Chichester Local Group Report - Thursday April 20th 2023

Sixteen enthusiastic singers attended the April meeting of the Chichester SDFS group.  Alan opened the meeting and informed all that he would be  practicing some songs during the evening that were intended for singing at the Rustington Museum event (on May 24th) – with apologies to those who weren’t going to be there!
 
With that in mind, the group launched into the first half with "Good Morning Lords and Ladies" ("It is the First of May"), "Brisk Young Plough Boy", "Where Stormy Winds Do Blow", "Fathom the Bowl" and "Summer is a Cummin In Again", a possible new introduction for consideration which was led by Dave as an interlude from the Rustington set list.  Dave gave a bit of background to the song with it’s origins in Mumming.
 
The evening continued with "Sussex Wedding Song" with the possibility for Rustington that it might be sung by all, rather than split into men and women. "The Nightingale" followed and Chris gave us his Fred Wedlock alternative which was much appreciated.  On then to the "Turtle Dove", which the group tried a couple of times. The first half finished with "My Downland Remembered" which the group declared to be a popular home grown edition to the repertoire.
 
The second half launched with "Han’aker Mill". "Five and Twenty Ponies" ("Smugglers' Song") followed at a suitable trot and then "Our Captain Cried All Hands" with the obvious pitfall of getting this last one muddled with the hymn 'To Be a Pilgrim'.  "Rosebuds in June", "Lammas Carol" and "When Spring Comes In" finalised the set list that Alan had intended to rehearse.  
 
Dave finished off a busy evening with a fine rendition of "The South Country" based on a Belloc poem put to music by Don Morgan.
 
All agreed the evening had gone well and with sixteen songs well sung – we’d “All Done Very Well”!
 
Anne Sartain

Event and Session Update for April and May

To continue our April sessions, Lewes Local Group meet this evening (18th) at the "John Harvey Tavern" - and on Thursday (20th) our Chichester Local Group gathers at the "Chichester Inn" for their session this month.  Come and find us and join in if you'd like to!

Then we're looking forward to this weekend and our next public event singing at lovely Firle House on Sunday April 23rd.  A beautiful setting and plenty to see in the surroundings and at this year's Garden Show.  We'll be singing near the big House at 12.00 noon and again at 2.00pm - do come along and enjoy the day with us.

May arrives with our Worthing Local Group session on Thursday May 4th - and for this month only we will be meeting and singing in the lovely church next door to our usual Barn setting. Same times as usual, and we'll be back in the Barn in June.

Sadly we have had to cancel our first public event in May, Sunday May 7th at Oldland Mill's Open Day - unfortunately with so many other special celebrations that weekend we've been unable to muster enough singers to do the event justice.  We hope we can sing there again later in the year. 

Plans for later in May are underway for our singing event at Rustington Museum in the evening of Wednesday May 24th. There will be more details on this page and our Diary Page about this, and our other events as the summer progresses, as soon as available.

If you haven't taken the plunge yet but you'd like to come and join us at one of out Local Groups, just drop us a line on our email address (noted on the "Welcome Page" of this Blog).  And any time you fancy, just come and find us at one of our public events this year - see our 'Diary Dates" page for the listing.

Worthing Local Group Report - Thursday April 6th 2023

Unfortunately Emily was not able to join us at the Barn for our April session; she was missed but, ably assisted by Alan, Dave and Amaryllis, we managed our way through 17 songs.

After some notices to remind folks of our public events later this month and into May - and to alert everyone to the change of venue for our May meeting (which will be held in the Church next-door, instead of in the Barn) - we launched the singing with the first of many requests: "Country Life".  At Alan's suggestion we then sang "Halnaker Mill"; after which he invited the womenfolk to lead in "Green Grow the Laurels".  In return he was asked to sing "One April Morning" with a few singers familiar with it joining in.  (Some listeners suggested we should make more use of this song, if only for its seasonal title, but others queried the tune and its credentials as a 'South Downs song'.)  "My Downland Remembered" came next, then the women's voices carried "The Magpie" before the men took a turn with "Hard Times of Old England".  The next request prompted Amaryllis to remind us of the tune she had written for "Run of the Downs" before everyone came together to sing it, followed by a couple of seasonal choices "Searching For Lambs" and "When Spring Comes In".

A thirst quenching break concluded and the singing resumed with "One For the Rook" then the "Turtle Dove", before Dave was asked to sing a new one he had recently brought to the Chichester group sessions, "Summer is A'Comin in Again" (to be found on this Blog's 'Other Songs to Try ' page).  We returned to more familiar territory with "The Nightingale", "Thousands or More", "Twankydillo" - and finally, "The Smugglers' Song", before we stole away into the night at the end of the session. 

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the evening - we look forward to seeing you again, and to having Emily back with us, to enjoy our May (4th) session - when we'll be singing in the beautiful church!  

Lewes Local Group Report - Tuesday March 21st 2023

We began our session with introductions to welcome a newcomer, Wietske, and Tina read out the email she has sent to the Lewes pubs seeking a possible alternative venue for our monthly gatherings. Once again we had a fuller room, with eleven in total, which made for a great sound when we all got singing.  So far Tina has received one welcoming response from a pub, so we agreed to wait for a week or so in the hopes of further positive replies, after which time we can visit and chat through the possibilities.

Tina talked us through her list of suggested songs, some for singing at the Firle House Garden Show on April 23^rd , and asked people for their requests. There was a mixture of many old favourites and a few less familiar songs which Tina taught as they came up.

We began with “Rosebuds” and moved onto a very local sequence of “My Downland Remembered” (adapted from a poem and set to music by Chichester group singer Alan Wheeler, recalling the experience of one of his ancestors), “On Sussex Hills” and “Caburn Hill” (written by our own Lewes singer Dave Turner who led one of the two parts) before closing the first half with “Stedham Oyster Man’s Donkey” (a song which had been introduced at the Chichester and Worthing sessions but was new to Lewes). 

Over a break to refill the glasses we shared news of local folk and other singing events attended by some of our members.

We started the second half with “East Sussex Drinking Song” and continued with a very seasonal list of “When Spring Comes In”, “Run of the Downs”, “Birds on the Spray” and “Turtle Dove”. Some of us needed a bit of guidance from Tina for “Come Stranger, Come Friend” and we finished as usual with a rousing rendition of “Thousands or More”.

A hearty sing as always!

Jan