Local Group Report – Chichester – Thursday 19th December 2019

Our last sing together for the current year was a great success. Thirteen of us (and three well-behaved dogs) came to the Chichester Inn ready to socialise and celebrate Christmas with a selection of seasonal poems and songs. We lit the candles on the tables and Anne, Alan, Keith and Dave brought guitars, melodeon and whistles to play a few tunes and accompany some of the songs. After starting with Deck the Halls we went around the circle encouraging everyone to do their party piece or recommend a favourite carol from the SDFS repertoire. Sue gave us a version of I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas and Jane requested The Holly and the Ivy which we sang to the other (not the folky) tune just for a change. Clare asked us to sing Here we come a-wassailing and Henny requested The Angel Gabriel. We followed this by singing Sweet Chiming Bells and then Stephen A gave us a jolly rendition of Tom Lehrer’s Christmas Time is here by golly! reflecting ironically on the crass commercialism of Christmas. Gordon had written a 21st century version of Jim the Carter Lad, poking fun at DHL-type delivery drivers, which he performed with panache. Debbie brought us back to sanity with the Coppers’ Christmas Song, before Chris read one of Les Barker’s comic poems Spot of the Antarctic and Lyn sang us Sid Kipper’s hilarious parody The Ivy and the Holly. Alwyn requested The Sussex Carol and Keith sang a nostalgic and moving song entitled Christmas Long Ago. Before the interval we had another version of Sweet Chiming Bells from Anne and Alan, who then recited Kipling’s poem Eddi’s Service (at Manhood End). Finally Dave finished off the first half singing Dominick the Italian Christmas Donkey.

After a break to chat and refill our glasses (and enjoy the chocolates that Alwyn had kindly brought!), we went around the circle again; we sang the Sugar Wassail, Silent Night, Masters in this Hall, Pentonville, Hark the Herald Angels sing and the Gloucester Wassail. Gordon got us singing his Three Moles song and gave us his Shakespearian rendition of The House at Pooh Corner; Henny recited Leslie Norris’ poem The Shepherd’s Dog, Alwyn a poem entitled Christmas Lights and Chris delivered Ronnie Barker’s hilarious Cockney Rhyming Slang Sermon. Alan had composed an Apple Tree Wassailing Catch which he taught us to sing successfully in four part round. We finally finished up singing Old Jacky Frost is Knocking at the Door. All in all it had been a tremendous evening. Thanks to everyone for their excellent contributions. We’ll meet again on Thursday 16th January 2020 at the Chichester Inn. Hope to see lots of you there!

Local Group Report – Lewes – Wednesday 20th November 2019

We were missing several regulars who were resting their voices between Brighton Pub Carols rehearsals, but 11 singers gathered at the John Harvey Tavern. These included Kim and Lisa, our two visitors to this session, one from Hailsham and the other a friend staying with her, from Kent. They had come out together for a quiet meal, but ended up joining in very enthusiastically with the singing and said how much they had enjoyed hearing songs which were mostly new to them.

We sang a variety of songs suitable to the season – some war songs of Remembrance, others relating to cold weather generally, Christmas, New Year and wassailing, including most of the set for the Weald and Downland Christmas Market the following weekend.

Warming up with Sweet Chiming Bells, Poor Froze-Out Gardeners, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Where Stormy Winds Do Blow we then moved on to Life of a Man, All Things Are Quite Silent, The Coppers’ Christmas Song, The Holly Bears a Berry, The Holly & the Ivy, Home Lads Home and Here We Come A-Wassailing.

During the break for refilling glasses we managed to keep discussion of Brexit, the General Election and Trump's possible impeachment to a minimum, although goodness knows what the world will be like when we meet again in December!

In the second half we tackled The Fields Lie Silent, Sugar Wassail, Sussex Mummers’ Carol, The Angel Gabriel, While Shepherds Watched (Pentonville), Masters In This Hall and The Woodcutter’s Song before finishing as usual with Thousands Or More.

Nine of us had recently performed a mini gig at Jan L’s mum’s residential home in Henfield which had been very well received and we discussed returning there in Spring with a new set.

We were disappointed to hear that we would not be wassailing at Steyning Community Orchard in the New Year due to the organisers having “over-organised” and we will be looking out for suitable other similar events to suggest in future.

Next month we will again be meeting on a Wednesday, 18th December, to accommodate the Brighton Pub Carols rehearsal the previous night so see you there.

Back to the usual third Tuesday from January.

Local Group Report – Worthing – Wednesday 4th December 2019

Thirty-six singers, including some joining us for the first time, gathered at “Ye Olde House at Home” for an evening of seasonal song. With no performance sets to work on we simply chose many of our personal favourites. The Holly Bears a Berry opened the show leading on to The Coppers' Christmas Song, Deck the Hall and the Sussex Mummers' Carol before I Heard a Bird Sing was sung as a round. Masters of This Hall came next before some more rounds, Hey Ho Winter Snow and Child of Light, sung separately at first but then beautifully combined. Alan introduced us to another round, about “Stir-up Sunday” and Christmas pudding, which went down well! Sweet Chiming Bells and Pentonville brought us to a break for more refreshments. We resumed with a request for The Turnip Hoer and the Poor Froze-Out Gardeners, before a couple of Wassails: Sugar Wassail and Apple Tree Wassailing Song (with Alan stepping up to do the celebratory speech at the end of the song). The Holly and the Ivy, the Woodcutter's Song, Fields Lie Silent, and the Sussex Carol followed before our festive singing came to a close with a hearty rendition of Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Festive greetings were exchanged and plans for our first session of the New Year were made.
PLEASE NOTE – for the January meeting only we will be meeting later in the month than usual, on Wednesday 15th January 2020. The group has also agreed to start our singing at 7.45pm.
We look forward to seeing you there!

Footnote – During the interval in our singing, Henny (SDFS Chairperson) was surprised by the presentation to her of a generous gift from her SDFS chums. In addition to her thank yous on the night she wants here to thank again everyone involved in plotting and delivering such a lovely surprise, your thoughts and kind words are much appreciated. A Happy New SDFS Year to you all! Hx

SDFS at W&DLM Christmas Market – Report

Here's a report from Alan for our performances on 23rd November 2019:

Thanks to 40 SDFS members for turning up on a damp, cloudy, muddy day at the Christmas Market at the Weald & Downland Museum. Thanks to those from the eastern provinces in particular and to Dave and Amaryllis for organising their respective halves of a newly-tightened semi circle. Also to Dave for announcing.

All went quite well despite rain in the first performance. It was worrying as books drooped and words vanished from pages. A spell cast by Emily to impress upon us the importance of learning our words?

Great singing despite my novel, idiosyncratic activities as conductor. But could it have been those that gained your attention to my unusual gesticulations, leaving John Barbirolli way behind? Two sessions outside with the full complement. At the second session by the café the singers somehow managed to position the leader in a puddle, with a little child stamping up and down behind and determined to make everyone wet. At the request of the organisers, we gave a third performance with about 15 or so who stayed to sing in the Gridshell. Although tired, damp and muddy, a super Gridshell performance. It is so much easier to impress when singing inside a building.

The gentlemen gave of their best due to a larger-than-usual complement of excellent singers. Their harmony lines of some of the songs were particularly powerful. The ladies were their usual solid, competent selves with a large group of top-part-harmony-singers voices adding an extra level of beauty to the songs.

“Thank you Emily for teaching so well that we can feel pleased with our performances and can entertain audiences.”