Local Group Report – Chichester – Thursday 15th June 2017

Sixteen of us (if you include Stanley the dog) met at the Chichester Inn to sit round together and have a jolly good sing. After some notices and quite a lot of banter, Dave suggested we spent the first hour singing songs from the set list for our “Happy Sussex Day” event in Brighton that we will be attending on Saturday 17th June. So we sang Country Life, A Smuggler’s Song, The Nightingale, Rosebuds in June, The West Sussex Drinking Song, Ha’nacker Mill and Pleasant & Delightful. After a break to refill our glasses, Stephen A explained his plans for a sing at 1.00 pm at Tullecombe near Rogate on Tuesday 18th July, when he hopes we will be able to sing at a picnic for some intrepid souls hiking the Serpent Trail. The songs he has chosen and researched are local to the Midhurst area. So we practised Valiants All, The Stedham Oysterman’s Donkey and The Saucy Sailor. We had to laugh when we tried to interpret the hidden meanings behind the song Valiants All, which in the ancient language of flowers seems to be a lament (or a warning) by a young maid who has lost her virginity! We finished up the evening singing two songs requested by Lyn T from Yapton, namely Where Stormy Winds Do Blow and The Run of the Downs, and with the words “You’ll be glad you’re Sussex born” ringing in our ears we called an end to what was a most enjoyable evening. We’ll be back again at the Chichester Inn on Thursday 20th July. Join us if you can. New members always welcome!