Worthing Local Group “At Home” Session – Wednesday 2nd December 2020

My greetings to all SDFS singers and friends as we approach the Yuletide season. It’s a time to sing songs of winter in a mood of celebration and also reflection, and to cheer ourselves as we look towards the turn of another year. Perhaps this year more than ever we wish for better times in the year ahead. It seems a very long time since our cheery meeting at “Ye Olde House at Home” last December – and I hope it won’t be too far into 2021 before we can all be of good cheer and singing together again. Meanwhile, for this month’s session at home let’s fill the air with a predictably seasonal selection from our SDFS collection. I’ve picked some of the songs requested as favourites by the gathered throng last year, but please add any extra or other choices you fancy. Happy Singing from now until New Year – and beyond!

• Warm up with The Holly and the Ivy before the winter moods of the Coppers Christmas Song and Fields Lie Silent. Whilst in this quiet pre-Christmas mood The Angel Gabriel is another lovely one.
• Then pick up the pace with Wassail Wassail All Over the Town (the Gloucestershire Wassail) followed by Masters in this Hall.
• The Moon Shone Bright and the Sussex Mummers Carol also take us back to ‘pre-tinsel’ times, and in a similar but rather more austere mood Christmas is Drawing Near at Hand (a song sung by the Coppers but which has proved to be is a bit of a ‘marmite’ song in the Worthing sessions!).
• The rounds Child of Light, Hey Ho Winter Snow and I Heard a Bird Sing are each pleasing even as solos, and add to this list Alan’s Stir-up Sunday round in anticipation of the season’s special puds and cakes.
• The Woodcutters Song and Deck the Halls bring the winter woodlands into our thoughts and homes.
• Then a trio of favourites, Pentonville, the Falmer Carol and, returning to our hardworking shepherds still watching their flocks, Sweet Chiming Bells.
• Finally, knowing this difficult year will finish soon and our hope and resilience must carry over into the new year, let’s get in the mood with that good old perennial Country Life!

With my very best seasonal wishes,
Henny

Lewes Virtual Session – Tuesday 17th November 2020

Hello again singers in Lewes or wherever you are. More uncertainty with the current second lockdown, but what is certain is that we will continue singing our Sussex and Hampshire songs one way or another. Here are my suggestions for this month. As always, a mix of old, new, recordings of starting notes, first verse and chorus, and some harmonies HERE. Recordings done in previous months are marked *. Words for new songs included, let me know if you are missing any others.

Two more Zoom sessions this month – the usual Lewes slot Tuesday 17th at 7:30pm and Sunday 22nd at 3pm. Lewes singers have received an email with the links. If anyone else wants to take part let me know and I will send them.

• Kicking off the evening we have the seasonal Where Stormy Winds do Blow *. Hopefully, we are all singing this somewhere safe and warm while appreciating the hard work of those who work outdoors in all weathers.
• Next the old familiar The Run of the Downs but now set to a new tune by Amaryllis from the Worthing group so we can discard the very Cornish Floral Dance! I’ve added some harmonies for the chorus.
• A new song Bold Reynard the Fox was mooted a while back and its graphic description of hunting was thought probably not suitable for our main repertoire at family events (as well as having an uncertain link to the Downs, although it is listed as a traveller song from the South East so probably found its way around many locations). It does, however, give a very honest account of the fox’s fate in this traditional country pursuit often seen in full pomp on Boxing Day and it is set to a very jaunty tune so some singers might want to include it.
• Turning to the Christmas season, a pair of our existing numbers – the unusual minor key morality carol Christmas Now is Drawing Near at Hand and the cheerier The Falmer Carol. These are followed by Stir Up, a new song to be sung as a round. This was introduced by Alan from the Chichester group and was traditionally sung on Stir Up Sunday when puddings were made and left to mature (this year it’s 22nd November which coincides nicely with one of the Zoom sessions).
• That takes us to our refreshment and comfort break. I have my usual coffee and rich tea biscuits while recording these songs, but I may have something stronger on hand at the Zoom sessions. One day we’ll be back at the John Harvey Tavern together…
• Settle back in for another couple of old favourites, Hark the Herald Angels Sing and The Holly and the Ivy, both sung to the more unusual folk tunes.
• Then two very different songs about local lads putting on uniform and travelling far from home. The Young Recruit went unwillingly after being plied with drink and press-ganged into the army, while The Saucy Sailor does appear to have chosen his lot on the briny ocean. We hope they both returned home safely. Both are new to Lewes singers and were originally introduced by Stephen from the Chichester group. They were collected by Clive Carey from his 1911-1912 visits to Dorothy Marshall of Chithurst House near Midhurst.
• The last new song of the evening (you have all worked incredibly hard, well done) is Shepherds Arise. This will be well known to those of us who sing with Brighton Pub Carols where we would normally have started rehearsals by now. It is from the singing of the Copper Family and was taken up by the "Hope in the Valley" group started by Vic Gammon in the 1970s folk revival. A more recent group of singers and instrumentalists have given Christmas performances under the name "Shepherds Arise" since 2013 in the Lewes area.
• To close proceedings, two that we know and love at any time of the year – Pleasant and Delightful * and West Sussex Drinking Song *

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

Tina

Worthing Local Group “At Home” Session – Wednesday 4th November 2020

We greet November with disheartening news but remember, we are of “the stout south country stuff” so I hope you are well and ready to find some cheer in singing a few more of our songs. Even if just to yourselves, accompanied by SDFS recordings, or with others in a ‘bubble’ (or with Tina and fellow Zoomers at the sessions she facilitates – see her posts on this site for details) – singing our songs helps to keep us in touch until we can gather again in the ‘real’ world. So what follows is a mix of seasonal songs to stretch your lungs and fill your hearts at home on Wednesday evening... or any time!

The autumnal mood and lingering memories of summer are fading to be replaced by remembrance, shortening days and thoughts of winter festivals to come. The songs below reflect this and a few may remind you of our past performances at the Weald and Downland Museum Christmas Market – roll on a happier new year and joining them again in 2021.

Let’s start with a familiar and reassuringly positive one, Thousands or More to warm our spirits.

Moving then to Ladies go Dancing for its gentle remembrance of lives lost. Thinking also of those who promised to return and did come home, The Turtle Dove.

The poignant images of sunsets after harvest in Home Lads Home leads us to the peaceful images of winter in The Fields Lie Silent and the comforting thought of spring returning.

The Copper's Christmas Song paints a more lively picture of winter with rural life and work continuing, and Christmas heralding the turn towards a new year.

The Holly and Ivy and The Holly Bears a Berry celebrate these ever-greens that endure in our landscape throughout the winter chill.

Child of Light and Hey Ho Winter Snow (as rounds if you can against a recording or within your ‘bubble’) – the first evokes the peace and mystery of winter and the second the reward of returning home to a warm fire, both enhanced by the presence of singing!

For a more upbeat finale, how about giving the not particularly seasonal Twankydillo a turn (everyone’s ‘favourite’!) – simply for its positive energy and the heat from the forge!

Stay safe and warm yourselves, enjoy the songs and if feeling any winter blues try singing them away!
Henny