Horsham’s Great British Festival Day

Update 11th May 2019: For any singers who were thinking of turning up on the day, I have just learned that we will not be singing at this event.
Keith D

Sunday 12th May 2019

We have been asked again to support the Horsham Folk Club's fund raising efforts for the Samaritans on this day.

It would involve two song sets, one on the Bandstand between other music performers and one in the Amphitheatre between circus skills slots.

Alan W has kindly offered to lead on the day.

Given the late notice I need to establish whether I can confirm our participation in their event to determine if their will  be enough of us to achieve  a viable group in a busy environment.

If you can support it please let me know at southdownsfolksingers@gmail.com

For more details of the event see the organiser's website.

John C.

SDFS at Michelham Priory's Diamond Anniversary Party

Update 3rd May 2019: Please note three songs in the set lists have been changed, here are the new lists:

Set 1

1. Country Life [Eb - Ab]
2. On Sussex Hills [A]
3. The Bee Boy's Song [G]
4. The Nightingale [A]
5. May Day Carol [G]
6. Rosebuds In June [B]
7. Twanky Dillo [G]
8. West Sussex Drinking Song [F]
9. Hares On The Mountain
10. Ale, Glorious Ale [E]

Set 2

1. Oak, Ash & Thorn [E]
2. Pleasant & Delightful [A]
3. The Magpie [B]
4. Song Of The Sussex Downsman [C#]
5. Brisk Young Ploughboy [C]
6. East Sussex Drinking Song [F]
7. It Is The First Of May [D-G]
8. A Smuggler's Song [C#]
9. Thousands Or More [A]
10. Hal an Tow [F#]
11. Jolly Good Song

Words for the three new songs that have been added can be found in this post.

Sunday 5th May 2019

Apologies for the lateness of the post as I was awaiting the times for our sets. I have 14 volunteers so far for this event, with Emily leading.

We will be singing outside if the weather is clement or inside in the good acoustics of the Prior's Room (1st set) and in the Tithe Barn (2nd set) if inclement.

The two song sets will be the same as for the Firle Garden Show but sung at midday and 2.30pm with performances in-between by a choir singing 1950s period songs.

I'll be at the gatehouse from 11.00am to tick names off the list, but if you have SDFS lanyards do wear them thereby easing identification, especially as it helps the staff on the gate if you want to go back out to your car in the interim.

John C.


The set lists will be as below.

Set 1

1. Country Life [Eb - Ab]
2. On Sussex Hills [A]
3. The Bee Boy's Song [G]
4. The Nightingale [A]
5. Fathom The Bowl [D#] May Day Carol [G]
6. Rosebuds In June [B]
7. Twanky Dillo [G]
8. West Sussex Drinking Song [F]
9. Hares On The Mountain
10. Ale, Glorious Ale [E]

Set 2

1. Oak, Ash & Thorn [E]
2. Pleasant & Delightful [A]
3. The Magpie [B]
4. Song Of The Sussex Downsman [C#]
5. Brisk Young Ploughboy [C]
6. East Sussex Drinking Song [F]
7. Green Grow The Laurel [G] It Is The First Of May [D-G]
8. A Smuggler's Song [C#]
9. Thousands Or More [A]
10. Turnip Hoer [B] Hal an Tow [F#]
11. Jolly Good Song

Local Group Report – Chichester – Thursday 18th April 2019

It was Maundy Thursday and people were already in Easter holiday mode. Nineteen singers came to the Chichester Inn with a mind to “sing in the Spring”, which is exactly what we did. We began with some of the songs planned for Sunday’s event at the Garden Show at Firle Place, namely Country Life, the Bee Boy’s Song, Hares on the Mountain, Brisk Young Ploughboy and Green Grow the Laurel. We were singing so well that some of the pub’s customers showed an interest in our group as they made their way out into the Beer Garden and said how much they enjoyed hearing our songs. Encouraged by this we began to sing songs pertaining to the season, starting off with the traditional On One April Morning, which immediately prompted us to sing All Around My Hat which shares a similar tune. After the interval we sang the Lark in the Morning, Pleasant and Delightful and Drink Me Brave Boys and Alan got us all to sing his new round: Summer’s Near. Then there were requests from around the room for some “May Day” songs, so we sang the May Day Carol, Good Morning Lords and Ladies and Dave Webber's May Song and we finished up with a rousing rendition of Hal-an-Tow. Special thanks must go to Julie T and Dave G for supplying the words to many of these seasonal songs. It was a most enjoyable evening. We hope to see you all next month at the Chichester Inn on Thursday 16th May when once again we will have fun singing songs old and new that connect us with our beautiful county of Sussex!

Local Group Report – Lewes – Tuesday 16th April 2019

Another pleasant and delightful evening spent in song at The John Harvey Tavern. Fourteen of us worked through most of the songs from the Firle Garden Show set list except for Brisk Young Ploughboy, Country Life, West Sussex Drinking Song and Ale, Glorious Ale which we had run through last month.

So the evening consisted of A Smuggler’s Song, The Turmut Hoer, Green Grow The Laurel, The Bee Boy’s Song, Twanky Dillo, Hares on the Mountain, Song of The Sussex Downsman, The Magpie, Oak, Ash and Thorn, Rosebuds in June, On Sussex Hills, Pleasant and Delightful, Fathom the Bowl and The Nightingale, but Tina also introduced us to the Copper’s song Birds in The Spring which she sang and explained the two minor changes that she, Emily and David had agreed.

During the second half of the evening Tina also sang The Turtle Dove which was collected from the landlord of The Plough Inn at Rusper and now is part of the Belloc, Broadwood and Beyond workshops list. We did well to learn the tune and the words without written sheets and it shouldn’t take long for the whole group to master and include The Turtle Dove in our performance repertoire. We aired Jolly Good Song with its before-the-watershed words and its final Golier for the benefit of our newest recruits and then finished with Thousands Or More.

Local Group Report – Worthing – Wednesday 3rd April 2019

Country Life launched us for another evening of meeting, greeting and song. Polishing of songs ready for the Firle event followed, with Hares on the Mountain, The Bee Boys Song, The Magpie and The Song of the Sussex Downsman chosen for extra attention. After a break for refreshment refills and more chat we continued with The Brave Ploughboy and the West Sussex Drinking Song (with the additional verses written for us separately by SDFS members Alan and Adrian). Jolly Good Song was also given a polish – with the change to giving the old beggar a drink again recommended for public use! Emily queried our opinions on a few other songs, some of which we have not often used at our Worthing sessions. With time short we selected Searching For Lambs to sing this evening and agreed to revisit others at future sessions. Last but not least Pleasant and Delightful was requested to close our singing before clearing glasses and heading home.

Local Group Report – Chichester – Thursday 21st March 2019

We were all in very good voice at our monthly group meeting on Thursday evening. Nineteen singers came along to sing a dozen stirring folk songs in the music room of the Chichester Inn in West Street Chichester. Facing each other around the tables we discussed the fiasco that is Brexit and then decided to sing a couple of songs that make us proud to be English, namely Hard Times of Old England and Fathom the Bowl. We raised the roof with a lusty version of Twanky Dillow followed by a more sensitive rendition of Hares on the Mountain. Then we revisited a couple more of our favourite drinking songs Ale Glorious Ale and Oh Good Ale. With Keith’s expert encouragement and access to some music scores, we finished up the first half singing both verses that we know of the Song of the Sussex Downsman. This song is beginning to sound really good; now we must knuckle down and learn the final verse and chorus!

After a break to chat and re-fill our glasses, Alan led us in singing Our Captain Cried All Hands, a great new song from Sussex that we are learning, and Dave got us all to sing When Spring Comes In, a seasonal ditty from the Copper Family Songbook. Someone suggested we should sing The Cuckoo but no-one could remember the tune, so we’ve earmarked this song to re-learn on another occasion. We sang the pressgang lament All Things Are Quite Silent and after this there was time for just two more songs, so we sang Brisk Young Ploughboy and finished up with the lovely Searching for Lambs. It was a pleasant evening of pastime and good company. If you like singing, you must come along to our next local group sing on Thursday 18th April at 8.00pm at the Chichester Inn. You will be made most welcome!

Song of the Sussex Downsman

Here is a reformatted version of the score for Song of the Sussex Downsman, intended to be easier to read for singers who may not be accustomed to reading music. If you have never read music, with a little explanation (which we can cover when we next sing this together) there is useful information that you can pick up very quickly, to ease the learning process for this song. There's also a piano recording of all three verses. The words and notes are unchanged from those given in the previous post for this song.

Download score pdf

Download mp3 (pitch as on the score)

Download mp3 (lower pitch, as we may sing it)

The original score for this song is marked allegro, meaning fast and bright. The mp3 files here are recorded at 115bpm (beats per minute) which is about the bare minimum (or even a little too slow) to qualify as allegro.

Hares On The Mountain

Here you can download the lyrics for Hares On The Mountain (pdf file).

You can listen to the melody in this post.

The Turtle Dove Pilgrimage

Singers may be interested in a BBC Radio 4 programme which was broadcast on 14th March 2019, The Turtle Dove Pilgrimage. This is described as "A pilgrimage across Sussex tracing the origins of the iconic song The Turtle Dove." This song is being taught at the current Belloc, Broadwood and Beyond Song Workshops and it was also introduced at the most recent Worthing session.

It can be heard on the BBC website here (not sure how long this will be available), where you will also find links to further programme information. You may also be interested in the following links which are associated with the programme:

https://soundcloud.com/voice/turtle-dove-pilgrimage A recording of the BBC broadcast on the SoundCloud website. If you are unable to listen on the BBC website, you may be able to listen here instead.

http://thenestcollective.co.uk/turtledovepilgrimage/ A detailed written description of the pilgrimage.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/turtle-dove-pilgrimage-tickets-53093862171 Website for booking a place on this year's pilgrimage (now sold out).

https://britishpilgrimage.org/ Website of the British Pilgrimage Trust which organises The Turtle Dove Pilgrimage and others.

Local Group Report – Lewes – Tuesday 19th March 2019

Tonight at The John Harvey Tavern, nineteen of us squashed into the pub’s small downstairs dining room. It was lovely to have Cat back singing with us – it is nearly two and a half years since Rhion was born – and she still remembers all the lyrics! Another pleasant surprise was that Maggie brought along her friend Bonnie who sings with Anne and Alan in Cotillion.

Tina had the set list for the Firle Garden Show so we were able to work through almost all of it; Country Life, On Sussex Hills, Bee Boy’s Song, The Nightingale, Fathom the Bowl, Rosebuds in June, Twanky Dillo, West Sussex Drinking Song, spending a little more time on Hares on the Mountain with both first and second verses and putting the hares on the mountain and the sheep on the common! Ale Glorious Ale, Oak Ash and Thorn, Pleasant and Delightful, The Magpie, before we worked through all the verses in Song of The Sussex Downsman and also Brisk Young Ploughboy, omitting the second verse which is about the morning and horses. Then we gave time to sing both tunes and all verses for Caburn Hill, before finishing with The East Sussex Drinking Song and Thousands Or More!