Brighton Pub Carols: Singing Dates

Following the rehearsals now underway, the actual pub dates (same venues as last year) are:

Tues 15th Dec at The Hartington, Whippingham Road (8pm)
Sat 19th Dec at The Sir Charles Napier, Southover Street (7.30pm - but get there VERY early...)
Tues 22nd Dec at The Park Crescent, Park Crescent (8pm)

For more details, including of the rehearsals, see here.

Adrian F

Singing at "The Mockingbird Cafe" on Saturday 5th December 2015

Please see the invitation to sing at "The Mockingbird Cafe" on the Proposed Events page. Don't forget to email Amaryllis if you want to join in.

N.T.’s Slindon ‘Apple Day’, 10th October 2015

A great day and we were very lucky with the weather, thank you to all the singers for your support. Katie sends her thanks below. Note we are invited to attend the Wassail on 16th January and next year’s event.

“Please thank the South Downs Folk Singers for coming too, we really appreciated them coming along to sing. Folk music, singing and dancing have always been at the heart of English traditional festivals, fetes and get-togethers, and so it felt very right that you were there singing traditional songs. So many people commented on how much atmosphere the music, singing and Morris dancing gave the event. I do hope you would like to come again next year.

Our Wassail is on the evening of 16th January if you would like to come along to enjoy the event or to sing, which would be brilliant!”

John C

Thank you again to John for following up The Slindon Apple Fair event. The venue was rural and the weather autumnal but calm. One of the first to arrive was Steven who tried his face at apple bobbing and then had to dry his jacket out by draping it over the hawthorn hedge in true traveller style. Most of us only caught the aroma of pressed apples and pizza! And just admired the wonderfully colourful display of apples and pears – not a ladder in sight.

We gathered in front of the music marquee and had our biggest audience yet because there were straw bales and deck chairs for the visitors to sit on. Again Bright Phoebe winked at us on cue. Thank you to Emily for keeping us on track with smiles and passion and thank you to Dave for doing the links.

After our first set of songs we could either listen to Phil and Jane (Bang on the Ear) or watch Fishbourne Morris and, after our second set, Said the Maiden entertained the crowds (Lady Maisery style) with traditional songs like Spencer the Rover from the Copper Song Book and some of their own compositions. Said the Maiden can be found on YouTube and Facebook.

Slindon is a lovely village to walk around. The clever display and annual sale of pumpkins was on and the parish church open, as well as the Jubilee Orchard and the Forge Café.

Margo

The first photos are from Amaryllis and show Steven apple bobbing.

Head in...

Got one!

Was it worth it?

Yes!

Here are some photos from Angela B:

And photos from Peter B:

Weald & Downland Christmas Market – Sunday 15th November

Once again it's that time of year, gird up your loins and give those punters at the Market a seasonal blast they’ll never forget! Rambling Sid Rumpo ( Kenneth Williams)

The 120 exhibitor stalls for this year were completely booked up before Christmas last year with similar large numbers of visitors over both days. Our CDs have been, and are, selling steadily throughout the year in the museum shop, and on the day we can sell them at our performances.

As at last year's Christmas Market we have been invited to sing traditional songs and carols around the Gridshell @ 1.00 to 1.30pm (gather outside by 12.45pm), and at the Music Tent in the Market Square (by the hot chestnuts!) @ 3.15 to 4.00pm. The site is open from 10.00am and there will be long traffic queues to get in, so get there early if you don’t want to be stuck in a traffic jam.

Fast track the entry queues by showing your wristbands at the Friends kiosk on entering from the overflow car park (you don’t have to wear them on your wrist).

The song list is below for both sets, and wear something seasonal in whatever form you fancy on the day!

John C )

The Holly and the Ivy

Deck the Hall

The Falmer Carol (See Seraphic Throngs)

Sussex Carol (Horsham)

Christmas is now Drawing Near at Hand

The Sussex Mummers Carol (Righteous Joseph)

The Holly Bears a Berry (Sans Day Carol)

Sweet Chiming Bells

Wassail, Wassail

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

New Christmas Songs

Here are links to download pdf files and a piano recording for the two new Christmas songs that were introduced at the last Beechwood singing session.

Coppers' Christmas Song pdf

Coppers' Christmas Song piano recording mp3

Christmas Now Is Drawing Near At Hand pdf

Brighton Pub Carols

Lo - the musical star is rising in the east once more! Well, Brighton, anyway.

Indeed, the Brighton Pub Carols are with us again, as delivered by the Napier Quire, augmented by ourselves. Rehearsals start on Tuesday 10th November and run weekly until 8th December. We then take the results of our labours to pubs around Brighton in the days leading up to Christmas.

If you would like to become part of the quire for the festive season, you'll need to attend as many of the rehearsals and pub sessions as you can. The role of the quire is to lead the rest of the pub in song: there are some well-known carols, but we will also be singing several less familiar ones – or different tunes/versions. This is the most fun you will ever have singing carols and is coupled with a wonderful sense of cameraderie – perfect seasonal behaviour!

Practices will again be on Tuesday evenings at Dorset Gardens Methodist Church, Dorset Gardens, off St James's Street. 8.00pm – 10.00pm.. Doors open from 7.30pm.

The pub sessions will be announced on the blog in due course. Photos from last year are in the December 2014 news archive here and the facebook page is here – carols (words and some music) can be downloaded from there.

In the pubs we cheerful neighbours
Talk about our Christmas spree
Pause to spare a thought for all those
Not so fortunate as we
So the turkey and the pudding
Comes upon the tables then
And the alehouse door is opened
Let the poor folk enter in.

Merry Christmas!

Adrian F

Singing at Slindon Apple Fair, Saturday 10th October 2015

Update 9th Oct: song 9 in the second set is now West Sussex Drinking Song

Parking is in the field behind the Village Hall / Forge Cafe / Village Shop.

Gather at latest 11.45hrs for 12.00 first performance.

First set:

1. Country life
2. On Sussex Hills
3. West Sussex Drinking Song
4. Nightingale
5. Life of a Man
6. Hard Times
7. Dancing at Whitsun
8. Fathom
9. Rosebuds
10. Thousands
11. Jolly Good Song

Second set:

1. Twankey Dillo
2. On Sussex Hills
3. Green grow the Laurel
4. Old Adam
5. Ale Glorious Ale
6. Life of a Man
7. Rosebuds
8. Ebernoe Horn Fair
9. West Sussex Drinking Song
10. Sussex by the Sea
11. Jolly Good Song

Xtra Singing Session for Xmas Songs

PLEASE NOTE – Our Christmas preparations are under way!!

We will be having an EXTRA Singing Session at The Beechwood Hall Hotel in Worthing on Wednesday 28th October at 7.30 pm to work on (and enjoy singing) our ‘Christmas' songs in readiness for the seasonal performances we have planned for November (see the Diary Dates and Events pages for more details of these).

So, if you are going to be singing with us at these events, please do join us if you can on 28th October at the Beechwood.

A Celebration of Folklore in Sussex and the South Downs

Here's a message passed on from Julie T about the Celebration of Folklore in Sussex and the South Downs. We were unable to sing at this event as we didn't have enough singers, but two of our singers, Alan and Anne from Cotillion, will be performing here.

A Celebration of Folklore in Sussex and the South Downs
Saturday 31st October 2015, 2-4 pm
Cloisters, Bishop Otter Campus, University of Chichester, College Lane, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 6PE

The Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy is hosting a celebration of folklore in Sussex and the South Downs, with stories and songs, to celebrate our new illustrated map of local folklore created with the kind support of the South Downs National Park.

Dr Steve O’Brien will read ‘St Dunstan and the Devil’, Joanna Gilar will perform ‘The Witch of Ditchling’ and Cotillion will introduce the audience to a selection of Sussex folk songs for this special Hallowe’en event. With Special Guest of Honour Prof. Jacqueline Simpson, without whom the map would not have been created.

You can download the map of folklore for free here: www.chi.ac.uk/fairytalemap

Tickets £5/£3 concessions; free to University staff and students. Contact h.robbins@chi.ac.uk to reserve your ticket or for more information.

With thanks for your time,

Heather Robbins
Assistant at the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy

Southdowns Folk Festival, Bognor – 27th September 2015

Angela B

Peter B

All photos below thanks to Barbara S