Local Group Report – Lewes Tuesday 15th July 2014

Eleven singers gathered at the Royal Oak on 15th July. We welcomed back Audrey from Brighton who had attended some of the original Brighton workshops and had kept up with us on the blog since then. Two new singers also joined us – Sue from Lewes had picked up one of our flyers at the Bus Station and had brought along her friend Wendy, also from Lewes. They were both looking to get back into singing regularly and keen on the idea of singing for pleasure in a small local group to start with.

Five of us had been amongst the 22 singers present at the Sussex University of the Third Age Network event at the University of Brighton the previous weekend on 12th July and all agreed this had been a fun and successful venture into the Eastern end of the Downs. This had been the first public performance for Margaret and Mac from Saltdean who assured us it would not be their last.

Gaynor and John from Lewes were basking in the glory of the trip they had organised to Waldshut-Tiengen, Lewes' German twin town the week before that, where they and six other singers had spent four days and had taken part in the Schwyzertag Festival. They also shared the news that as a duo they have been signed up for a paid gig early next year.

As well as chatting and looking at photos we did actually manage to fit in a lot of singing, getting through most of the War and Drinking songs (looking ahead to Arundel Festival and Amberley Ale Festival in August) as well as other newer songs such as Country Life and older established numbers Twanky Dillo and Thousands or More.

We are continuing with the Royal Oak as our permanent venue (subject to the occasional darts tournament when we may need to move to a different evening) so we look forward to seeing singers old and new in the upstairs room in August and beyond.

Tina