Event Preparations

ANOTHER EXTRA SINGING SESSION has been arranged for any SDFSingers (from all our local groups) wanting to sing at our public performances, to help us prepare for the events we will be attending in the late summer and early autumn. The Beechwood Hall Hotel in Worthing has been booked for 7.30pm on Wednesday 13th July.

(P.S. – We hope to arrange a further session in September for some extra time to work on our winter songs. The date is yet to be confirmed but watch this space for details in due course.)

Local Group Report – Easebourne Thursday 19th May 2016

The beer and the bravado were flowing well at The Three Moles in Selham near Midhurst, when the SDFS Easebourne Group met on Thursday night for their monthly sing. We welcomed four new members – Robin and Sue, and Gordon and Debbie – who joined in enthusiastically and brought our total up to 16 singers. We hope they’ll join us again next month on 16th June. After warming our voices with Pleasant and Delightful and O Good Ale we sang another 16 songs plus a version of Ewan MacColl’s Freeborn Man of the Travelling People which our landlady Emma has requested we learn for next time, it being her father’s favourite song! We enjoyed singing the new Kipling songs, namely Oak, Ash and Thorn,  Follow Me ’ome,  Smuggler’s Song, and Run of the Downs, and followed this by practising many of the songs scheduled for the Sullington Event on the 25th June. You could really hear the difference in our voices once we got back to singing the songs we all know and love! Our thanks to everyone who came along and helped make it a great evening. See you all again soon!

Local Group Report – Lewes Tuesday 17th May 2016

We welcomed five new faces from Eastbourne, Cuckfield and Seaford, so there were 16 singers to make a good sound to compete with the party next door at The John Harvey Tavern. Tina had planned an excellent mixture of songs new and old, so that everyone could join in, starting with Rolling in the Dew. The newer Woodcutter’s Song and Smuggler’s Song needed a few notes to be corrected but we galloped through Come Write Me Down and O Good Ale with its reduced verses. Run of the Downs with its line of hills, east to west, was a tongue twister but with practice it should become as easy as The West Sussex Drinking Song or On Sussex Hills! Pleasant and Delightful was already known to two of our newcomers so the alterations to fit in with The Secret Shore Project proved a minor problem. Jim the Carter Lad and Follow Me ’ome will work really well for performances when we manage to speed them up and enjoy their lively rhythms. We then sailed through the Constant Lovers when Tina asked us to treat it like a music hall number and emphasize the roll of the waves and also to start the ghostly last verse quietly. Tina reminded us of the music for Oak, Ash and Thorn but we will need to print off the words from the website and do some homework. Finally, Tina asked Adrian to sing the verses of The East Sussex Drinking Song while we joined in the choruses. But that wasn’t the end of the evening because John K sang Searching For Lambs and Jasna sang a Croatian song about Fishermen and their nets and got us to sing the choruses!

Pleasant and Delightful Lyrics Updated

The lyrics for Pleasant and Delightful were made available on our Lyrics and Recordings page a couple of weeks ago and they have now been updated to correspond to the lyrics read out by Emily at our last Beechwood singing session. There was in fact only one small change: in the last line of the last verse, "if ever I return to you" was changed to "if ever I return again".

The updated version (dated 12th May 2016 in the footer) is available from the Lyrics and Recordings page, or you can obtain it directly by using this link.

Weald & Downland Christmas Market – Sunday 15th November 2015

A little late, here are photos from the Weald & Downland Christmas Market and a lovely comment from Emily. Thank you Emily and to all the photo contributors.

What a way to blast the dismal rain away! Lovely, festive, rousing songs beautifully sung! Thanks to John C for organising it, thanks to Dave G for leading the first set and thanks to you all for your enthusiastic participation, delightful voices and festive hats. The harmonies, both practised and spontaneous, were lovely and we made a good big sound. I think it might have been the heavy grey sky and chilly drizzle that made a number of you request we leave out 'Christmas is now...', but actually I missed it being there in the mix! I think it has a depth and a passion which would have been a good addition to the Christmas market, and it does sound strong and rich when we sing it. I do hope you go for it at Haywards Heath, whatever the weather! Thanks again everyone. I was told by one of the listeners afterwards that he'd been very moved by our energy and song, and it had been the best part of his day.
Hooray!
Emily

Angela B

Peter B

Peter B

Peter B

Peter B

David G

Peter B

Peter B

Peter B

Local Group Report – Beechwood, Wednesday 4th May 2016

SDF Singers from Worthing and other areas, including two newcomers to the fold, gathered again at Beechwood Hall on a warm May evening.  After starting with Sussex Hills, and discussing the newly proposed set of Kipling’s songs to be tackled at our next session, we continued work to polish the details of our other ‘new’ songs - the chopping rhythm in The Woodcutters, the vigour of The Turnip Hoers (which as ever produced a few chuckles at the chorus) and the rich tones of The Magpie.  Also, Pleasant and Delightful, once the words to match the version used on in the “Secret Shore” songs project had been confirmed.  After these and the usual breaks for event news and refreshment, we concluded with the ever popular (but not actually part of our official South Downs collection) Rolling Home, which served well to wind down before going our separate ways.