2012
Scarisbrick Village Hall by Robert Law
Curry Leaf Cottage by Jan Thomas
Curry Leaf Cottage by Georgia Lloyd
2011
Henshaw’s
In a field!
2010
Henshaw’s
Red Lion, Newburgh
2012————————————
A-May-Sing 2012- a concert of two halves!
Firstly, we went to the Curry Leaf Cottage. Choir member and trustee Jan Thomas takes up the story…
Several months of rehearsals finally came to fruition on Wednesday 9 May, when we performed our 2012 A-May-Sing set at the Curry Leaf Cottage restaurant in Burscough. Friends and family gathered to hear an eclectic mix of songs including folk tunes, musical numbers and a few ‘modern’ melodies to spice things up.
The evening started well with a champagne reception provided by Moh – the restaurant’s owner – which helped to calm our last minute nerves and put everyone in a relaxed mood to enjoy the evening’s entertainment. This was a first performance for some of our newer members and they were eager to get started, especially as they all had their solo spots to look forward to (or dread!). The first half flew by as we eased our way through songs such as Dream a Little Dream, I Wish I Knew How and we even managed to ‘wail’ in time at the required point in Early One Morning! As usual, Reflect were on top form and sang a beautiful version of That’s the Way it Goes with Shaun throwing in a little Bing Crosby style crooning along the way.
During the interval Moh did us proud with a selection of mouth-watering curries and side dishes followed by tasty desserts. An unexpected power-cut provided a challenge in the second half but everyone rose to it admirably, using phones, candles and torches to read their words and music (I’m sure there is a moral about learning words in there somewhere!) The highlight of the night had to be the men’s rendition of There is Nothing Like a Dame which they attacked with great gusto – the only thing missing were the sailor outfits. The girls followed by donning leis and adopting American accents to sing I’m Gonna Wash that Man, with Elsie giving it her all in her solo spot. The half finished with the traditional māori song Now is the Hour and the moving words and melody added to the candlelit atmosphere. It was the perfect song with which to end the evening.
This was a new venture for the choir and it proved to be a great success. It provided the opportunity for choir members new and old to get to know each other better in a relaxed atmosphere while raising funds towards the choir’s running costs. A fantastic £767 was raised on the night. Big thanks have to go out to Moh and his staff for providing us with some delicious food and for looking after us so well throughout the evening. We will now be taking the set ‘on the road’ and throughout the coming months will be performing at venues including Scarisbrick Village Hall, Henshaw’s and St Mary’s junior school. A busy but enjoyable time awaits us all.
Georgia Lloyd, another member of the choir, also wrote her thoughts about the evening…
The Curry leaf cottage restaurant in Burscough showcased an exquisite dish on their menu on Wednesday 9th May. It was a combination of beautiful aromatic spices and the sought after community resound choir, oh yes! A specially added ingredient that will continue linger on the taste buds for a very long time to come.
The ReSound Community Choir delivered such sweet song to the guest’s tables, complimenting exquisite food and wooing the audience with their enchanting voices, instruments and charming them by candlelight. With the exceptionally, talented lady herself Sarah Monteith, conducting and teasing her orchestra to such brilliance. (I didn’t even pay her to say that! Ed.)
This is definitely an event not to be missed for the future and it is meaning full with a definite purpose, for charity.
What a delight to the senses, a dish that I would recommend everyone to experience.
Secondly we had a wonderful family afternoon in the grounds of Scarisbrick Village Hall. Audience member Robert Law describes the day…
Saturday May 12 2012, 50th birthday of Emilio Estevez, star of The Breakfast club and, more importantly, the day for a gig at Scarisbrick Village Hall.
The day was warm and sunny, promising a great time to be had at Resound Community Choir’s A-May-Sing gig. The venue was brilliant and Karl had setup a ginormous blow up Greek style stage as a backdrop for the choir on the playing fields which filled up very quickly. I’m sure all the young ones (and a few of the older ones) enjoyed the additional pleasures of playground rides and kickabouts.
After a few hiccoughs involving shortages of leads and a mad dash home by Choir Director Sarah the show was underway with Everything is Beautiful featuring a solo by John with the full choir. As the song ended a small plane flew across the blue sky and fluffy clouds and everything was indeed beautiful. Celia was doing the rounds with a “simple quiz” for fun and it proved to myself Jean and Dan that we knew next to nothing about the world of dogs. It was a pure fluke that we knew Husky, Labrador and Chihuha with other answers such as sheep, pig, Ben and Bill being discounted for some reason. It was about this time that the gentle sounds of an angle grinder, possibly an electric saw came drifting over the fence; however nothing could compete with the beautiful strains of the full choir Dreaming a little Dream. It was a sweet arrangement with the perfect harmonies of the ladies with the underlying male voices.
As we tucked into our picnic basket of goodies we were entranced by the young voices with El Condor Pasa, unfortunately a little drowned by electric tools, but even so it was extremely accomplished. Three of the young voices were taking part in the Race for Life next day along with some of the ladies and hopefully a large sum was raised.
Sean started practicing his number skills with the mics, 1,2 his limit but after a few aaahs and with the ladies (including Mark) gathering round at Sean’s request we were treated to the joys of the four piece Reflect, (Celia, Sarah, Mark and Sean) being in The Mood For Love, always melodic and moving. This was quickly followed by a ham sandwich with mustard, oops, I mean the full choir, Down in the River accompanied by Fred Smith on angle grinder. Fortunately Fred didn’t spoil the pleasure given by ReSound’s dulcet tones and the ham sandwiches.
Up next was Reflect again with a great rendition of That’s the Way it Goes. I’d not heard before but it was so good that I didn’t even notice the boiled egg and cheese roll Jean had slid onto my plate. Early One Morning quickly followed with the adult voices, an intricate blend of harmonies that promises to be a firm favourite, just like a “dope” performance of the next number from the adult voices with lots of great solos by almost everyone in the choir, a Perfect Day.
Next minute we entered a time capsule with a haunting melody perfectly played on piano by Sean. I’m sure the field was full of Barry Norman memories along with the titles for Film 72 to Film 98. Yes it was the melody everyone knows but not the words, I Wish I Knew How. I can hear you all humming it but the words are a little sketchy. This was a superb way to finish the first half and an enthusiastic performance by all.
Then we had a rousing chorus of happy birthday for Beth, Heather’s daughter, or no, Celia’s daughter , no Heather’s sister, well a very nice young lady who put us all in our place with the dog names of Dalmatians, Collie, Cockatoo, Labradoodles and made us realise our deficiencies. Great fun!
After the interval we were in the South Seas being invaded by sailors who romped on to the stage and brought the house down with a classic rendition of Nothing Like a Dame. The “boys” performing obviously missed their calling and showed their delight in dressing up in hats and flowers. Not to be outdone the “girls” were up next with Wash That Man, solo by Elsie and it rocked the foundations of the stage and practically “washed the men right up”. Great fun.
The young voices were not to be outdone and with garlands and attitude they delighted us all with Happy Talk despite the mics being set for the giraffes who didn’t turn up anyway. Very well sung. We were sailing along next on an atmospheric Moonlight Bay, with ukulele by Mark and great fiddle by Rafe. Then it was an unexpected interval as the backing tracks were playing up. After some time and with Sean “getting angry” and perhaps relieving the tension with a glimpse of Mr Blue Sky on piano the backing track was dropped and it seemed to make little difference to the adult voices singing of Isla Bonita which was great entertainment.
Within a short time Reflect were back up with Old Cape Cod, a well rehearsed and beautifully delivered favourite of mine. The adult voices were all on standby and went into a great mashup which really shouldn’t have worked but turned out extraordinarily. It was Rio mashed with Teardrop sustained by Dr Beat and it was genius, an inspiration with some really cool mixing, and some snappy guitar by Mark. This was undoubtedly the highlight of the day for me to bring these two diverse songs together and produce something magical with the gravitas of Teardrop and the bouncing joy of Rio.
Second to last song the young voices came in with a sweet little song , Isa Lei, uke played by Mark and percussion by all the young voices and Trevor. The afternoon was rounded off by a very soothing Now is The Hour and ended an eventful but enjoyable afternoon in the sun with a warm and vibrant community choir that certainly pulls a lot of people together.
Update! for A-May-Sing 2011! Well… that was interesting!! The rain pretty much stayed away but the wind didn’t, making for an interesting afternoon of holding things down and huddling up to keep warm. The choir performed brilliantly under extremely trying conditions, and we raised more than enough to pay our costs for the coming year, so that’s great! We managed to get everything packed up before the heavens opened so under the conditions, I hereby declare the event a success ha!
You can check out the summer set at a couple of events over the next month or two… I’ll post dates when I have them.
A few thanks… Thank you to E & D for the loan of their beautiful field and for letting us tramp all over it! Thanks for all the work you, K, N and K did putting the signs up, sorting the toilets and the rubbish and everything else you did to make the day such a success!
Thank you to Jan and Jan for sorting out all the food, and to Jan T, Gill, Albie and Dave for manning the food station!
Thank you also to Jan C for the treasure hunt, and to Kate for agreeing to be the ‘victim’!
Thank you to Ricky and Paula for the loan of the absolutely essential marquee, and for the team who slaved away putting it up Friday night and re-putting it up Saturday!!!
Thank you to Fran and Paula for sterling sales techniques on the raffle ticket sales, and to all of you who provided prizes.
I know there are thanks to be said for the loan of the giant bbq, and for the fantastic price we got on the burgers and sausages, but I’m not sure of names so I’ll post those thanks when I know who they’re to!!
Thank you to Peter for organising all the sound, and to Shaun, John, Trevor, Rafe, Mark and Ted for fetching all the gear.
I am absolutely BOUND to have missed someone or something out- please, let me know and I’ll add it to the list, any oversight is entirely accidental and due to my brain not functioning at full power still!!
Well done to all the soloists- Celia, Sarah, Elsie, John and Connor- you were absolutely great in very difficult circumstances!!
Finally, thanks to you all, ReSound Community Choir, for all you do and for all your support. There has never been a time when this choir hasn’t felt like the community it is supposed to be, and for that I’m really grateful.
A-May-Sing 2011!
In a complete departure from the very squashed atmosphere of the previous A-May-Sing, we’re going to be holding this one in a field!! Yes, our very first outdoor A-May-Sing will take place on the 21st May at a very secret location in Halsall. Once again this will be a fundraiser for the choir’s own funds, and will be by invite only!
We’ll be singing a fantastic mix of music, and there will be treasure hunts, quizzes and all manner of madness. You’ll need to bring some seating, maybe even a gazebo if it looks like r**n, and a picnic- we’ll be selling burgers and sausages from our barbeque to go with it all!
If you think you’d like to join us for this event, then drop me a line and I’ll let you know the details. You can download the flyer and invitation here A-May-Sing Invite
If you don’t catch us at this one we’ll be singing the A-May-Sing set at a few events over the summer- we’ll keep you posted on our Events page!
See you soon!!
2010 ————————————
Second Update! What a privilege as always to take our music to Thomas Henshaw Court in Southport. On a very warm evening two weeks after the original gig, keeping the set (almost) the same, we sang to around twenty five residents and staff, many of whom enjoyed joining in! We were also delighted to have our first encore request, and dutifully performed ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ all over again for a very pleased audience member! The ice creams were most welcome at the end, and we look forward to bringing our next set there in the near future!
Update! A fantastic evening, a little crowded (!) but a lot of fun! We raised around £150 which is brilliant, and will keep our rehearsal room and printing going for a while! Thank you to everyone who helped make it such a success. Photographs will be posted in the near future, I hope!
The set list was as follows…
A-May-Sing!
Well we’ve been raising all this lovely money for all these fantastic charities, but none for ourselves!
So to keep up the printing, rehearsal and other running costs, we’re doing just a very small scale gig in the room upstairs at the Red Lion in Newburgh. Only sixty tickets, £2 each, with good company, a great atmosphere and hopefully some amazing singing!
More info on ticket sales to follow…
I’d like to give the Resound Choir a big round of applause for their superb performance at The Red Lion. I was there with Dan, sat right at the front, and we had a great time. Although the room was a little packed there was such a great atmosphere and wonderful enthusiasm from the whole choir. It was a pleasure to feel the warmth in that room and to see people so obviously having fun singing.
If I had to pick one song it would be Fix You .. but they were all great. Thank you.
Rob
[...] enjoying taking the A-May-Sing set on its summer tour. So far we’ve taken it to Henshaws, which you can read about here, and [...]
[...] Leaf was fab- two hot- off- the- press reports already available here on QLocal, and here on our own website, written by our very own Jan Thomas and Georgia Lloyd! Just the Champion’s report to come [...]