Worthing Local Group “At Home” Session – Wednesday 1st July 2020

Next Wednesday evening, 1st July, will mark our fourth month without our usual singing session at “Ye Olde House At Home”. It’s been a long and difficult time for many, and I hope this finds you all well and coping ok as the situation progresses. Now that some restrictions are easing we can begin to consider when, where and how it will be safe enough for us to gather and sing together again in the ‘real’ world. With the heightened risk of transmitting the bugs when singing in the same space, and sometimes getting as many as 40 singers in the same space at our sessions, this reunion may not be easy to achieve in the near future. If it proves possible for August that will be great, but if not then it’s better safe than sorry and it will still be a joy to look forward to!

Meanwhile how about these songs to use for our July 'sing at home' next Wednesday ...

Pleasant and Delightful – for its “midsummer morn” and its hopes for a joyful reunion after a long voyage
Come Write Me Down (The Sussex Wedding Song) – a happy conclusion, we hope.

Ebernoe Horn Fair (on or near 25th July, I think?)
Green Grow the Laurel
Eileen Aroon
- all three from our original song book (on the CD), no brides in these but different versions of 'boy meets girl’.

Then back to our landscape, our precious pollinators and the promise of fruit, flowers and crops growing as the summer reaches its height:
The Bee-Boy’s Song
The Farmers Toast
The Brisk Young Ploughboy

Finally, either or both for a rousing finish:
Sussex By The Sea
Thousands Or More – to mark the recent crowds on our beaches, and the “Bright Phoebe” sunshine still “so high up in the sky” after the summer solstice.

Have a good sing!
Henny

Lewes Virtual Session – Tuesday 16th June 2020

Hello singers in Lewes (or wherever you may be). June already! Hope you are well and managing to get some sunshine and fresh air, and possibly some extra human contact with the arrival of the new extended “bubbles”. Here are my suggested songs for another month of virtual singing together, a mix of newer and older ones, again with basic recordings of starting notes, first verse and chorus, and some harmonies (download the recordings here).

• To warm up we will start with Ale Glorious Ale and Drink Me Brave Boys.
• A newish song and a lesser sung “old” song next, both celebrating local places – Caburn Hill (both parts) and Run of the Downs (to the old tune here but there may be a new tune written by one of the Worthing singers to try out at some point, watch this space in later months).
• Two very different songs about the sea – the solemnly heroic Brave Eleven and then the raucously joyful Littlehampton Collier Lads.
• Taking us up to our comfort break/ refill of glasses we have songs concerning occupations and nature – Jim the Carter Lad and our old favourite Rosebuds in June (the tune and alto harmony are here, the bass harmony was one of the extras included last month).
• Let’s kick off the second half of the evening with a lively couple of songs regarding local soldiering – Brighton Camp and Sussex by the Sea.
• In contrast two quieter songs about love. Although Eileen Aroon is not a South Downs song, we enjoy it as reportedly having been Hilaire Belloc’s favourite song and it is followed by Green Grow the Laurel.
• To round off the evening we have Pleasant and Delightful and East Sussex Drinking Song (the recordings for these, including harmonies, were included in the previous sessions).

Stay safe, keep well and happy singing until we can meet  again in person. Golier!

Tina

Worthing Local Group – Wednesday 3rd June 2020

Here are the songs suggested for us to sing in our locked down homes this coming Wednesday evening, 3rd June, between 8.00pm and 10.00pm.

June is now upon us and the glorious sunny weather we’ve had for a while makes it feel like high summer already. This month’s list of songs is again a mix, with some evoking different moods of the season, others acknowledging the difficulties these “Hard Times” have brought, but staying positive and looking ahead to the promise of gathering for a “good beer” and “singing the best song” when we can all get together again.

Accessing some of the song melodies and harmony recordings on this website may help and keep you company when you sing – and for those who have our "South Downs Songs” CD, you’ll have the chance on that to hear our voices singing together and to revisit an extra ‘old’ song or two. Enjoy!

Thank you to everyone who has kept in touch. It’s likely we will be here again in July for another ‘home’ session – but keep checking this website for any updates and plans for future sessions.

Country Life – always a jolly good warm-up
Rosebuds in June* – because it’s June!

Shepherd of the Downs* – and – Old Adam* – reminders of the benefits of co-support!

The Ladies Go Dancing At Whitsun – a wistful summer song, in remembrance

The Lark in the Morning – out there on the Downs singing well and ‘larking' around
Rolling in the Dew* – a rebuke to the lark perhaps...
The Cuckoo* – also out there and still calling, but with a sadder tale to tell in this song.

Hard Times of Old England*
Thousands or More*
West Sussex Drinking Song* – all probably speak for themselves... “Cheers”!

Stay safe,
Henny

*songs which are on the "South Downs Songs” CD