13 – Lucky for Some!

The Magazine of the Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers
www.labbs.org.uk
Winter 2011
13 – Lucky for Some!
W
e are absolutely thrilled, delighted
and very proud to have achieved our
13th national championship in Harrogate
this year. What a fantastic convention: a
great competition, fabulous shows, super
singing in the afterglow and so much
enjoyment had by all. Thank you to LABBS
for a superb event, and to everyone in
LABBS for your overwhelming support and
such a warm reception. We’d like to give a
massive round of applause to every quartet
and chorus competing and performing this
year, and, of course, huge congratulations
to Cheshire Chord Company and to Crystal
Chords.
We love competing in Harrogate, our
“home ground” and this is the fourth time
we have won the title here. As our MD
Sally McLean says: “Harrogate is the best
place for us to compete - it feels like the
audience have come to my house! Not only
that, the stage and the auditorium are
well-designed and comfortable, and the
venue encourages social networking. At
Harrogate, it’s easy to see and talk to all
of the friends we have from other choruses
and from the Association itself, which
makes the experience even better.”
We really hope you enjoyed our competition package as much as we enjoyed
performing it. Our competition songs were
Once Upon a Time, from the musical ‘All
American’ and recorded by, amongst others,
Bobby Darin, Frank
Sinatra and Tony
Bennett, and The
Night Has a Thousand
Eyes, a 1963 hit made
famous by Bobby Vee.
They are both incredibly challenging songs,
specifically picked by
our Music Team to
ensure that we continue to up our game
from both a technical
and presentational
perspective. We were,
as always, keen to
thrill and engage the
audience from start to finish.
It’s been great to get feedback from
LABBS members and we are particularly
proud when we hear that members of the
audience felt moved and emotionally engaged in our delivery. The
ballad Once Upon a Time
is very powerful and we
tried hard to do musical
justice to the beautiful lyrics and poignant
message. Many a time in
rehearsals our members
have been moved to
tears, but it’s not good
to be sobbing when you
are meant to be ringing a
chord! So we have worked
hard at harnessing that
emotion for the stage.
The up tempo The Night Has A Thousand
Eyes is a phenomenal arrangement requiring lots of stamina and with countless
opportunities to deliver some of the best
features that barbershop has to offer. We
hope you enjoyed our fun choreo courtesy
of our fabulous Choreographer Jane Ford.
So with our 2011 gold medals proudly
pinned to our lapels, we have a very busy
time ahead. Our key aim is to excel at being ambassadors for LABBS. By the time
Voice Box goes to press we will have held
our second Masterclass and will also have
sung on a Christmas concert with Spirit of
Harmony and the Great British Barbershop
Boys.
We would like to make a special mention of our longest-serving member Janet
Tordoff, who has won all 13 of the chorus’ gold medals, and during Convention
weekend Janet also received recognition
of 30 years’ membership of LABBS. Janet
is always quick to say that whilst she loves
singing barbershop, it’s also about the
friendship and says it’s like being part of
a giant extended family. We’re very happy
to be part of your family, Janet, and very
proud of your 30-year award!
At the other end of the spectrum of
Convention experiences, we had seven
White Rosettes competing with us for the
first time. They were the ones with wibbly
wobbly knees cunningly hidden under the
swishy dresses! Well done, newbies, and
welcome to the wonderful world of barbershop competition!
Alys Galloway
White Rosettes
1
Notes from the Chairman
W
hat a wonderful weekend of Barbershop singing we have just had in
Harrogate.
Thank you to all the teams who worked
hard to make sure everything went as
smoothly as possible. Well done to all the
competitors who took part. Congratulations
to The White Rosettes and Fortuity and to
all who won awards. Thank you to all the
guests from home and abroad who entertained us in the shows and afterglows to an
extremely high standard.
The generosity of our members was
evident throughout the weekend. The
presents under the tree grew daily and
the Mayor of the Borough of Harrogate
arranged to store them until they could
events. But for a short time I felt the true
meaning of Christmas, without the hassle
of shopping, preparation and hectic days,
touched us all. It was particularly uplifting to see Santa, the angels, the trees
and elves around Harrogate on Saturday
evening.
I was very proud to represent LABBS
at our convention. Our guests from BABS,
SABS, Sweet Adeline’s Region 31, Holland
Harmony BIH and Making Music all said
be distributed to the women’s refuges.
Collections for Cancer Care and Yorkshire Air they enjoyed their experience.
Ambulance were also very much appreciI hope that you all had a good time
ated. It is a great thing to spread Harmony and I look forward to convention 2012 in
to others by doing something that we love. Telford.
It is now time to get back to our choruses
Yours in harmony
to prepare for Christmas and other planned Teresa Phillips, LABBS Chairman.
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!
H
ere in Exeter we have had this year out
of competition to concentrate on
having fun, building up our repertoire and
doing lots of sing-outs. This has been an
enjoyable time for us, gaining us lots of
local attention, singing at the Sidmouth
Folk Festival and culminating in our singing
2
workshop on 24th September. Our ladies had all run out of friends
to bring, but with local advertising and a
bit of arm twisting a group of new ladies
(and daughters of chorus members) arrived
for an afternoon of singing, tea and cake.
Our inspiring musical director, Valerie
Harvey, organised a wonderful programme
of fun warm-ups, and introduced our new
ladies to 4-part singing. The afternoon
ended with our guests and the chorus
performing ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ which
was a great achievement after only 3 hours.
Before leaving a number of ladies said that
they would be coming to our next practice
as they had enjoyed it so much. A great
success and fun for us all. We will now be working towards a performance at Exeter Cathedral in December
and we are waiting to hear if we have been
picked to perform on the stage as the Olympic Torch arrives in Exeter in May 2012.
Jenny Reeves, River City Chorus
The Wedding Singers
tion, and joined the chorus last year.
When Ruth married Ed on the 10th of
September, at Holy Cross Church in Bristol,
we sang a version of The Lord’s Prayer, specially arranged for us by our Musical Director, David Proud, during the signing of the
register, followed by Irish Blessing and Let
the River Run. We then entertained guests
as they arrived at the reception with some
of our more usual repertoire, and Ruth
was able to sing two of her new husband’s
favourites with us, before the speeches and
von Harmony was delighted to be able toasts. It was lovely for the chorus to be
to give one of our newest members
able to take part in such a special celebraa rather special wedding gift, by singing
tion with one of our members.
at her wedding, both in the church and at
We have recently moved our rehearsal
the reception. Ruth sings in our bass sec- venue to the Bristol Centre for Arts and
A
Music, in Southmead, Bristol, and are
looking forward to working hard to make
the best use of the space and different
acoustics we now have to work with, as
well as hoping to welcome new members
from the area.
Jackie Boffin, Avon Harmony
Wessex Harmony Wow the Dutch
W
e went to Amsterdam in September
as part of a tour. There was plenty
of opportunity to sing. The organisers had arranged for us to sing in two
churches on the Friday afternoon and this
meant we had a tour of Amsterdam in
taken part. The Festival ran from
10.00 in the morning until 10.00
at night and we were on the lunchtime spot. The audience were very
enthusiastic and supportive and it
was pleasure to sing for them.
During the day we heard choirs
from the region with a variety
of styles of singing, wall in all a
most enjoyable event. The day was
rounded off with a meal with De
Ladies Choir, plenty of chat and
new friends were made as well as,
of course, some singing in the restaurant.
We even sang in the airport as we waited
for the check-in to open.
It was truly a fantastic and memorable
weekend and one I am sure we will talk
about for years to come.
Carol Head, PRO, Wessex Harmony
between performances as the streets were
so narrow they couldn’t get the coach
down them. We felt like a school party
as we walked in a crocodile behind our
MD, Dyrck Lamble. We were well received
in both venues and the acoustics in the
churches were amazing!
We were very privileged to be asked to
appear as special guests at the Zandvoort
Choir Festival in Holland on the Saturday
and to our surprise we were given a standing ovation, which several of us found very
emotional. It was the Festival’s fifth year
and the first time a choir from England had
3
Charity Fundraisers
Extraordinaire
E
vesham’s award winning Vale Connection
Ladies Chorus is thriving under the leadership of its musical director, Eddie Howell.
Their enthusiasm for singing was amply demonstrated in their recent charity performances over two nights at No. 8 Arts Centre
in Pershore, Worcestershire. Vale Connection managed to raise over £5018.87 for
the Birmingham Children’s Hospital ‘Heart
Appeal’. Their varied repertoire ranged from
the rousing ’Girls want to have fun’ to the
more serene ‘I only want to be with you’. The
enthusiasm of the chorus was only matched
Hospital, Residential and
Nursing Home Entertainment
A
n email was sent to the LABBS Chairman, Teresa Phillips, in August from
Chris McMahon, Directorate Information
Analyst, Imperial College NHS Trust, who
works at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London. Chris was asked to take on
a project to bring in individuals or groups
of people to entertain elderly patients.
Some of the patients do not have visitors
throughout their stay, so entertainment
is their only escape from the day-to-day
routine of looking at the same surroundings, hoping that a nurse might have a
few spare minutes to have a quick chat.
Chris asked if any members of LABBS could
spare 1 hour between 3-4 pm on a Tuesday
or Thursday afternoon to entertain on a
voluntary basis.
The email from Chris was circulated to
LABBS Clubs in the hope that some might
be able to help. Although it was not possible to send anyone to St Mary’s Hospital,
I did receive emails from Clubs confirming
that they sing in their local Hospitals, as
well as in Residential and Nursing Homes.
Elaine Mobsby from Second City Sound,
Birmingham, confirmed that two of their
quartets ‘Sugarbeat’ and ‘Jiggle’ went to
Good Hope Hospital in Birmingham to
entertain the stroke and heart patients to
help stimulate them to recovery through
music, and they have been asked to return
again soon. Also, Anne Storey from Humber
O
ur six-week Harmony Singing Course
got off to a good start in September
and all of our newbie’s sing really well
and many of them have a good musical
background.
After some very interesting warm-ups
with Rosamunde, Marilyn, our MD opened
after Jean Sutton and Marilyn Penketh
received a request from the then Chairman
of LABBS, Jean Olman, for a new “welcome
to new clubs” song.
By week 2, the majority of the chorus
was already confident enough to sing
without music and so we started on song
week 1 with the start of Consider Yourself.
This arrangement was originally introduced
2, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun that Pitchpipers had learned at a previous Education
Day. Panic by week 3, as everyone had
progressed phenomenally and it was obvious that 2 songs wouldn’t be enough. So,
our gallant MD introduced a third song and
taught the first page by rote.
Week 4 and the promised choreography! Actually it was surprising to see how
well everyone coped with it. It certainly
helped to remember where we were in the
song if you follow my meaning.
Week 5 and the first half of week 6
were spent polishing our 3 songs before
opening the doors to our invited Friends &
Family Graduation Show, where each newbie was presented with their certificate.
The Christmas season started the
following week and we are thrilled to
say that the majority of the girls on the
course have signed up for this as well.
Fifteen carols to learn in 6 weeks now, in
preparation for our usual Christmas Charity
performances. There’s no time for it to be
anything but FUN!
Marilyn Penketh,
The Pitchpipers, Havant LBHC
by that of the comments from the audience
which were overwhelming, from ‘your best
yet’ to ‘extremely professional’ leaving us all
on a high and wanting for more.
Annie Poyner,
Vale Connection Ladies Chorus
Belles, Great Grimsby, informed me that
they sing at Residential and Nursing Homes
on a regular basis, and have done so for
many years. Their Singout Co-ordinator has
contacted the local Homes again to remind
them of their availability for Christmas
entertainment.
I know other Choruses sing in their local Hospitals and Homes, and I just want to
say a big thank you!
June Wright, LABBS Secretary
Pitchpipers singing Course
4
Hairspray
A
s we all prepare for sing outs and competitions we know how important it is
to look our best. Costumes, make-up and
hair need to be just right, including those
all important final preparations. When
we’re all gathered together, Cheshire Chord
has a way of protecting chorus members’
throats and singing voices by saying “do
not use hairspray in the changing rooms”.
Our resident cartoon artist Pippa Farina has
once again let her imagination flow as she’s
interpreted this “rule from the risers” in her
own imaginative way.
Pippa’s cartoons have become so
popular that she has taken the 25 most
popular sketches and produced a series of
postcards. A complete set can be bought
for £10 or individually at 50 pence; Pippa
is hoping to raise funds for the chorus
through the postcards. She’s also in the
process of producing a calendar for 2012,
which will be available very soon. If you’d
like to know more then please take a look
at our website www.cheshirechord.co.uk
Alison Linfield & Pippa Farina
Cheshire Chord Company
Keep Calm and Sparkle
C
heshire Chord Company is thrilled to
be your LABBS Silver Medallist Chorus
for 2011. Since January, our Music Team &
Committee has worked hard to bring everything in to place, which culminated in our
success in Harrogate.
When we arrived on Friday evening we
were so excited about once again being in
Harrogate and having the opportunity to
share our performance and the weekend
with friends, family and association members. We gathered in our rehearsal room on
Saturday morning and were overwhelmed
with the outpouring of love and best wishes
we received. We would like to take this
opportunity to thank everyone for all their
kindness and words of encouragement both
before and after the competition.
As we stepped onto the convention
stage our excitement could hardly be
contained and when “Contestant number
17, from Warrington, under the direction of
Jo Braham” was announced it was thrilling to hear the audience response. It was
even more exhilarating listening to the
roar of the crowd as the last chords of our
up tempo song rang out and to receive a
standing ovation from so many people.
It was such a brilliant moment when
it was announced that we’d won the silver
medal. The hard work of the last 10 months
had paid off and we were thrilled with
the result. We’d like to extend our congratulations to The White Rosettes on their
amazing achievement of 13 gold medals
ferent qualities & dynamics to our preparation this year. Thank you to Rhiannon
Owens-Hall, Stuart Sides, Peter Kennedy and
Kelly Shepard. Your advice and input has
been so valuable and your words of wisdom
and to Crystal Chords on receiving their first
bronze medal with LABBS. Well done ladies
you truly gave fabulous performances. Our
thanks and congratulations also go to the
quartet contestants’ for a great competition, particularly to Fortuity, Temptation,
and Northern Vibe for their medal winning
performances.
Our thanks though would not be complete if we didn’t mention the wonderful
coaches who have supported us over the
last 10 months. They all brought many dif-
have helped us to grow and develop as a
chorus. And not forgetting our loved ones
for letting us out of the house every week
to spend time on this amazing hobby of
ours! Cheshire Chord Company has returned
home exhausted but happy and are excited
about the coming months and what the
future may hold.
Alison Linfield,
PRO:Cheshire Chord Company
www.cheshirechord.co.uk
5
JaZZmine – first time out and we loved every minute
W
ow! What a weekend! Harrogate
was JaZZmine’s first big outing as a
quartet and we had a ball. We were thrilled
to be placed in the top six and can’t wait
to better that next year.
It was Becky’s birthday on the Thursday
so our rehearsal was “helped” by liberal
helpings of chocolate cake, but we were
very good and didn’t open the wine until
after the contest on Friday. That was probably a very good idea as a trail of minor
mishaps occurred without any alcoholic
influence! Paula dropped a glass table on
her foot, and Cathy fell up the stairs on the
way to the warm up room. Note to selves:
practice walking in heels more.
Many congratulations to all competitors, especially top-notch Northern Vibe,
terrific Temptation and the fabulous Fortuity. Lady G (aka Georgina) enjoyed her very
first LABBS convention (of many) at the
tender (but it seems rapidly advancing) age
of 5 months, and would like to say thank
you for the many lovely comments from
her countless “aunties”. The view from the
barber-tots box was jolly good and she was
able to get her beauty sleep in between the
unmissable performances, and hanging out
with her mate Harry (13 months).
Over the time we have been together,
we have been through two pregnancies and
the arrivals of two wonderful babies. We’ve
Silver Lining retain TOP TEN position!
hold on to our top ten position. Increasing
our points was a great result and we get to
hold on to our publicity mantra ‘TOP TEN
CHORUS!’
The chorus entered into the spirit of
the weekend in style with presents for
the tree that challenged the space on the
really bonded as friends, and JaZZmine has
become an extended family for each of us.
What a wonderful hobby! See you all next
year! JaZZmine
Paula Becky Karen and Cathy
Have You Got The
Signature Factor?
Signature A Cappella singers need a
musical director to provide inspiration,
guidance and leadership to a group of
ambitious and talented women.
We would be interested to hear
from anyone with one or more of the
following skills:
A Cappella and barbershop knowledge
and experience
Extensive musical skills
Stagecraft or visual
presentation experience
W
hat a Christmas bonus! We were well
prepared by our music team to look
at our points and not the positions this
year as we knew with returning and improving choruses it would be a hard task to
6
coach and more Mrs Santa’s than we could
shake a pitch pipe at! C’mon Sara let’s
re-learn Santa Baby for next year please
- we’ve certainly got the Christmas Spirit!
Another great convention, more fancy
dress than ever and our 4 virgins had a
whale of a time too! Thank you LABBS and
all our friends for making it such a success
once again
Judith Medlock (PRO), Silver Lining
In return we will continue to improve,
work hard and support the musical
director in achieving our shared
aspirations whilst having fun and
enjoying our hobby.
For further information contact:
Sue Burgis: [email protected]
07861651658
Harrogate 2011
Fortuity GOLD
Temptation
SILVER
Northern Vibe
BRONZE
7
The White Rosettes
GOLD
Cheshire Chord Company
SILVER
8
Crystal Chords
BRONZE
Gem Connection
Belles of Three Spires
Green Street Blues
Fascinating Rhythm
Second City Sound
Capital Connection
Bristol Fashion
Silver Lining
9
10
Red Rosettes
Norwich Harmony
The Tudor Roses
Mountain Harmony
Welwyn Harmony
Guildford Harmony
The Barberettes
Avon Harmony
Dare to Dream?
W
hat a journey this has been for Crystal Chords. What an exciting competition. Convention 2011 brought us our
first ever LABBS medal and how proud we
are to be your Bronze Medalists. Our sincere
This year has been simply wonderful: to
have first achieved a step up in our score
at prelims, followed by enjoying fun in the
sun at SABS convention, before firmly placing our focus on the Harrogate contest was
congratulations to all this years’ trophy
winners, especially our ‘neighbours’ the
Cheshire Chord Company on their wonderful
Silver medal achievement, and to the White
Rosettes on their tremendous 13th championship Gold winning performance.
Previous results show just how close
this years’ contest was likely to be. We were
placed 7th last year but while our prelim
score hinted that a medal was practically
in sight, it was clear that
the same applied for a
number of other very
good choruses. So, could
we dare to dream? Yes we
could! It felt too risky to
‘go for a medal’. Instead
we took another path.
We challenged ourselves
to improve our score and
aim for a more consistent
performance.
Since taking on the
role of Musical Director in
2010, Monica’s goal has
been to take the chorus
forward. It’s been said
that if you always do
what you’ve always done,
you’ll always get what
you’ve got - so we knew
we had to look at things
a bit differently. Initially, Monica focused
on improving singing while making sure
learning was fun. Another big part of our
approach was to gain self-awareness with
members recognising their own skills and
opportunities to improve. Ongoing development was to maintain a positive approach
- another key to our progress.
more than we could have imagined.
As well as chorus teamwork, our journey
continued as we enjoyed fabulous coaching sessions with Madeline Jeory and Sally
McLean - we thank them sincerely for their
motivation and passion for excellence.
Convention finally arrived, and it was
an absolute joy to bring new music to the
stage by talented UK arrangers, David King
and Liz Garnett with whom we also enjoyed
was about hard work, focus, dedication and
determination to enjoy ourselves). It was
also my first time seeing live barbershop and
I was totally blown away by the talent.”
Thank you for the many wonderful comments received about our performance. We
know we still have a lot to learn, but for
now Crystal Chords also have a lot to celebrate - we hope this ‘high’ will stay with
us for a while.
So are you in a chorus wondering if
you could ever win a medal? Then dare to
dream, be open to change – and we hope
our achievement will spur you on!
“Achieving this medal is a real first for
us. I feel very proud because everyone has
worked so hard this year. I am particularly
pleased for our longer standing members
who’ve been in the chorus for over 30 years,
I know just how special this must be for
them. It has been a great
team effort for the whole
chorus, and a fabulous
start for our 6 newest
members, for whom this
was their first competition. We have exceeded
our expectations this year,
and I am ever grateful to have a talented
and committed Music &
Performance Team, who
bring energy and creativity
to the group week in week
out. Their motivating support means a great deal
to me personally. Having
previously performed with
other winning choruses,
I’m privileged to know
what it feels like to win a
chorus gold, but now as
the director of Crystal Chords, this bronze
medal achievement is very special, and
something I will treasure for long time!”
Monica Funnell, MD
wonderful coaching. We are also proud to
have had six first-timer ‘Crystals’ on stage.
Gaynor, one of our newest baritones said: “I never dreamt when I went to my first
rehearsal that just five months later I would
be on stage. The experience has been fantas- Kathy Szeputi, Crystal Chords PRO
tic and I feel lucky to be part of it (not that
luck really had anything to do with it – it
11
The Gillian Depledge Lowe Award 2011
I
can’t even begin to describe how overwhelmed and honoured I was to win the
coveted Gillian Depledge Lowe award at
LABBS Convention this year.
By Saturday afternoon it had already
been a great convention weekend for me,
have received from across the country and
further, from members of all choruses.
In the award description, it mentioned
I had been fighting a serious illness. In
November 2010, a week after the best
moment of my life, winning Gold with
having sung in the quartet contest on
Friday, even though three weeks ago we
still weren’t sure we could compete, being
part of the outgoing gold medallist chorus
on Friday evening and then mic’ cooling
with Amersham A Cappella and Ivy League
on Saturday. On Friday I had heard my own
arrangement of “To Make You Feel My Love”
sung by my chorus Amersham A Cappella –
WOW, what an honour!
So, standing on stage representing
the IVY League, among barbershop greats
and people who I aspire to be like was the
culmination of events. We were waiting
for the chorus results… then Eve began
to read out the description of the winner of the Gillian Depledge Lowe award…
‘Choreographer and music team member of
her chorus, Asst. Lead Section Leader, Coordinator, Chorus Assistant Director, MD, an
arranger and a member of a quartet’. After
this, the mention that there were nominations from people of all ages, ‘young and
not so young’ I suddenly realised that other
people were looking at me and then the
tears started!
I would have loved to have said a
public thank you on stage, but I was blubbing so much I couldn’t speak. Thank you
for the nominations, for the award, for
the millions of hugs and congratulations I
received afterwards and for the support I
Amersham A Cappella, I was diagnosed
with a brain tumour. After a few months
on chemotherapy drugs, I had reacted so
badly, that those of you at the LABBS &
Sweet Ads quartet weekend in Jan 2011
will have seen me ‘rocking the bald look’.
My next and only other option was surgery.
So 6 weeks (yes that does say 6 weeks)
before this year’s LABBS convention 2011,
I had surgery. I have a day of evaluation
and assessment in November but am now;
12
fingers crossed on the right road to recovery and should be able to return to work, at
least part-time soon.
This year has been a whirlwind but
there are some certain people who I
couldn’t have got through it without.
Firstly an amazing fellow chorus and
quartet member …and mum! She’s the one
to blame for introducing me to this hobby
and has been there for me every second
of every day. Then my chorus, Amersham
A Cappella. They are the most loving and
supportive and, as you are probably aware,
fun group of women to be around, another
60 mums and sisters! Their concern, care,
love, prayers and support have absolutely
carried me through this year and have been
a huge much valued support to mum too.
Post op’ I have really valued their home
visits – even if they do come armed with
choreo questions!!
I must also thank the IVY League
for their support and friendship. It is an
absolute privilege to be their Director. Their
enthusiasm, dedication and talent are just
the most fantastic thing to witness. It has
been a difficult year for this chorus, but
with limited rehearsal time the girls never
ever cease to amaze and impress me. They
were so impressive on stage again this year
and we’re coming back fighting next year!
Cheesy as it sounds, being a part of
these two incredible choruses, and being a
part of the barbershop world has been the
best therapy I could ever have received.
What a wonderful hobby, what amazing
choruses and what a great organisation to
be part of. From the bottom of my heart,
thank you.
Hari Birtles
The Signets
C
ompeting in Convention this year has
been a brilliant experience for us. We’ve
only been singing together in this formation since January this year when Nicky
our new baritone joined The Signets. We
have had a fantastic weekend with lots of
laughs and singing. Although our chorus
Signature decided not to compete this
year, we were delighted to have some fabulous support from a number of the chorus
members including the Enigma girls. Nerve
wracking, fun, team spirit, learning and
achievement are just some of the thoughts
and emotions that come to mind. We were
delighted to get into the final (and yes,
the new dresses got an airing!) but even
more to come 5th on our first competition
together. We even managed to fit in some
massage between the semis and the finals!
Some of the singing we’ve heard this
weekend from both quartets and choruses
have been truly inspiring. Many congratulations to the winning chorus and quartet,
The White Rosettes and Fortuity and well
done to all the other competitors as well.
We’ve had a ball and now need to catch
G
reen Street Blues never seem to make
things easy for themselves. Having lost
one MD in March this year and then borrowing another MD to get us through prelims (who just happened to be the cutest
Dalmatian puppy dog ever!), GSB almost
decided to not compete at Convention this
year. This ceased to be an option when we
were rewarded with the talent and passion
of Michael Potts. We are absolutely delighted that he has now decided to be our
LABBS chorus – Sing wherever you can!)
We had promised our quartet that we
would do our best to come and see them
in the semi-finals. So luckily when we
arrived at our hotel with twenty minutes
to spare, we just threw all our luggage
into the hotel forecourt – turning it into
what closely resembled a bootsale – and
legged it to the convention centre just
in time to make very loud and ridiculous
frog noises to cheer on our lovely ladies
permanent Musical Director, but with just
over two months to go he would have to
inspire us to work some special magic.
However, half way through our six hour
journey we started to wonder if we would
get to Harrogate at all when something
on the coach let out an almighty woosh,
Unfortunately this was nothing to do with
anyone’s digestive system after wolfing
dozens of chocolates en route. Part of the
engine had blown and we had to limp into
a service station to await a replacement
coach. Unperturbed we got the pitch pipe
out and passed the delay entertaining the
other coach and lorry drivers in the car
park. (Isn’t that a condition of being a
of Bein’ Green. Well done girls – great first
time effort and we are looking forward to
next year.
Winning the ‘Small Chorus Award’ at
this year’s LABBS with a new director who
has only been with us for about 10 weeks
was a proud moment in Green Street Blues
history and allows us a FABULOUS start to
build upon. Michael already has some great
ideas and plans for taking us forward. GSB
would like to congratulate all those who
won medals this weekend. The passion and
energy and excitement of the weekend was
amazing and we loved every minute of it.
Enjoy your year of representing LABBS one
and all. We thank all of LABBS and other
up on lost sleep but we’re fired up too.
Looking forward to seeing you all again
next time!
Sue, Leigh, Liz and Nicky. The Signets
Green Street Blues
Barbershop associations for their support
both this weekend and moving forward.
Our new chapter starts here, we are really
looking forward to it.
Catharine Finch PRO, Green Street Blues
Lilian Clewes
D
orset Ladies BHC ‘The Quaysiders’ were
very sad to learn of the death of Lilian
Clewes, 2 weeks before Convention. Lilian
was a staunch member of our chorus and
was PRO and Council Rep for a number of
years. Lilian, together with her husband
Harry, was also LABBS Raffle Organiser for
6 years and will, no doubt be a familiar face to many LABBS members even
though they may not know her name.
Her funeral was on the opening day
of Convention and Kath Good, Immediate
Past Chairman attended to represent the
Association, together with Anne Withnall
representing The Quaysiders. She will be
sadly missed by all who knew her .
Anne Withnall
13
Fantastic Weekend
had recorded a video with a local rugby
team as a tribute to the Rugby World Cup
that was taking place in New Zealand and
wanted to add a bit of zest to the event.
t has been such an honour to be your
Please have a look at our video, you can eiambassadors for LABBS over the last year.
ther get there via our website http://www.
Having had a very busy year it all culminatamershamacappella.com or via this link
ed in two hugely exciting performances at
bit.ly/amersham. Congratulations to the
this year’s Harrogate convention. We hope
wonderful White Rosettes, Cheshire Chord
you enjoyed hearing us as much as we enCompany, Crystal Chords and the gorgeously
joyed singing for you. There were so many
talented quartets, Fortuity, Temptation and
special moments for us but here are just
Northern Vibe. What an exciting competitwo. First was singing with many of you
tion it was this year! Thank you again for
on the Sunday morning, Ali did a great job
The second being our rendition of Swing all your support over the last year and can’t
wait to see you all again very soon. Merry
of warming our voices up (even with our
Low on Friday’s show and Helen being
picked up and taken off stage by two burly Christmas!
sore heads!) and then Helen in teaching
Suzie Moutrie, PRO
us those great tags. We all learned them so chaps in rugby shirts. If you have been
wondering why we did this it’s because we Amersham A Cappella
quickly and they sounded fabulous.
I
Fundraising Help Needed
W
hat a wonderful Convention we
had this year in Harrogate. We
are delighted to have reached the dizzy
heights of 7th place, but to be awarded
the Most Improved Chorus and for Jo
Dean, our amazing Director, to be given
hard working year, and one in which the
whole chorus was taken to some new and
very exacting limits! We were privileged to
have had some superb training over the
past year from Liz Garnett, Cindy Hansen
and Martin Ford but essentially our pro-
Most Improved Director was the icing on
our cake! It was the culmination of a very
gression is down to Jo and our committed
music team, who ensured that we took on
board all the ‘building blocks’ of singing,
whilst still having fun and enjoying the
sound we made! We are a rapidly expanding chorus with a passion for song and
an ambition for a medal. This is one step
further forward for us!
We have been frantically fundraising
over the last few months and so far have
raised well over £2500! Out of all the bubbling, humming and various other effective warm-ups that we do, came the idea
to create a Warm-Up and Craft CD which
has been created by 4 of our members. It’s
a fantastic tool for anyone who wants to
keep their voice in top condition and to
learn voice matching and blending, as well
as other skills. It is available from [email protected] at only
£10 including p&p. You can also preview
tracks on our website www.fascinatingrhythm.co.uk . We would like to thank
the Convention Team for giving us a great
weekend.
Diane Henry,
Fascinating Rhythm
the UK and really knuckled down in that
concentrated time.
We continue to have a very busy time
really, not only with our relevant choruses
but as a quartet too. This year we have
spent weekends as the coaching faculty
of Tyneside Ladies and of Bristol Fashion,
both; of whom treated us like royalty &
made us cry with their love, friendship &
appreciation of our time. Not forgetting
the hard work and super end results we
got with both groups. Thank you ladies,
we have very special memories of more fun
After Hours weekends. We have a limited
number of ‘Cheers’ CD’s left if anyone is
interested. Now reduced to £6 including
P&P. Send details to [email protected] if you would like to purchase
one. Payment can be made via PayPal or by
cheque to Jo. Track listing can be located
on our website www.afterhoursquartet.
co.uk So thanks again. We’ve far from gone
away so please, bear us in mind for any
event you may have coming up and give
us a call!
Jo, Alison, Jane & Julie,
AFTER HOURS, LABBS 2006 Quartet
Champions & 2011 QC’s Champions
After Hours
J
ust a little note to say thank you all so
much for your support, encouragement
and kind words following our performance
and success in the QC’s Competition at
LABBS 2011. So many people said it was
great to see you ‘up there’ or ‘back again’.
We haven’t actually been anywhere as
such, just not in the Competition environment of course. We thoroughly enjoyed
putting the package of two new songs
together, even with our tougher logistics
nowadays. Alison (tenor) lives in France
and of course Jo is with Cheshire Chord
Company so doesn’t see Jane & Julie on
a week to week basis, but we managed
to schedule in rehearsals when Ali was in
14
What A Weekend
T
he Red Rosettes had a great time at
Convention, and as ever loved catching up with old friends, and making new
ones for next year! We are thrilled to be
the proud owners of the organisation’s
ambassador for LABBS and we are incredibly proud of her.
A huge congratulation to our two
competing quartets this year – TECHnique,
who won the Most Improved Quartet Tro-
Madam Chair, Teresa Phillips! Teresa
(Mum!) works tirelessly for our club year
on year, and it was such an honour for us
to see her on the convention stage as the
LABBS chairman. She will be an amazing
phy – a fantastically shiny plate to add to
their growing collection of awards! Teresa,
Elaine, Chris and Helen did a great job,
and it’s lovely that this was recognised by
the Judges. We can’t wait to see how much
they improve next year!
And Northern Vibe, who didn’t win
anything...no wait... who came third and
won a BRONZE medal – eeeeek! The chorus
is fit to burst with excitement for Theresa,
Katy, Susan and Emma! We have watched
them come on in leaps and bounds and are
so pleased for them. Well done girls!
On a personal note, I nearly needed St
John’s Ambulance throughout the Quartet
Competition, as the sister of two of Northern Vibe, and daughter of one of TECHnique
– my nerves watching them are far worse
than theirs are competing!
The Red Rosettes had a great time performing ‘Runnin Wild’ on the Saturday and
definitely worked the rock chick look – false
eyelashes all round every week I think!
A massive well done to our First Timers –
Louise, Diane, Elaine, Jacqueline, Sarah
and Lilia – you all did an amazing job, and
here’s hoping it’s the first of many Conventions for you all. As ever Convention was a
great end to a year of hard work and many
happy memories. Well, back to work......Roll
on 2012
Laura Phillips, Red Rosettes
instrumental acts performed. Gosh, those
stage lights were bright and very hot.we all
glowed beautifully!
As the second half of the concert drew
to a close, the MC John Bedford explained
to the audience that we would soon be off
to Convention in Harrogate and would like
to perform our contest package. He’d been
suitably briefed and gave the traditional
introduction of ‘Stewards, can we have the
doors closed and the
house lights down. Contestant number 18
from Bristol, under the
direction of Craig Kehoe,
Bristol Fashion!” Our
wonderful supporters
whooped loudly through
the applause, giving the
rest of the audience a
taste of our wonderful
crazy world of barbershop! After weeks of
rehearsals and weekend
coaching, we were
more than up for it! We
launched into our ballad. Craig signalled
that it sounded great, an encouraging
start! Then our up-tempo, complete with
well-practised moves. And suddenly it was
over, we’d done it and stood there beaming
and lapping up the applause and cheers
from the audience. We all felt elated as
we came off stage, agreeing that if we
can perform our package like that on the
Convention stage, then we’ll be very happy
Bristol Fashionistas. Afterwards, John Bedford said: “Bristol Fashion Chorus is amazing and we are all tremendously grateful to
you for giving us such a wonderful show.
There were lots of very appreciative comments from the audience and if the Chorus
enjoyed it half as much as the audience,
then it was a great afternoon all round.
We wish everybody good luck for the
big day in Harrogate and look forward to
hearing how you get on.” We’ve 10 new
members in the chorus this year and for
some, this was their first sing-out and of
course for many this was also their first
Convention. So for them, and indeed the
whole chorus, this was a fantastic opportunity to perform in front of a large
audience and get a feel for what to expect
at Convention.
Having now returned from Harrogate,
we can say that all the concerts, coaching
and extra rehearsals helped us enjoy our
Convention experience even more. Highlights for us were seeing Joy, Jan, Jill and
Ruth from our in-house quartet Cameo
mic-warming on Friday, our friends Fortuity
winning the Quartet competition and of
course achieving our objective of gaining a
top 10 place! We’ll continue working hard
in readiness for Telford next year. See you
all then!
Sarah King,
Bristol Fashion
BF at the Col Snall
By any standards, Bristol Fashion’s dress
rehearsal for Convention was pretty
special! Two weeks before Convention, 51
members of the chorus stepped out on to
the stage of the Colston Hall, Bristol’s premier concert venue - endearingly referred
to by Bristolians as the Col Snall! We had
been invited to perform as the headline act
for the Rotary Club of Bristol’s 49th charity
concert and the timing couldn’t have been
better for a full Convention run-through.
Dressed in our red and black Convention
finery, we entertained a packed auditorium of 1,500 people with a selection of
songs from our repertoire. We opened and
closed each half of the concert, remaining on stage while the other musical and
15
Making British Barbershop History!
F
inesse were proud and delighted to
make British barbershop history when,
on our second trip to Sweet Adelines’
International Convention, we became the
first ever Region 31 quartet to make it to
the finals. We had such a ball on stage and
would like to say a huge thank you to so
many wonderful people who took the time
to watch us on the webcast and message
us with such lovely comments and words of
encouragement.
Although we were thousands of miles
away from home we were touched by
the support and warm wishes that kept
flooding across the Atlantic from so many
barbershop friends. It was a truly exciting
and humbling experience to be back stage
waiting for the results surrounded by such
fantastic current and previous competing
quartets, many of whom we have followed
for years on the webcast, whilst sitting
in our PJ’s huddled around a laptop in
the middle of the night. We still couldn’t
believe our luck when we were presented
with our 10th place ribbons. Suffice to
say we were still on cloud nine on Sunday
and felt like we floated home across the
Atlantic (which is just as well since Beth &
Tan are terrified of flying!).
Despite all the excitement Finesse felt
quite bereft at not being able to be at
LABBS Convention (the first time in more
years than we care to remember!) In this
wonderful age of technology we were able
to send congratulations to Fortuity and
The White Rosettes all the way from Texas,
but it would have been much nicer to do
so in person! We are very much hoping to
be able to spend Friday and Saturday at
LABBS Convention next year before flying
out to Denver on Sunday, what a week that
will be! We still have to pinch ourselves to
make sure it’s not a dream!
Helen, Beth, Nicky & Tan
Grand Draw 2011 winners
1st Prize £500 Ticket No. 02610
Neil Young
Photographs from Convention 2011
can be viewed and ordered from
http://www.sirastudio.com/client-galleries.html
Click on the ‘LABBS Convention 2011’ line to see all the photos. You
need to make a note of the numbers so that you can go back to the
previous page (as in the link above) and order – you need to include
‘LABBS Convention 2011’ as well as the number for each one that you
want. DVD’s are available for ordering by email from
[email protected] –
or phone Andy on 01522 533039
or mobile 0793281877.
2nd Prize £250 Ticket No. 04860
A. Hancocks
3rd Prize £125 Ticket No. 03541
Rachel Foster, Pennine Chimes
4th Prize £75 Ticket No. 04603
C. Nash
5th Prize £50 ‘Ticket No. 00173
Jill Oliver, Silver Lining
Brunel Ladies Harmony Chorus
Margaret Shannon has resigned as Chair of Brunel Ladies Harmony Chorus and
Kate Ansell is caretaking until officer elections. Please could you forward any
future mailings to [email protected].
We would like to thank all those
hardworking ladies who sold tickets.
Very well done! And many thanks to
everyone who supported the Draw and
purchased tickets.
We hope that we can rely on your continuing support in Telford 2012.
David and Anne, LABBS Raffle Team.
Deadline for Next Issue
Friday
January 27th 2012
Please supply photographs in the
highest resolution possible, in colour,
as separate Jpeg files not in a Word
document. Expect the file to be bigger
than 300Kb, probably more than
1Mb. If it’s not then it’s probably low
resolution and won’t print well.
Diary Dates
Jan 7th LABBS/SAI Directors Education, Birmingham
Jan 14th
LABBS Exec meeting LSE
Jan 28th
LABBS Council meeting LSE
Feb 25th
LABBS Exec meeting LSE
Mar 9-11th
LABBS/BABS Recertification Category School
Mar 11th
A Cappella/Choral Harmony Workshop Didcot Oxon
Mar 24th LABBS Exec, AGM, Council meeting LSE
Apr TBC
Regional Education Days—Watch this space!
For more dates and information see our web site www.labbs.org.uk