S.U.N. EVENT

Here's a final reminder for everybody singing at the Sussex U3A Network (S.U.N.) event on Saturday 12th July that you will find details of the setlist, lyric sheets, what to wear and everything else you need to know on the event page here.

Looks like it should be an interesting day for all concerned.

Keith D

Horses at War

David G has already provided us with a report, complete with photos, of the recent Horses at War event held at the at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum (read it here if you haven't seen it already). John C has now received the appreciative email below from one of the event organisers.

Dear John,

We wish to thank you and your team for your greatly valued participation in our recent Horses at War event. Despite the Saturday morning downpour we enjoyed nearly 4000 visitors over the weekend.

We have received an astounding number of compliments and thank you letters from many of our visitors and staff, with particular reference to the high quality of the displays and exhibits.

Of course the excellent quality of the music and singing was integral to visitor enjoyment!!

Many thanks for all your hard work and effort towards making this event the success that it was! We wish you all the best and look forward to working with you in the future.

Kind regards,

Sue and Kate
The Events Team
Weald & Downland Open Air Museum

So thank you to everyone involved, we can all give ourselves a pat on the back.

Keith D

Thanks - and see you later!

Today I am handing over the blog to IT wizz Keith Dillon.  I took it over from Linda T what seems like ages ago and it's been lots of fun to do.  A big thank you to everyone who reads it - and a big raspberry to those who don't!  It is a very useful way of keeping people updated as to the events and sessions we singers get up to, as well as providing other useful, interesting and relevant information so if you look at it only rarely, you're missing out!

Keith is a great successor and knows far more about the techy stuff than I do so the blog will be in even safer hands!  Thanks Keith.

Right.  Over and out.  See (some of) you on Wednesday at the Beechwood.

Adrian F

To all the singers in the play .....

Tomorrow's the last performance of the Worthing Community Play!  Good luck to the many SDFS singers who have been a part of it all - what a ride!

Adrian F

PS - should we create the SDFS Mummers to take advantage of our acting talents?!

Lyrics

Links to the lyrics of 37 songs and ten carols are now on the Lyrics and Music page.  More to come in due course!  There may be a few tweaks made but they are broadly correct.

The carols will have another three titles added in time for Christmas: The Falmer Carol, While Shepherds Watched their Flocks By Night (Sweet Chiming Bells version) and Christmas is Now Drawing Near at Hand.

There is a training version of the last one already available.

Adrian F

SDFS Committee Meeting

The next SDFS Committee Meeting is scheduled for 31 July.  If you have anything you would like raised, please let the secretary know via the general enquiries e-mail address on the Contact Us page.

Adrian F

Local Group Report – Lewes Tuesday 17th June 2014

At the Royal Oak on 17th June we welcomed new singer David Turner from Brighton (who sings with the Orpheus Choir and is rediscovering folk singing) and returning singer Andy Miller from Lewes (who still works for Harvey's Brewery after 43 years).

We ran through the eight songs on the setlist for the Sussex University of the Third Age Network event on 12th July and then turned our attention to some of the newer songs including Ale Glorious Ale, Constant Lovers, Country Life, Gooch's Beer and Ha'nacker Mill. We have now sung all the 39 songs in our repertoire at least once (except for the carols which we will look forward to starting come October ... but let's not wish the summer away with Amberley and Arundel just around the corner – look out for announcements soon...)

Tina

Easebourne tomorrow!

Just another quick reminder, folks: this and next month's Easebourne sessions will be held at The Three Moles, Selham.  More information on the Local Group News page ....

Adrian F

S.U.N. event - Brighton University, 12 July

Coming to the S.U.N. event?  Lyrics for all the songs we will sing at Falmer are now on the dedicated S.U.N. event page below (edited to enable deletion of dedicated page). But then you know them all already, don't you?!

Adrian F


Sussex U3A* Network (S.U.N.) - Saturday 12 July at 3pm
- Celebration of 'Sussex and the South Downs' project

This is a follow-up to the e-mail sent out last Wednesday, 11 June.

The S.U.N. event celebrates the history, natural history, literature, art, crafts, music, industry and traditions of the South Downs and aims to have 10-12 musical performances of about 20 minutes each.  With this in mind, I’ve put together the following setlist adding up to around 21 minutes (download the lyrics here):

Fathom the Bowl
Hard Times of Old England  
All things are Quite Silent
On Sussex Hills
Ladies Go Dancing at Whitsun
Life of a Man
Rosebuds in June
Thousands or More 

These songs cover class / politics / poverty; drinking and festivity; farming and industry; life cycles; love and loss; nature; roving; the sea and the seasons.  As an acknowledgement to the anniversary of the Great War it includes a couple of our gentler new war-themed songs which we can go through at the sessions in Lewes on 17th June, Easebourne on 19th June and Worthing on 2nd July. 

The comments on the blog and from singers at Horses at War regarding a dress code seem to indicate a majority wanting some kind of identity - but not a uniform.  A couple of people have suggested green for the Downs and blue for the sea and I thought we could try this out for this event with added white and / or cream for a more summery feel.

So basically, any kind of clothing / hat / buttonhole of your choice in any shade or combination of green / blue / white / cream.  All of which should accommodate Lincoln green SDFS polo shirts (if you have one) blue jeans, pale chinos, summery dresses, straw hats and anything else anyone may wish to wear.

We need to know how many singers will attend so please let me know as soon as possible at southdownsfolksingers@gmail.com.

Any questions?  Send them to me at southdownsfolksingers@gmail.com too.

Tina

PS - a reminder of the details:

Event details:
The overall event will all take place over three floors in the Checkland Building, University of Brighton (Falmer campus) between 10.30am and 3.30pm.  We will be singing in that building.  There will be many stands, suitable for all ages, displaying the wide range of activities promoted by the project.
More details from the website here. 

Getting there:
The Falmer campus is adjacent to the Brighton & Hove F.C. Stadium.  There is free entry for the public and free parking.  It is easily reached by train (Falmer) or bus (23, 25 direct; 28, 29 to Sussex University - alight opposite Falmer station).

* University of the Third Age

Horses at War

We sang for a full 50 minutes outside in the sun at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum Horses at War event on Saturday 6th June and our songs were very well received by an appreciative audience. In my humble opinion, we sang the best we have ever sung out of doors, thanks largely to the spirited conducting by our musical director Emily Longhurst and also the beautiful singing of Amaryllis Gunn and her quartet, ably backed by the rest of the group. But as you can see from the smiles in the photos, the big reward for us is to meet and sing and be happy together. First outing for the new SDFS banner too!

Let's have more of these events please!

Golier!

David G