Lewes Virtual Session – Tuesday 16th March 2021

**NOTE EARLIER START TIME FOR THE SUNDAY ZOOM**

Hello again singers in Lewes or anywhere else. As we reach the anniversary of lockdown starting, first vaccinations continue to be rolled out for many people, so things appear to be heading in the right direction, however slowly. Here are my “sing along at home” suggestions for this month. No new songs to learn but I have attached recordings HERE of the two Spring songs which were new last year and have not yet had a public airing. All the other recordings can be found in the previous months.

Anyone reading this anywhere is also invited to join us to sing and chat at one or both of the following Zoom sessions where those present will decide how we use the time.

TUESDAY 16TH 7:30PM
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82819627897?pwd=VVZjL3E0a3BMQUFpUVNkMk5lVTF4QT09
Meeting ID: 828 1962 7897
Passcode: 779314

SUNDAY 21ST 1:30PM (NB earlier time than previously as I have another Zoom at 4pm)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84736383945?pwd=azlabmx2aDhkTEhxVkVvaWxlOFk5QT09
Meeting ID: 847 3638 3945
Passcode: 027485

• Let’s warm up with Ale Glorious Ale and Country Life.
• Next two songs looking towards Spring since, while we might still yet have snow in April, at the moment there is a decent amount of sunshine and blue sky – When Spring Comes In and Birds On The Spray.
• Leading us into the break, a couple of songs about outdoor rural occupations – The Brisk Young Ploughboy and The Turmut Hoer.
• With replenished beer/wine/juice/water/coffee or other beverage of choice on hand, we’ll sing two Kipling songs – Oak, Ash and Thorn followed by A Smuggler’s Song (in which Lewes singers have regularly heard me launch into “Five and Twenty Blackbirds” but I've highlighted “PONIES” on my wordsheet now so hopefully I will get it right this time).
• Two songs follow with birds in their titles and love as their theme – The Lark In The Morning and The Turtle Dove.
• To bring our (sadly still virtual) session to an end we will finish with very old favourites Pleasant and Delightful and East Sussex Drinking Song.

Best wishes, solidarity, golier etc!

Tina

Lewes Virtual Session – Tuesday 16th February 2021

Hello again singers in Lewes or elsewhere. Hope you’re still surviving. At least now some people have had the first vaccination and the days are getting longer with occasional sunshine, despite the recent flurries of snow. Here are my February song suggestions. Just one new song this month with attachments to sing along at home HERE (the others recorded in previous months are marked *).

If you would rather sing and chat with others there are also two Zoom sessions where, as usual, those present will decide how we use the time. Stay as long as you want, all welcome from any area. If anyone is reading this who does not yet belong to SDFS do feel free to come and see what we do.

Tuesday 16th at 7.30pm

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83024913881?pwd=emdVWnFULzlLYXN5SDlmVmRTY09WZz09
Meeting ID: 830 2491 3881
Passcode: 802923

Sunday 21st at 3pm

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87825799809?pwd=SThZSFo2VGwvdkI5UVRwMThSTHM2UT09
Meeting ID: 878 2579 9809
Passcode: 500968

• We’ll kick off with Drink me Brave Boys* and Fathom the Bowl*
• Then our new item, one last wassailing song for the year – Wassail the Silver Apple from the West Country. On the website you can hear Alan & Anne from the Chichester group performing it in two parts with instruments. I’ve attached here each part recorded separately and the words.
• Taking us to our virtual comfort break a pair of sea-themed songs, both sad tales but set to lively tunes – The Constant Lovers* and Our Captain Cried, “All Hands”*.
• Welcome back with two songs concerning local Sussex places – Brighton Camp* from the East and Ha’nacker Mill* from the West.
• Next our thoughts turn to love with The Three Maidens* and The Sussex Wedding Song*.
• And to end another distanced evening, apart but together in spirit, our old favourite Thousands or More* with a slight topical change to the lyrics: “With my bottle and friend you will find me on Zoom!”

Best wishes, solidarity, golier etc!

Tina

Lewes Virtual Session – Tuesday 19th January 2021

Hello again singers in Lewes or wherever you are. Happy 2021 and I hope you managed a peaceful and restful holiday period. Some of you may still be waiting to celebrate with family and friends who were in the wrong tier at the wrong time and the whole country is now back in lockdown awaiting the long-promised vaccines. As we have more time this year and no public performances immediately on the horizon, we can string out and enjoy the Christmas and wassailing songs for a bit longer than usual. Here are my January suggestions with attachments for you to sing along in the privacy of your own homes. New recordings for this month can be found HERE (those recorded previously are marked *).

If you prefer to sing with others, however chaotically given the limitations of latency and connections, everyone is welcome at these two Zoom sessions. The singers present will decide how to use the time. Do pop in, even if you just want to say a quick hello, being visible on camera is optional too! You should have received the links already, but they are:

TUESDAY 19th 7.30PM

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83131009406?pwd=Z2kyUnNhR3YzQ05lZWNxeGhZOWFMUT09
Meeting ID: 831 3100 9406
Passcode: 515155

SUNDAY 24th 3PM

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82077361404?pwd=dlBZeHRyMTkwV2Z4VDlsRGtsVUR5dz09
Meeting ID: 820 7736 1404
Passcode: 943906

• Let’s warm up with two old favourites celebrating our local landscapes – Ha’nacker Mill* and The Song of the Sussex Downsman*
• Next a trio of songs from our usual Christmas collection – The Sussex Mummers’ Carol, Sweet Chiming Bells and While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks (to the newer tune Pentonville)
• To take us to our break, two new songs which some of us already know and love from singing with Brighton Pub Carols – Then Let Us be Merry (from the singing of William Harris, blacksmith and church musician at Rodmell) and Wake Ye Shepherds (from William Boyce of Handcross)
• Welcome back with another new, but more recent, seasonal song. When It’s Christmas Time was written in 2010 by Glen Redman of Brighton Morris and Brighton Pub Carols. He gave permission for SDFS to use it five years ago when we had a lot of other new material to consider, maybe time for another look. Geoff suggested it as one of his favourites at the last Zoom.
• The last of our familiar wassailing songs for this year – Apple Tree Wassailing Song, Here We Come A-Wassailing and Wassail Wassail All Over the Town.
• And to round off the night raise your hearts and voices in Thousands or More* and East Sussex Drinking Song*

Best wishes, solidarity, golier etc!

Tina

Lewes Virtual Session – Tuesday 15th December 2020

Hello again singers in Lewes or wherever you are. Early hopes of it “all being over by Christmas” having faded, here we are again, singing 2020 out virtually but still just as heartily. Here are my December suggestions with old, new, starting notes, first verse, chorus, harmonies HERE. Recordings done in previous months are marked *. Words for new songs included, let me know if you need others.

Singers in all three areas should have received the email with the links for three Zoom sessions – the usual Lewes evening slot Tuesday 15th 7:30pm and two afternoon sessions on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th both at 3pm. If you haven’t had these and want to join in let me know and I will send them.

• Let’s warm up with two songs about hills – from West Sussex an old favourite On Sussex Hills* by Hilaire Belloc and from East Sussex the newer Caburn Hill* written by Lewes singer Dave T. I hope you get some fresh air on a hill near you at some point over the festive season.
• Next a quartet of familiar songs from our existing Christmas repertoire – The Holly bears a Berry, Masters in this Hall, The Moon Shone Bright and The Sussex Carol.
• A short comfort and refreshment break then back to introduce two new carols which are known to those of us who usually sing with Brighton Pub Carols (which is taking place via some shared sets on Facebook this year). The Sinners’ Redemption originated in a broadside newspaper from the 1600s and is another of those unusual minor key morality carols where the “mirth” referred to is religious joy. In contrast Now Christmas is Come is a light and cheerful carol which was collected by Lucy Broadwood from the “Singing Baker of Cuckfield”.
• Looking ahead to the wassailing season we have Wassail all your Apple Trees, a new simple round which was introduced by Alan from the Chichester group, and our old friend Sugar (Sussex) Wassail.
• To finish our evening, and the year’s singing, West Sussex Drinking Song* and Thousands or More* to remind us of the things which really matter in life but cost little – companionship; drinking together, which doesn’t have to be alcohol, could be a hot chocolate; sunshine, which may be a bit hazy in winter but is still worth seeking out and sharing with your special people; and of course, singing a song which has a rousing chorus.

If I don’t see you at one of the meetings, I send greetings for Christmas, Hannukah, Winter Solstice or any holiday which you and yours may celebrate in the cold season and I hope to see you in 2021 which surely must be brighter than this year has been.

Best wishes, solidarity, golier etc!

Tina

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

Lewes Virtual Session – Tuesday 20th October 2020

Hello again singers in Lewes and elsewhere. Hope you’re still well and surviving everything. Here are my suggested songs for this month. As ever some old, some new, with recordings of starting notes, first verse and chorus, and some harmonies and lyrics HERE. Recordings which were made in previous months are marked*. I’ve included words for the new songs. If you’re missing any other words let me know and I can send them to you.

In addition I’ve set up two Zoom sessions this month – in the usual Lewes slot Tuesday 20th 7:30pm and on Sunday 25th 3pm. Lewes singers should have received an email with the links for these. If anyone else would like to come along contact me and I will send them. Whoever is there can decide how we spend the time. All welcome at one or both sessions. If you just want to say hello and listen then that’s fine too.

• Let’s get warmed up with Ale Glorious Ale* and The Brisk Young Ploughboy*.
• Next a couple of moodier songs. Hollingbury is a new composition from our own Lewes singer Dave Turner about the ancient hill fort in the north of Brighton; while Poor Froze-Out Gardeners is a 19th century broadside regarding jobless gardeners in winter.
• Taking us to our comfort and refreshments break, a trio of light and pretty love songs. The traditional Hares on the Mountain* then The Turtle Dove* which was collected by Lucy Broadwood from the landlord of the Plough Inn in Rusper. The last one Valiants All is a new song for Lewes singers which was introduced by Stephen Alberry of the Chichester Group and was collected from Stephen Spooner at the Midhurst Union Workhouse. I've added some low and high harmonies.
• We’ll get started again with some singing about… whisper it… Christmas, well it is nearly November now!! As we have plenty of time available at the moment, in the coming few months as well as covering all our usual seasonal songs I will be introducing some new Sussex carols. These will be familiar to those who usually sing with Brighton Pub Carols which it seems we will also sadly be missing this year. But for now let’s start easing gently into the spirit of the season with three familiar songs from our existing repertoire – The Angel Gabriel, the rounds Child of Light / Hey Ho Winter Snow and The Coppers’ Christmas Song to which I've added a new bass harmony.
• Finally, to round off the evening our old favourites East Sussex Drinking Song* and Pleasant and Delightful*.

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

Tina

Lewes Virtual Session – Tuesday 15th September 2020

Hello again singers in Lewes (or elsewhere). Hope you’re well and surviving the changeable weather as well as the overall situation. Uncertainty continues on all fronts, so this session is still “virtual” and these are my suggested songs for this month. As ever some old, some new, with recordings of starting notes, first verse and chorus, and some harmonies HERE. Recordings which were provided in previous months are marked: *.

I’ve included words for the 2 new songs. If you need full words for any of the others at any time, either because you were away when we did them or you’ve mislaid your folder, let me know and I will scan and send them to you.

If you would like to take part in a Zoom session on WEDNESDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER AT 7:30PM please let me know via my personal email or text. It may be difficult to sing together with synching issues and delays but we can give it a try and at least say hello and catch up. Maybe people will want to share something new solo or in small household groups. Let me know anyway.

• Let’s kick off with two of our best-known warm up songs: Fathom the Bowl* and The Farmer’s Toast*.
• Next we have two new songs about love which will be known to those who took part in the Belloc, Broadwood and Beyond Project. The first The Loyal Lover was collected by Lucy Broadwood and we have sung this before at Lewes. The other The Delicate Flower was written by Hilaire Belloc.
• Taking us to the comfort and drinks refill break, a trio of our more reflective songs: Life of a Man reminds us of the circle of life. All Things Are Quite Silent* tells of loved ones left behind when sailors are pressganged. Hard Times of Old England describes how those sailors (and soldiers) may later join others to tramp the streets but ends with the hope that good times may return to this country.
• We’ll get started again for the second half of the evening with two songs which cover all the seasons in turn. Country Life* is a rousing traditional number outlining different farming and rural tasks while Seasons Turn* is a more poetic description of nature throughout the year, written by local singer Sylvia Watts.
• Then a trip through the cooler but (hopefully!) still glorious Autumn woods and fields with The Magpie*, The Woodcutter’s Song and The Fields Lie Silent.
• And to round off the evening old favourites East Sussex Drinking Song* and Pleasant and Delightful*.

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

Tina

Lewes Virtual Session – Tuesday 18th August 2020

Hello again singers in Lewes (or wherever you may be). Hope you’re well and surviving the heatwave/storms as well as the overall situation. Still no clear idea of when pubs may be fully open again, so we are still “virtual” and these are my suggested songs for this month. I will send something round separately about trying out an additional Zoom session. As usual, some old songs, some newer, with recordings of starting notes, first verse and chorus, and some harmonies here.

• To warm up let’s start with the well-known West Sussex Drinking Song and A Smuggler’s Song.
• A couple of fun extras next – the 15th century Sussex round Sing You Now After Me and the distinctly un-Sussex Finnish reindeer yoik song Ole Leloila. We learned these to sing with other groups at the Southdowns Folk Festival Big Sing in 2019 (sigh, we hope to return there in 2021) and they are useful pieces for warming up and to encourage singing out and blending voices together. Both songs are recorded in full as they don’t really have “verses”.
• Two of our more reflective songs follow – Kipling’s My Boy Jack (again the whole song is here) and Old Adam (first verse and the last verse which is slightly different from the others).
• To round off our first half, two songs about nature – apple scrumping with Tommie and the many uses of Oak, Ash and Thorn.
• Welcoming you back from your virtual drinks and comfort break, we kick off again with the working lives of the jolly Turmut Hoer and the blacksmith in Twanky Dillo.
• Two love songs next – the suggestive Three Maidens (with its “bird in the bush”) and the more sedate Sussex Wedding Song (where once again they are married the very next day!).
• We will finish with old favourites Thousands Or More and Pleasant and Delightful (see previous sessions for recordings including harmonies).

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

Tina

Lewes Virtual Session – Tuesday 21st July 2020

Hello again singers in Lewes (or elsewhere). Can you believe it’s July? Some singers have asked me about meeting in a park or a private home, but there seems to be no safe and legal way to do this yet. Scientific advice suggests that singing may need even more than the 2 metres distancing previously in place, possibly 4 metres, with other concerns regarding smaller airborne particles lingering in the air for up to 2 hours. There would also be the logistics of deciding where to meet, which six people at a time, travel there and back (in several cases by public transport), bathroom and other facilities etc. So our virtual sessions will continue for now and here are my suggested songs for this month. As always, a mixture of old and new with basic recordings of starting notes, first verse and chorus, and some harmonies. Download the recordings, and lyrics for a couple of songs, here.

• To warm up we have Gooch’s Beer and O Good Ale (the second one is not universally loved and not included in our general performances but it’s still a good tune for our individual sessions).
• A couple of songs about local places next – Song of the Sussex Downsman and then Stedham Oysterman’s Donkey which is new to Lewes singers, having been introduced by Stephen at the Chichester group and sung there occasionally. Although not yet part of the main repertoire it’s a fun item. I’ve also attached the words.
• Two sea-themed songs follow – Our Captain Cried “All Hands” (a solemn tale set to a jaunty well known hymn tune) and They Won’t Let Us go to Sea Any More (it will be interesting to see what difference B****t eventually makes to Sussex fishing fleets).
• Before we take a well-earned break to replenish whatever we are drinking, two songs concerning occupations and nature – Seasons Turn and The Jolly Woodcutter. The latter was suggested by a Lewes singer as a possible addition to our general repertoire and is known already by those who took part in the Belloc, Broadwood & Beyond Project. I’ve also attached the words.
• Back to the second half of the evening with two of our songs concerning war – Follow me ’Ome which is told from the viewpoint of brothers in arms marking the loss of a comrade; then Ladies go Dancing at Whitsun concerning the women left to carry on at home.
• Two contrasting songs about love next. The very direct Rolling in the Dew followed by the more courtly Shepherd of the Downs (one of the many songs where the lovers somehow meet and marry the very next day).
• To close this month’s session we have old favourites East Sussex Drinking Song and Thousands or More (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

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

Lewes Virtual Session – Tuesday 19th May 2020

Hello singers in Lewes (and Worthing, Chichester or anywhere else you may be reading this).

Hope you are surviving the current situation. Here are my suggested songs for another month of virtual singing together, with some basic recordings including starting notes, first verse and chorus, and some low and high harmonies (download the recordings here). For the benefit of any new or returning singers, full words are on the Lyrics and Recordings page and the New Songs page. While singing these I have on my green outfit and straw hat with white blossoms and I will imagine you all doing the same.

To warm up, a couple of old favourites – Constant Lovers and Fathom the Bowl. As I always say at Lewes, this is raucous folk singing at its best so leave aside any training or inhibitions and go for it – think Poldark, not Songs of Praise.

Next, two quieter and more reflective songs so you can go back to your best beautiful, refined singing for these – Ha’nacker Mill and All Things are Quite Silent.

A trio of songs about farming come next – Brisk Young Ploughboy, Ebernoe Horn Fair (an old faithful revisited) and Farmer’s Toast.

At this point in the evening we would normally top up glasses, so refill whatever you are drinking and take a quick break (mine was a coffee and a couple of Rich Teas while recording these songs in the middle of the day).

To open our second half, another trio of newer songs about nature - Bee Boy’s Song, Hares on the Mountain and Lark in the Morning (although the last one is only loosely to do with birds and more about larks of a different kind involving Roger the ploughboy…).

To celebrate May we then have It is the First of May, May Day Carol and Hal an Tow, not South Downs songs but appropriate to the season.

We will end with our own East Sussex Drinking Song and Thousands or More (both with added harmonies this month).

As a further bonus for the men, there are male harmonies attached for Country Life, Life of a Man, On Sussex Hills and Rosebuds in June, which I recorded in 2015 for a harmony workshop and found again the other day.

Stay safe, keep well and enjoy singing until we meet again. I suspect the June session could be another virtual one so do let me know if you have a favourite you want to be included.

Golier!

Tina

Local Group Report – Lewes – Tuesday 21st April 2020

Tina came up with a cunning plan to replace our usual face-to-face meeting. There are problems with synchronization when linking up so she decided to make sample recordings of the twelve songs that she would normally have prepared for us to work through and we posted them to our regulars. Our warm up started with Country Life and On Sussex Hills which we know so well and shouldn’t need referral to our website (except our newer singers of course)! The recorded list included When Spring Comes In, Searching for Lambs, Pleasant and Delightful, Birds on the Spray, Turtle Dove, Magpie, Nightingale and Home Lads, Home. Thoughtfully, Tina gave us both the tune and harmony or alto for some of these. She also gave us the whole of Robb Johnson’s On This Hill, written about the old Brighton General Hospital at the top of Elm Grove on Race Hill (you can hear Robb Johnson sing this here) and suggested that we finish with Thousands or More as is our habit. So we achieved a sort of virtual session and the opportunity to repeat the performance at our leisure over the coming days/weeks. The only thing missing was the Harvey’s and background noise from the bar. We are hopeful that she will spend a few more hours preparing a virtual May session when we can dress in green, put flowers in our hair and dance around the kitchen table!

You can download Tina's recordings here.