite loud in this space.
We sang for about an hour of our usual repertoire, choosing mostly quieter numbers which are served very well by the long acoustic of the gallery
Outdoor Church Event
Sunday December 22nd 2019
James St, Southampton
As this was December and the event started at 4pm, it soon grew dark and the lanterns and fairy lights twinkled happily giving a Christmassy feel. The hot drinks were very welcome, and so were the hot mince pies which presented their own particular challenge when one was supposed to be singing.
This was an outdoor Christmas presentation by James St Church.
Rather than wait for folk of St. Mary's to come into the church they take church out to the people.
We sang a few carols, there were some puppets telling the nativity story in their own way,
and Neil Maddox gave a presentation
of his one man nativity story
- playing each one of about a
dozen characters
Carol singing on the streets
Saturday December 21st 2019
Shirley Precinct, Southampton
This was a Christmas presentation by Churches Together in Shirley. We sang a few carols, accompanied the small crowd which had built up in some community carols, and Neil Maddox presented his one man nativity story.
TThe weather started bright and sunny, but was cold and raining at the end of the event
Pizza and Carols
Friday December 20th 2019
the King Rufus pub, Eling
A fun evening in a fully booked out pub, the punters had come expecting the carolling, so we didn't spoil their evening too much.
Much raucous carolling was
engaged in and we were also
visited by the New Forest Mummers
who performed their short
traditional play in aid of the
Honeypot Children's Charity
Botley Festival of Angels
Sunday December 8th 2019
All Saints Church, Botley
The church was decorated with a heavenly host of shining angels made by all manner of local groups, showing a high degree of imagination and ingenuity.
Unusually, the audience actually increased throughout our set as folk came in to look round and then sat down to listen.
We sang about 40 minutes of Christmas music and after being asked for an encore or two, sang the Richard Smallwood gospel song Total Praise and our version of Silent Night, which is arranged with a jazzy, bluesy feel
An evening of singing and dancing
(we promised not to dance, and we didn't)
accompanied by the Sing Out children's
choir who gave us amongst other things
John Rutter's Candlelight carol and
the standard Go Tell it on the Mountain
The Big Christmas Sing
Saturday December 7th 2019
St. Alban's Church, Swaythling
Also performing were the excellent Parkewood School of Dance, the older dancers particularly elegant in a variety of costumes and the younger ones
making delightful
angels in one Christmas
themed number
Church Anniversary Celebration
Sunday November 17th 2019
The Pavilion on the Park, Eastleigh.
We were asked to sing just a few lively gospel songs for the Anniversary of Power Grace Chapel, an African church in Eastleigh.
Our hosts were generous and appreciative, and it was a pleasure to sing for them. the Richard Smallwood gospel song Total Praise is always a favourite at these events and it went down well. I suspect that they might have wanted a bit more.
Remembrance Service
Sunday November 10th 2019
Kings Community Church Hedge End
A couple of 20 minute sets including some congregational hymns sandwiched a talk by Canon Day who encouraged the congregation to share their memories of WW2.
Music in the City
Saturday September 28th 2019
Undercroft Vault, Simnel St.
The 11th annual Music in the City festival saw us singing in the Undercroft, an intimate space where the audience have to scale some fairly steep steps to get away (evil laughter).
We started by getting some audience participation with a medley of short well-known gospel songs sung in a round with three sections of the audience which made a great sound in the confined space.
They thought they were just going to sit and listen, (more evil laughter) but we did sing to them afterwards and then had this photo taken nearby.
Singing in the evening sun
Tues. July 16th 2019
We were singing outside the Tapas Barcelona cafe in Guildhall Square for a bit of alfresco singing in the evening, and some tapas. Occasionally someone stopped by to listen and applaud at the end. It did get a bit chilly and at 8pm we sang the city's hymn O God our Help in Ages Past
to the accompaniment of
the civic centre clock
carillion which plays
the tune every 4 hours.
This was rather silly.
This is a picture from last year at the same location
The scones were very tasty and plentiful,
which is always
a good thing.
We sang a collection of mostly spiritual songs and a few others from our standards repertoire. We were joined by a number of other musicians for a variety of musical pieces.
