SDFS at the Arundel Festival 2016

Sunday 28th August, 4.30-5.30pm

We are performing in the Town Square at the bottom of the High Street below the War Memorial, as requested of the organisers as our preference and where we gave an informal performance last year.

Emily will be leading us in a leisurely set with song introductions, separated by a break which because of being slotted in on the river stage we have not been able to do in the past. The Red Lion is adjacent!

The songs are mainly those we performed at Bateman’s, being in such close proximity to the War Memorial.

As it is a Bank Holiday weekend parking will be at a premium, so I personally will again be leaving my car in Torton Hill Road off the Ford Road. It is then a leisurely 10 minute stroll to the venue, under the A27 road bridge via The Slipe and Tarrant Street.

Song List

1. Country Life
2. On Sussex Hills
3. Pleasant and Delightful
4. Oak, Ash & Thorn
5. The Turnip Hoer
6. All Things Are Quite Silent
7. The Magpie
8. The Nightingale
9. West Sussex Drinking Song
10. Ladies Go Dancing At Whitsun
11. Home Lads, Home
12. Fathom the Bowl
13. Life of a Man
14. Thousands or More
15. Rosebuds in June
16. Sussex by the Sea

Look forward to seeing you there.

John C.

Another Chance To Sing...

“Worthing Beach Clean” – Saturday 17th September 2016 from 12.00 noon
Beach House Grounds (near the beach east of Worthing Pier)

One of our singers (Barbara) is organizing this event and has invited fellow singers to come along and form an informal group on the day to sing a few songs to add to the fun at lunch time (anytime between about 12.30 and 1.30pm).

It is suggested that this performance will not necessarily need formal planning with a song set and a lead but could be decided in situ by those singers attending and meeting up on the day, choosing perhaps 5 or 6 of our songs well known to them all.

So if you’re already planning to attend or would like to sing, just go along on the day for the 12.00 noon start of the event and see whom else from SDFS arrives!

Any queries – contact me (Henny) via the SDFS email address.

Local Group Report – Beechwood, Wednesday 3rd August 2016

We were a plentiful gathering of voices at Beechwood last week when we shared in the pleasure of singing songs from the set planned for Bateman’s (Sunday 7th). We continued work on the “Kipling Songs” to increase our confidence and familiarity with these and also enjoyed revisiting others from our established repertoire. Thanks to singers from the Lewes and Selham areas who had travelled to join us, and of course to Emily for leading us through, picking us up where needed, and for crowd controlling during a lively session!

The Last Trip Home

A celebration of the working horse and ox in folk song and verse. Cotillion (with Anne and Alan from the South Downs Folk Singers) will lead you through those years of dramatic change when horse and oxen were replaced by the internal combustion engine. Our story takes the audience through the agricultural landscape of bygone days, the sadness of the Great War when many horses were sent abroad to fight and never returned and then finally the arrival of the first tractors. Moving from pathos to humour, we hope you will help us relive this historic period of English agricultural history.

with Cotillion
(Anne, Alan, Linda & Bonnie)

Saturday 3rd September 7.30pm
Church of St Mary de Haura Shoreham

Tickets £10 includes refreshments

Tickets available at the Church after the 10.00am Sunday Service
At the Shoreham Parish Centre 01273 440202
Or on the night at the door

Local Group Report – Lewes Tuesday 19th July 2016

Tuesday 19th July was probably the hottest day this year; Margaret had already had to go home and Angela B, Tina and Margo didn’t think many would come and sit indoors at The John Harvey Tavern on such an oppressive evening. But we were wrong and as the evening developed there were twelve of us working through fourteen songs that would probably be on the Bateman’s set list. Our progress was fairly slow as Tina had to allow three new people time to join in. Jack was on a cycling visit to Sussex but obviously sings folk songs back in London as he could pick up the lyrics and even the bass harmony lines in an instant. Jane brought her friend Dolores (a Canadian from Spain) who entertained us at the end of the evening with a folk song from back home. And by popular request, Adrian sang East Sussex Drinking Song and we joined in the rousing chorus.

Oak, Ash and Thorn Male Harmony

This is the male harmony for the chorus of Oak, Ash and Thorn as given by Emily.




You can download the mp3 file here.
NB If you have to pay to download data on a mobile device you should not play the songs directly from this web page, but instead download the mp3 files and play these.


This is how the melody and harmony look and sound together:




You can download the mp3 file here.

Bateman’s, Burwash, Sunday 7th August 2016

Battle of the Somme Commemoration Weekend

This year’s event is centred around this particular prolonged battle.

We will be singing two sets at 12.00 midday and 2.30pm in probably the same location as last year, between the restaurant and the event field.

We are the only musical performers on the day, except for a lady amongst the re-enactors on the field, and the rest of the elements of the event have been arranged around our performances. A separate short performance of three of Kipling’s poems in the form of songs will be performed at the House by Amaryllis, Emily & Libby, probably between our main sets. We are hoping to video elements of the day, so if you have any objection to your visage appearing on it please warn me in advance, so that I can let you know when it is taking place.

Please arrive by 11.00am as this will ensure that you have a good parking space. John C will be at the admissions entrance from 10.30am to identify you to the staff for free entry. If you are a NT member please bring your membership card, as the level of the next year’s funding for each property is determined by HQ at Swindon based on annual visitor numbers. Please car share if you can personally arrange this.

Dress theme is the usual green, blue or cream/yellow if you have such an item you want to wear. If you have a Poppy left over from last November then that would be even better.

Fingers crossed that we have as good weather as last year.

John C.

First set:

1. Country Life
2. Pleasant and Delightful
3. A Smuggler’s Song
4. Oak, Ash and Thorn
5. The Turnip Hoer
6. All Things Are Quite Silent
7. The Magpie
8. Follow Me ’Ome?
9. West Sussex Drinking Song
10. Rosebuds in June
11. Sussex by the Sea

Second set:

1. Run of the Downs?
2. On Sussex Hills
3. Ladies Go Dancing At Whitsun
4. Life of a Man
5. Oak, Ash and Thorn
6. A Smuggler’s Song
7. Home Lads, Home
8. Thousands or More
9. Rosebuds in June
10. West Sussex Drinking Song
11. Sussex by the Sea

Local Group Report – Easebourne Thursday 21st July 2016

Twelve of us met at The Three Moles in Selham near Midhurst on Thursday 21st July to enjoy a few drinks and have another really jolly sing. We were especially pleased to be joined by a new member – Jean – and to welcome back four new members – Robin and Sue, and Gordon and Debbie – who had come to our session in May. We practised a dozen or so songs from the SDFS repertoire, sometimes repeating a song just to make sure we were singing it correctly! Old favourites like Fathom the Bowl and Hard Times of Old England were sung alongside newer songs such as the Smuggler’s Song and The Magpie and songs that we felt we needed to revisit like All Things Are Quite Silent and Home Lads Home. We finished up with a hearty renderings of songs like The Turnip Hoer, the Ebernoe Horn Fair Song, Sussex By the Sea and Rolling Home.  It’s not just the singing though that makes us go home with a warm feeling of satisfaction – it’s the realisation that we’ve just spent a couple of hours together with friends in a spirit of happy conviviality! The next Three Moles sing will be on Thursday 18th August.

Singing at The Star

(Apologies for the very late posting of this item – Adrian F)

The South Downs Folk Singers were welcome guests in April at The Star in Alfriston under the guidance of Tina, with introductions to the songs by Adrian F. This was the second time that we had performed at The Star and the unaccompanied harmonies of a small group really go down well, complementing  hosts Andy & Mac’s varied repertoire and the contributions of other guests, some planned and others turning up on the night to offer a song or two.

The Folk Club at The Star, which is an old pub, restaurant and hotel, on Alfriston High Street, and located perfectly for South Downs Way walkers to break their journey, has now been running for a year and has rapidly built up a following amongst new and established – principally acoustic – singers and musicians from around the Brighton-Lewes-Eastbourne triangle.

We will continue to guest at The Star from time to time, with our next scheduled performance in October. SDFS singers who feel like giving it a go with a song or two sometime should contact me (an SDFS member, e-mail: macpoulton@gmail.com) or Tina.

Mac

Local Group Report – Beechwood, Wednesday 6th July 2016

After warming up with Thousands or More, our minds turned to Kipling and our Bateman’s event in August. We enjoyed working on A Smuggler’s Song, with ladies and gents taking turns to sing the verses, then Oak, Ash and Thorn, with Emily guiding those interested in adding a low harmony line to this. It was suggested by one of our singers that we do The Turnip Hoer with the verses sung by the chaps and the ladies joining in the fun on the choruses. This worked well, as did The Magpie when the verses were this time carried by the ladies in contrast to the deeper tone of the choruses when the men joined in. The Woodcutter’s Song and Poor Froze-Out Gardeners followed, before Oak, Ash and Thorn was reprised, with Emily leading us through a two- and then a four-part round on the last chorus. A productive and fun evening indeed, thank you all!