SDFS at the English Festival, Horsham

Update 1st May 2018: The set list has been added below. Car parking passes are available to singers on the day to be issued this Wednesday (2nd May) at YOHAH on submission of the car's registration (apologies for the late notice but this concession only came through today, despite being mooted more than a month ago). Car sharing would help as spaces are limited (not specified).

Sunday 13th May 2018

For the second year running we will be supporting the Horsham Folk Club's musical day on behalf of the Samaritans, at the Bandstand in the Carfax.

It will be a 40-45 minute song set commencing at 2.00pm.

Final details will be posted here as they become available.

Organiser's flyer download (pdf file)

Song List

1. West Sussex Drinking Song E
2. Pleasant & Delightful A
3. The Magpie B
4. Oak, Ash & Thorn E
5. The Bee-Boy’s Song G
6. Ale, Glorious Ale E
7. The Turnip Hoer B
8. A Smuggler’s Song C#
9. The Nightingale A
10. Brisk Young Ploughboy C
11. Sussex Drinking Song A
12. Life of a Man B
13. Thousands or More A
14. Country Life Eb–Ab
15. Sussex by the Sea A
16. Jolly Good Song

The Last Trip Home with Cotillion

A celebration of the working horse and ox in folk song and verse

with Cotillion (Anne, Alan, Linda and Bonnie).

Saturday 28th April 2018 at 7.30pm in St Giles’ Church, Shermanbury (map)

Tickets £10 include refreshments, available at Village Care, Henfield,

or on the night at the door,
or from Richard Putnam 01273 493154.

Local Group Report – Chichester – Thursday 19th April 2018

Fifteen singers plus Stanley the dog came to the Chichester Inn on Thursday night and even the landlord agreed that we were in very fine voice as we sang through the two sets of songs planned for Saturday evening at Butser Ancient Farm on the 5th May. We were reminded that it was Primrose Day, which marks the death of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli on 19th April, 1881. “And all England, so they say, yearly blooms on Primrose Day.” We were more concerned however with preparing to “sing in the May”, so we started with Sumer Is Icumen In and Hal-an-Tow and then went on to sing about Country life, Downland trees and Sussex creatures, including Magpies, Bees and Larks. After a short interval at 9 o’clock, we had a go at Searching for Lambs just because the tune is so beautiful. We all agreed that it should be sung with the men singing the protagonist’s verses and the women singing the responses from the maid who from home had strayed.

In the second half we enjoyed singing Good morning Lords and Ladies it is the first of May, Pleasant and Delightful, Ale Glorious Ale and The Nightingale, before turning our attentions to rural tradesmen such as turnip hoers, brisk young ploughboys and farriers. We finished up singing Thousands or More at which the ladies commented that the men were “wallowing” in the refrain. So this prompted a quick chorus of The Hippopotamus Song in which we could wallow to our heart’s content!

Hope to see you all at the Chichester Inn on Thursday 17th May when once again we will have fun singing the old and not so old songs that connect us with our beautiful county of Sussex!

Local Group Report – Worthing – Wednesday 4th April 2018

Our April session attracted a goodly crowd of songsters. With enjoyment and future performances in mind, and with Emily’s patient guidance, we worked on a couple of the songs we are still learning (The Bee Boy’s Song and Lark in the Morning), and then two more also on the setlist designed for the Butser Farm event in May (Hal an Tow, with Alan doing an excellent solo on the verses, and the May Day Carol). After the break we returned to more familiar material and sang our way through most of the songs planned for use at the Weald and Downland Museum’s Spring event on 15th April (Old Adam, Green Grow the Laurel, Ebernoe Horn Fair, The Brisk Young Ploughboy, The Farmer’s Toast and Rosebuds in June). Just for us we finished with Rolling Home, a song not from the South Downs but now beloved by many, to conclude our sessions. We look forward to welcoming the merry month of May and all comers again at our next sing at Ye Olde House at Home on 2nd May. See you there!