Singers (29 in all) from all three of our local groups met at the Barn under Emily’s careful leadership, to enjoy songs in celebration of the Spring and to consider what best to use at our next public event in April. We also heard some brand new songs presented by Alan from Chichester and Tina from Lewes. After some event notices, we began by popular demand, with "Country Life”, before moving on to "When Spring Comes In" and "Lark in the Morning”. "Ebernoe Horn Fair" and "Saucy Sailor" were revived as conversations between male and female singers. "Searching For Lambs” returned us to the springtime theme - with Emily providing and teaching some lovely harmonies.
After the break, a vote was taken in favour of continuing at The Barn for our Worthing sessions, at least for the next couple of months. Singing resumed with Tina performing "Oldland Mill", a new song from a friend of the Lewes group, before guiding us through singing it with her. The harmony parts weren't tried, but hopefully they will be in place when the song is used at the Mill itself for an event there on May 1st. "One for the Rook” came next, suitably about seed sowing for new growth in spring, but we agreed it needs more session use before a public performance. The "Loyal Lover” followed, before fast forwarding the spring to "It is the First of May” !
Our group singing concluded with the beautiful “Turtle Dove”, taking time to think about and honour the refugees from Ukraine, and across the world, their homelands and their families left behind. The evening closed with a song from Alan, written by him, “My Downland Remembered”, and another one from Tina, “The Forlorn Oak”, a poem by Ray in the Lewes group which she had set to music. Many thanks to them for these new songs (now available on the "Songs to Try" page of this Blog) and to all who supported this session - we’ll be back at the Barn on Wednesday April 13th.
