Our Newsletter

PHOENIX SINGERS NEWSLETTER – JANUARY 2022

 

A VERY HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!

 

After a very difficult year, when we managed to meet in the open air, in a village hall and then finally back in East Street in September, we are meeting at East Street School on 10^th January 2022 at 7:30 p.m. prompt.

 

We will still keep the hall ventilated and the hand sanitiser etc. will also be available. Masks are not mandatory, and very hard to sing in, but if you feel more comfortable then please do wear one. It is imperative that you take responsibility for ensuring your safety, and follow the advice given.

Musical Director - The music you will need to bring, if you have it, is Jesu Priceless Treasure, May The Road Rise and New Gloria (my 2000 version based on Vivaldi’s original). The choir has been asked to sing at the funeral of Suzanne Edwards on Tuesday 18th January. The choir meant a lot to Suzanne and she was always so supportive. I know that Ed (Suzanne’s husband) would like the choir to be central to the service and hope that as many members as possible will be there to support Ed and sing Jesu Priceless Treasure and May The Road Rise.

Treasurer - As regards our finances - we seem to have weathered the storm over the past 21 months as well as we could have hoped for. Our bank balance at the end of Jan 2020 was £8338, end of Jan 2021 £6451 and is now £4570. This has been helped by numerous members paying full subs in 2020 and many members paying £50 subs during the latter half of 2021.

We will be having a committee meeting on the 18th January 2022 when we will arrange a date for the AGM in late February/early March after which subs will become due for the year 2022/2023. I will be recommending that the annual subs stay at £80.

As expected, due to the poor audience numbers at the evening performance of our Christmas concert, we made a loss of £190.

The Young Phoenix

After a very long lockdown we finally began meeting again outside at East Street school and when that wasn’t possible we were able to use the 4th Leek Scout HQ. Due to Sally’s links with the Scouts they kindly let us use it for free! During the summer break we appointed a new musical director for the choir who was able to give more time than Stuart had been able to in the form of workshops etc. We were sorry to see Stuart go but the children gave him a good send off with a party.

Dan Williams began working with the Young Phoenix towards the end of September. It has been a very busy term since then. We held a workshop during the October half term . Eighteen children attended and from it we got four new members. We also had four more new members from seeing us on Facebook.

We gave our first concert for 4th Leek Scouts at the end of their Christmas Activity Day on 4th December which went really well even though only eight choir members could make it. Then there was the Christmas Concert at St Lukes. The children were absolutely brilliant. We were so proud of them.

We rounded off the term singing carols with Haregate Community Centre. It was a freezing cold night and only a few turned up but we had fun and may have got another new recruit from that event!!

We also put the subs up this term to £2 a week and our finances are already looking up. We are also looking at possible grants and held a coffee morning at Trinity Church. Three more are booked in for next year.

So a successful return to singing together. We have lots of wonderful songs planned for next term and hope to keep a high profile by performing as much as possible, being on social media and running workshops. This way we hope we can increase our numbers even more and go from strength to strength.

Librarian - Please return any borrowed copies of Carols for Choirs (Green bk), Noel and Christmas Carol. The sheet music does not have to be returned but please keep for future use. Remember to sign your copies back in on the record sheets. 

IT - We found that selling tickets for the Christmas Concert online via the website worked really well and made life a lot easier. It has been suggested that we move to online sales for all tickets for our next performance. Of course, there will be people for whom going online and/or printing out tickets will not be possible but we can solve that problem by allowing people to show a digital version on a phone or for those who are not comfortable online to give a phone number for them to call and have someone go online for them.

Making Music - If you have yet to explore the Making Music website https://www.makingmusic.org.uk I encourage you to do so.  As well as the Events and Resources sections that I monitor for useful items and online presentations, such as one I attended about ventilation and rehearsals: 

https://www.makingmusic.org.uk/resource/webinar-ventilation 

the News and Campaigns sections are equally informative when considering the impact of the pandemic on mental health, which can be improved through music:

https://www.makingmusic.org.uk/campaigns-and-advocacy/music-and-wellbeing  

or the effect of local authority cost-cutting when music libraries are the first to go, making it more difficult for orchestras and choirs, like ours, to hire sheet music:

https://www.makingmusic.org.uk/campaigns-and-advocacy/save-music-libraries 

These are only three subjects of interest to me, but there are also links to concerts online too as groups have worked around not being able to perform in person. 

Dates for your diary 

Monday 10th January Return to rehearsals

Tue 18th January Funeral of Suzanne Edwards

Sat 19th March Proposed “Choir Anniversary Come and Sing” 

Sat 4th June Proposed concert for the Jubilee 

 

PHOENIX SINGERS NEWSLETTER – AUGUST

Lots to report this month as we prepare to recommence in September --

First a message from Ashley -

I’m aware that we have pencilled in 6th September as a start date. However, I have some news that makes this difficult…

From September I will be Director of Music at Ranby House, the prep school to Worksop College. 6th September will be my first Monday in school and so it would not be sensible to plan a rehearsal then. This means that our first rehearsal will be Monday 13th September - and I am very much looking forward to resuming singing and music-making with renewed vigour!

For better or worse, the staff at Ranby House are aware that I have a regular rehearsal on Monday evenings and we agreed that this should continue as a condition of me taking up the role - so don’t imagine that I’m thinking of vanishing!

I trust that you are enjoying the summer and I look forward to seeing you on 13th September. Ashley.
So as you can see - we are starting back at East Street on 13^th September, 7:30 prompt.
As some members may be wary about returning to singing in a group, we will be socially distanced, the hall is well ventilated and hand sanitiser etc. will be available. Both the School and the Choir have done risk assessments to make sure all is in place, to safeguard both us and them. We also ask that having taken your seat, you remain there and do not socialise until the end of rehearsal, and, preferably do it outside. Masks are not mandatory, and very hard to sing in, but if you feel more comfortable then please do wear one. It is imperative that you take responsibility for ensuring your safety, and follow the advice given.
We held our first committee meeting “in person” last week – you will have seen the minutes. So these are the main points discussed, and pertinent to resuming our activities.
As our finances have been hit by lack of income Brian has suggested that we should ask choir members for half a year + £10, i.e .£50. We now have £3997 in the bank. We hope this will be acceptable to everyone but if you have any questions, please ask your rep.
I am very proud to say that Ashley has been shortlisted for a Making Music award for “Best music creator for a leisure time music group”. The award event will be a virtual one which choir members will be able to access. It is to be held on 8^th September, starts at 7:00p.m. Free tickets to the Awards and AGM are now available, and can be accessed on the Making Music website using the following link - https://www.makingmusic.org.uk/event/making-music-awards-agm


The Young Phoenix is undergoing a transition. Sally reported that Stewart has stepped down as musical director, and he will be replaced by Dan Williams. Young Phoenix will start rehearsals on September 27^th with three open fun workshops. The subs will be raised to £2 per week per child. The YP committee are in the process of applying for grants to help the financial situation. Thanks to Sally and Rosemary for their work in effecting this changeover.
Dates for your diary -
6^th September – 7:30 p.m. virtual Quiz to start our activities. Rosemary and Eddie to host
13^th September – re-start rehearsals
11^th October - Choir AGM
4^th December – possible visit to Blists Hill
11^th December – Christmas Concert – subject to a suitable venue
14^th December – Concert at Chatsworth
Best wishes,
Lesley
 

Hello everyone,
 
Just a few lines to let you know the current and future situation for the choir.
 
         19^th July – Final rehearsal – at Val and Brians, Broad Lea Farm,   Meerbrook. 7:30 p.m. Although the restrictions will have been revoked, (see below) please use common sense about mixing etc. All the sanitising equipment will be available.

Making Music tweeted on 15th July as follows:-
"The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have confirmed to us that in England from 19 July there will be no limit on the number of people gathering to rehearse indoors or outdoors, including choirs."
 
         Sunday 25^th July – Choir party – 3 p.m. onwards – also at Val and      Brians in Meerbrook.
         Please bring your own picnic, food and drink. Chairs and/or a   rug. Spouses welcome.
 
         Monday 13^th September – 7:30 p.m.
       Rehearsals begin again at East Street School.
 
We – well actually Sue Lowe – are working hard to establish our website on the Making Music platform, and in order to do so we may contact everyone for your personal information. This is required for our eyes only and the data will be kept extremely safely.
Making Music itself is updating its own website, and we are assured that it will be easier to access for all our members. It is a very full site and they are trying to make it more understandable.