OTHER ACTIVITIES
The Armed Man (Karl Jenkins), Gloucester Cathedral 2nd February 2008
A
contingent of Newent CS joined Gloucester and many other Choral
Societies took part in this extraordinary come-and-sing which turned
into a memorable event for several reasons.
1) This was Adrian
Partington's first concert with GCS since he became our new conductor.
And what a great conductor he is, simultaneously focussed on the
orchestra and on the choir with such intensity, you have to watch him.
When I asked one of the lady choir members what she thought of him she
said,"I'm hopelessly in love!"
2) The Islam call to prayer was sung by Imam Ismail Y Ginwalla MBE from the pulpit of the Cathedral.
3) The Ribston Hall Dancers added an extra dimension to the work with skillful and thoughtful choreography brilliantly executed.
Christmas Pub Crawl, Friday 21st December 2007
As
usual we hired a small coach and visit
several gastro-establishments in the Newent and Ledbury area, notably
the Yew Tree, the Three Choirs Vineyard
restaurant, the Feathers and the Talbot in Ledbury among others,
finishing off as always at the Glasshouse on May Hill. En-route we
sampled all sorts of seasonal beverages. Particularly noteworthy was
the food at the Yew Tree, a favourite with many choir members. With
festive singing amongst friends, this is where Christmas really starts
with a glug!
Warning: Always sing sensibly and in moderation.
Concert at St Edward's Church, Kempley, Saturday 15th December
This
church, started in 1902 using local craftsmen and materials, and
consecrated in 1934, is full of interesting features. It was an
enchanting setting for our music so close to Christmas and we had a
very good audience.
Proceeds from this concert are being used to fund restoration of St Mary's Church, Kempley.
Songs of Praise at Highnam Church, 24th November
About 20 members of the society took part in a recording of Songs of Praise for the BBC
at the beautiful Highnam Church, alongside Gloucester Choral Society
and other choirs. A donation from the BBC was gratefully received by
our treasurer.
Onion Fayre 2007
8th September in Newent
We ran our usual bottle stall and are very pleased that we didn't have a repeat of the weather in 2005
(Surely there can't be any water left in the sky?)
Just to remind us what it could have been like, here are pictures of 2005 when the heavens opened!
Unfortunately the Onion Fayre clashed this year with several major sporting events and so the crowds
were smaller than last year and our takings were down as well.
Here is a web page advertising the 2007 Onion Fayre .
Here are pictures from 2006 which shows how much fun the Onion Fayre can be!
Ann & Pete's leaving BBQ at Rob & Gill's
18th August
Well of course it rained! I was very impressed that Rob managed to light the BBQ in the rain with his
yellow plastic coat over his head. And without firelighters.
The entire BBQ was wreathed in steam as the rain fell on the hot charcoal.
Lots of good food of course and we finished off with a bit of singing accompanied by guitar.
The Three Choirs Festival at Gloucester Cathedral
4th - 12th August
Several members of Newent Choral Society came to
the concerts - and this gives me a lead in, as I was in the Festival
Chorus, to say that for a week I had the most wonderful immersion in
great music of most types. I guess, before the Festival I considered
that Britten's War Requiem was the best work I'd ever sung. Certainly
I've sung rather a few Kyries in my time but Britten's version always
pops into my mind whenever there is mention of a Kyrie.
Now, for me
right up there with the War Requiem is Elgar's Dream of Gerontius,
Howell's Hymnus Paradisi (stunning), and a surprise: Elgar's Spirit of
England. In the final speeches, the leader of the Philharmonia singled
out Spirit of England as a notable surprise! They've obviously never
played it before. The jingoistic lyrics from a time of British Empire
were universally disliked in the chorus and so it is a brave choir that
puts this on. But the music is classic Elgar at his best and I would
certainly like to take part in it again!
It is always
interesting to experience different conductors. Despite having the
orchestra to deal with (frankly the Philharmonia just seems to run
itself and I have heard completely unfounded rumours that wise
conductors match their baton waving to what the leader is doing)
Geraint Bowen had the clearest conducting style, rivalled IMHO by
Martyn Brabbins, reliably bringing us in every time and signalling the
point of every s and t. There is nothing more unsettling than waiting
for a lead and the conductor's head is in his book or he's looking down
at the orchestra. When the lead doesn't happen and the section doesn't
sing, then he looks up! Adrian Lucas was inspirational. He is able to
transcend the work of conducting. When it's all going right his face
expresses the joy of the great music that's being created. You have to
watch him!
One of the joys of being in the Festival Chorus is
being able to sit in on concerts. Adrian conducted Holst, The Planets.
Particularly in Mars, the bringer of War, I thought the Cathedral was
going to explode on some of the crescendos - extraordinarily exciting!
In the final, Neptune, the Mystic, the soprano choir in the cloisters
faded out with enormous precision, due to the cloister doors being
gradually closed and then the choir walking away down the cloisters
while singing. The effect of that beautiful clear singing becoming
quieter and more distant to the very verge of auditory perception was
one of the most special moments of the Festival.
After the
glorious banquet of all that orchestral and choral music, I went to a
late night concert in the remarkable Lady Chapel where Craig Ogden on
classical guitar produced such clear and gorgeous tones that it was the
musical equivalent of sparkling iced spring water! I run out of
superlatives!
In the evening as part of Three Choirs Plus, the
Festival Club hosted such events as 'Take 5', an excellent close
harmony group of 5 young singers from Kings, and Rachel Burbridge
singing jazz, accompanied by the Dave Ayre trio, with her son, totally
brilliant on keyboard. Rachel also plays cello with the Regency
Sinfonia and has been in the orchestra for Newent concerts.
We
finished off on the Sunday with Song of the Earth directed by Michael
Deeson-Barrow of Tonalis. This broke new ground in several respects,
with all manner of musical instruments, including an Indonesian Gamelan
(an orchestra of metallophones and gongs), never before heard in
Gloucester Cathedral. Joe, Rosemary and Jill took part in this as well.
We learnt about heterophony which is a feature of black American Gospel singing. The three varieties I remember are:
1) Singing each line at your own speed.
2) Hanging on any note you like and want to 'own' before rejoining the tune. (Creates instant harmony.)
3) Ad-libbing your own harmonies (I enjoyed this) including ad-libbed fills between lines.
Heterophonic singing while standing among the audience took a certain amount of courage!
Tish
and Tim have produced a DVD of the event and the rehearsals that led up
to it. I really shouldn't have stood in the front row!
Imagine
my surprise to watch the Proms on the TV and see the Philharmonia
playing in the hallowed setting of the Albert Hall, particularly
recognising many of the musicians who had played for us!
Next Year - Worcester Cathedral. They will have a hard act to follow!
Tom Scharf
Rob's walk in the Forest
1st July in the Forest of Dean
Only a small contingent went this time (I couldn't because I'd damaged my back) but of course they thoroughly enjoyed it.
Voices of the Forest 2007
23rd June at Beechenhurst in the Forest of Dean
This event was memorable, as many this year, for the unpredictable mixture of sunshine and heavy rain.
At many points we had to forget about singing anything other than frightfully forté to be heard above
the rain battering on the roof of the marquee.
We sang from about 1.00 to 1.45pm after which we meandered around the other stalls and attractions.
We were treated to an amazing ovine exhibition called Sheepscape, consisting of lifesize fibreglass sheep
painted by various schools and organisations.
To see pictures and details for each of these extraordinary sheep visit ewetube.co.uk
There were lots of interesting crafts on show and great brass bands to listen to.
With many interesting foods to sample we were rather taken with the duck sausages
which were very nice!
Grand Musical Concert 2007
15th April at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Newent
Newent Scottish's first outing of 2007 was on Sunday April 15th,
when we took part in a 'Grand Musical Concert' at the Catholic Church in Newent.
This was held to celebrate the re-opening of the church after an amazing refurbishment.
This included the construction of a beautiful glass frontage, which enables the congregation to see out
and the community of Newent to see in.
As a result, the whole church has been made wonderfully light and welcoming.
The event was extremely well attended, so much so
that there were no seats left for us and we had to wait outside when we
weren't actually performing! Fortunately it was a warm, dry evening,
even though we tempted fate by including "Singing in the Rain" in our
repertoire!!
We had four slots in the programme and sang a diverse
medley of songs, ranging from madrigals to Mozart, excerpts from "The
Armed Man" to "Mack the Knife" and of course the aforementioned
"Singing in the Rain". It was great fun and the audience seemed to
appreciate our efforts.
We certainly appreciated the other performers, who
were mostly youngsters, (not that we are that old ourselves of course!)
which was great to see.
There was a recorder group. singers, both solo and
duet,and three bands, who performed their own compositions with great
verve and gusto. It made us realise how much talent and enthusiasm
there is in Newent.
The glass of wine in the garden during the interval
was particularly welcome, and it was lovely to have the opportunity to
chat to the audience and the other performers.
It certainly was an evening to remember and we all felt pleased and privileged to have been asked to participate.
Ann Thair
Malcolm Archer - Requiem
Popularly
known as the Archer Requiem and ranked with Requiems by Fauré and
Duruflé, sound bites of this beautiful work, available on the web,
confirm that this is a joy to sing and to listen to.
Several of us joined the church choir to sing this in
St Mary's Church in Dymock,
Friday 6th April 2007 7pm (Good Friday)
Conducted by Bob May
St Mary's is a lovely old country church with great acoustics and it was a beautiful setting for this concert.
A Wassailing we did go! Sing Inn 2006!
22nd December
We
visited popular hostelries in
Ledbury and around Newent, singing carols and collecting for charity.
The Talbot, Ledbury was already packed before the 27 of us crammed in
to sing! No choice but to belt out the carols fortissimo in order to be
heard. First mince pies and mulled wine - very welcome! Particularly
noteworthy was the Three Choirs Vineyard Restaurant where we each had a
glass of their excellent estate white wine. At The Yew Tree, Cliffords
Mesne we tasted mulled cider, an experience I'm keen to repeat, and of
course as always we finished up at The Glasshouse on May Hill where we
knocked back mince pies and sausage rolls with mulled wine.
Once again, Joe and Rosemary have done us proud in organising so many enjoyable events which are as much about fun and friendship as about singing!
Carols in the Forest 2006
17th December 3.00 - 4.00pm Beechenhurst, Forest of Dean.
The sun beamed radiantly on us as we sang Christmas carols in the Forest! After all the rain we've been having!
The audience was most attentive when we were singing Gaudete and so we
sang it twice! There were lots of other events and we enjoyed hot
mulled apple juice and venison burgers - well, I did. Oh, and ice
skating which turned out to be teflon skating!
Carols for Charity
14th December 7.00 Regents Arcade, Cheltenham
This event was organised in association with Gloucestershire County Association for the Blind.
We assembled at the High Street end of Regents Arcade and sang
Christmas carols while GCAB members did the collection. The high glass
ceiling in the arcade made for good acoustics although we had to
contend with the musical chimes from the Wishing Fish clock every half
an hour and other ambient noise. I have no idea how much money was
collected but we enjoyed the singing.
Carols for All 2006
10th December 7.00 English Bicknor Church There
was a varied programme of popular carols in beautiful and historic
English Bicknor Church to usher in Christmas! These were interspersed
with cello duets played by Lottie Shaw and Jemima Ceadel, Gillian Guest
on the pipe and tabor with Rob Guest singing, and Roger and Annie
Drurys' amusing Christmas Song.
Of course wonderful food and mulled wine was laid on for us and for the audience for which we are very grateful.
The Onion Fayre.
Weir not Singing in the Rain 2006
This year, the Newent Lake stayed within its boundaries, the Peacock Brook chuckled in its channels, and Watery Lane remained dry!
Well, with the bluest of skies, the warmest of sun and the fairest of wind, our bottle stall at this year's Newent Onion Fayre, remained dry and comfortable, and thankfully, a million miles from Aquacatastrophe 2005!
The streets were flooded to overflowing as rivers of people gushed forth. Nothing could stem their flow. Even dogs pattered by with their owners. As the day heated up to its head of steam, nothing could dampen our spirits as we tapped the oncoming tide and pumped them to spill or pour their pennies to our good and local cause. Our intrepid callers, stood with their buckets of raffle tickets - here Joe must have a special mention for his use of hilarious one liners - he has missed his calling as a stand-up comic! He was holding aloft a bottle of Gin, and spouting "Drink, sin and be happy" when his cry was suddenly changed to "Wonderful wound cleanser" as two ambulance personnel walked by.
If the callers became dehydrated as they summoned folk to buy our tickets, there was coffee/tea/water on hand to rehydrate them.
We played choral music - (no - not Handel's Water Music), not that it could be heard against the waves of humantide surrounding us - and we "sangalonga" too.
By the law of averages, one year in ten we are bound to have a wet day, but once again, this year, we were smiled upon with the gift of fabulous weather. Having sung/shouted ourselves hoarse and enjoyed ourselves immensely, it all came to an end with our stall having just two bottles left at close of business. That's what I call a fabulous day. Thanks to everyone for all their very hard work - well done.
Cheers!
Jenny Langridge
A Walk in the Forest (of Dean).
The
annual choir walk took place this year on July 9th; leaving the Cyril
Hart arboretum car park ( which is just East of Speech House on the
Cinderford road) at 10.30 a.m. The weather always seems to need to play
games with us : as we were driving up Plump Hill the rain was heavy
enough so that the wipers had to be on continually. Oh dear! When we
got to the car park the sun broke through with welcome warmth and for
the rest of the day we had mixed sun and cloud - ideal for walking.
Rob Guest once again made the walk most interesting, showing us how the
Forest has been intimately shaped by the requirements of successive
wars. Each Man O' War required an extraordinary amount of timber,
mostly oak, in the construction. The trees we see today are the result
of Lord Nelson's directive to replenish a strategically important and
dwindling resource. We saw rare butterflies and not so rare dung
beatles( no photos thereof this time).
  Fritillary Comma
And
then, as if by magic, at lunch time, the group arrived at the Rising
Sun at Moseley Green where we enjoyed excellent generous wedges of real
steak and kidney pie and other things, and of course there was much
Speculation about the liquid produce of the Freeminers brewery!
The
walk was enhanced by a stick carrying dog called Guinness, who would
wait for us to pass and would then gallop through from behind, whacking
us all soundly across the back of the legs with said stick!
 At a safe distance behind a large ants nest!
Looking forward to a rewalk next year.
English Bicknor Church - Sunday, July 2nd - Charity Concert
The Gloucester Medieval Fayre
Saturday, 10th June 2006
About 30 of the above posters were distributed in Westgate Street and surrounding shops to increase the likelihood of getting an audience - after all, what is the point of making mistakes if you can't see pursed lips and hear that sharp intake of breath?
As always, we enjoyed singing in St Nicholas Church. The acoustics are great, it's an amazing building which has seen an awful lot of history, and we did get a small audience. After that we slowly meandered up to 'The Haus', a trendy new bar where we intended to have lunch (Aber das gibt ja nicht! Es soll 'Das Haus' sein!) Our plans were interrupted by a large swarm of bees which took a shine to a hanging basket right outside. The area had to be cordoned off while professional bee keepers captured the queen in a black bin liner. The rest of the swarm reluctantly followed.  In the afternoon we sang in St Mary De Crypt, another very ancient and beautiful church nestling in the facade of Southgate Street. As I was the only bass singer left I was pleased to be joined by one of the church officials who was not at all bad at sight reading!
AGM 16th May 2006
Without
thinking, at the previous committee meeting I suggested that there must
be a lot of musical talent in the Society, and that we should have a
little soiree following the AGM. 'Yes!' was the immediate response,
'And you'll have to play your guitar!' (Aaaaargghh!)
Following
the business of the AGM there was the usual marvellous spread of food
which somehow I wasn't able to do justice to. The music began with
Robin on the cello accompanied by Joe on piano. Although we were
reluctant to relinquish our strategic positions around the food, I was
instantly transported to the ambience of afternoon tea in the Savoy. It
was just right!
Next up was Dave and Joe accompanied by Enid on
the piano as they sang a very spirited policemans song with gusto,
complete with helmets topped with flashing blue lights.
Then it
was our turn: Tom and Jenny. I played guitar while Jenny sang
beautifully, giving a very professional and soulful rendition of
'Summertime', Peter and Gordons' (Lennon/McCartney) 'World without
Love' and Streets of London. It was very nice to hear the rest of the
choir singing along. Next time hopefully my fingers won't turn to damp
rubber! First time I've played in front in front of an audience but
definitely worth building on.
We were followed by Ann playing Scott Joplin 'The Entertainer' on the piano. More appreciative applause.
Then
of course our folk professionals, Rob and Gill on the hurdy-gurdy and
pipe & tabor. Rob has improved amazingly since he first got his
hurdy-gurdy just before our 60th celebrations. The choir apparently
knew one of the tunes they were playing and started humming along to
it. The effect was extraordinary, like pouring cream onto apple pie. I
hope we can repeat it as part of an event!
I'm sorry if this
write up isn't accurate or if I've missed out any performers (let me
know!) Following our performance I was doing my best to round up my
errant brain cells.
Another example of why this is the BEST choir to join!
The Onion Fayre
Saturday, 17th September 2005
It had to happen! I ignored the small
spots of rain on my windscreen as I settled into the car wearing the
loudest T-shirt I could find The
heavens did a little pre-emptive opening as we were struggling to make
sense of all the various gazebo poles with desperate urgency! With
shelter established and the stall set up the rain held off for a while
and we did good business. Around
lunchtime the heavens really opened and our prospective customers were
mostly running for shelter. The shortcomings of our fair-weather gazebo
became obvious as the open weave cloth atomised the rain into a fine
and very wet mist. Somehow, although I couldn't feel rain hitting my
head, there was a continuous waterfall running down my forehead and
into my eyes so I felt as if I'd swum 20 lengths without goggles! To be honest, I didn't expect Tarte d'Oignon (Jenny) to turn up in that rain dressed in all her finery! I misjudged her!
Jenny made use of my photos to write this account:
Choral Society Bottle Stall
The Storm
started around 12.00 pm, stair rods pelted down until 12.50 and eased
enough for me to totter down to the stall to do my stint of (wo)manning
the stall. I was dressed as an Onion Tart (!) and teetered on my boots, as I picked my way down through the debris on the cut through to The Lake.
I emphasize the words, because as I walked down Old Maid's Walk, (not
exactly apt, considering my costume), it became apparent that there was
another lake on the path running beside the balustrade, next to our
'Original Lake'.
This, as an 'extra' to the one that should be there!
As I reached the stall,
all the members who were supposed to be outside the gazebo, hollerin'
our wares, were underneath it. Later as it began raining
'heavens hard' it became apparent that the gazebo was sieving the huge
raindrops, and we were all encompassed in a fine mist. I put my
umbrella up inside the gazebo and there we all stood trapped on the pavement as Niagara Falls raced by in the road.
'Wier' singing in the rain...!
The rain,
thunder and lightning flashed and crashed as the flash-flood continued
to rage, threatening to wash onto the pavement - but we just kept on
singing, selling when we could, and laughing. The raffle tickets became
so wet that we couldn't even peel them apart in the end, most of them
turning to mush.
This leads me on to the
fact that Tom purchased a ticket for another event from Rob Guest, put
it in his back pocket, and by the time he returned home, it looked as
if it had been through the washing machine! He hopes by sticking it all
together on another piece of card that the ticket collector will allow
him in!
In the end the police
were forced to close the whole show, as the Peacock
Brook had overflowed its banks, the High street was impassable, as was
the area of parkland by the lake. This area, itself, had become a lake
by 3.00pm, the only way through to Lakeside without getting your feet
wet, was via Old Maid's Walk, (again), just raised slightly higher than
The Lake, and the 'New Lake'.
Really big thanks go to
Gareth, David Woods, Tom, Steve and Rob Guest for
seeing it through to the very wet end, and to all morning helpers. Dave
Shaw
deserves a special mention, for sneaking his Landrover in, to park
right opposite and relieve us of the burden of trying to cart all the
remaining bottles away from the stall. You may be seeing some of these
items make an
appearance at 'certain times' in the near future!
Needless to say, we all returned home soaked to the skin. Tom put a
plastic sheet on his truck seat before driving home and when he alighted,
left a huge pool of water which had to be emptied out. Hot baths all round!
A Day we will never forget!
Jenny Langridge
Sponsors
Castle Fruit Farm
Friday, 15th July 2005
Chrissy and Mike invited us to a barbeque and sing-song to welcome their new fruit pickers. Many of the pickers have returned for the last 3 or 4 years, so they must like it at the fruit farm.
Great food and drink of course!
We moved swiftly on from our choral singing to popular songs, led by Joe on the guitar
 "If I had a hammer..."
The fruit pickers borrowed the guitar and sang some of their songs.
I had to take a couple of pictures of the happy throng from....
...the top of this extraordinary old wooden wind generator! What a thing to have in your garden!
OK, OK, I won't hijack this piece with an in depth description of this wonderful structure. Originally it had a generator (sadly gone) at the base which ran from a long vertical shaft to provide electricity at, I believe 42V, for the house until mains electricity arrived. The four spars at the top represent the sails which originally had pitch control to cope with varying windspeeds. (As you can tell I love all this stuff, organ innards, etc..)
Once again a great event in a beautiful setting. Many thanks to Chrissy and Mike!
Bollitree Castle
Sunday, 10th July 2005
Bollitree Castle gardens were open as part of the Weston Under Penyard gardens open weekend. The usual hardy contingent of the Newent-Scottish were there to sing in the most beeeautiful setting. Visitors were of course spread out among the many extraordinary gardens and so we had a small but appreciative audience. Quite a few of us arrived in the morning so that we could look around some of the gardens (magnificent!). This was followed by lunch at the Weston Cross Inn, a goodly singing session at Bollitree Castle, finished off, with time running out by a swift tour of more gardens. In particular, one garden has a little underground grotto ending up at an old stained glass window which opens up at water level, looking out onto a pond, rich and green with tall marginal vegetation. Absolutely magical!
Rob's Forest Walk
Saturday, 19th June 2005
Given Rob's professional interest in the Forest of Dean together with his love and encyclopaedic knowledge of this Royal woodland, it is likely that his organised walks will be very good, exercising the mind as well as the feet in an agreeable way! And so they are! At lunchtime the throat is also exercised at The Rising Sun Pub at Moseley Green and the food is very welcome.
 Rapt attention as Rob divulges the unsavoury habits of the lesser spotted dung warbler - or something...
 Yours truly looking rather fetching in a knotted handkerchief!
 The foxgloves were a marvellous sight! Many thanks to Rob for organising this event! It was a lot of fun and I shall be on the next one!
Raise the Roof
Saturday, 11th June 2005
Jenny and I went to a scratch concert at All Saints Church in
Cheltenham to sing in Vivaldi's Gloria and Fauré's Requiem. I have
memories of the wooden seats permanently joined much too close together
on wooden bars. Fortunately one of the Bass singers didn't turn up for
the evening performance which gave us the opportunity to shuffle
sideways and spread out a little.
For Jenny, this was an opportunity to meet old friends from when she
lived and sang in Cheltenham, and for me to meet other excellent
singers, one of whom, as a result of the Gloucester Tsunami Concert to
which other singers were invited, has with his wife now joined
Gloucester Choral Soc.
To cause a little mayhem, when I changed into my DJ for the performance I topped it off with my trademark multicoloured bow tie! It can be imagined that this caused a certain amount of muttering. Just as we were due to go on-stage I swapped it for the regulation black one!
Organ enthusiasts would be interested in the way that the corridor
round the back is lined with organ pipes; the way that the organ pipes
and pipeworks have been incorporated into the church to take account of
other needs - such as access!
 Marriage of old & new. Note the CCTV monitor. It was a thoroughly good day.
To read more about Newent - Scottish, including our trips to Bruges and St Malo,look at the Other Activities 2 page.
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