PLEASE NOTE - LEWES LOCAL GROUP - CHANGE OF VENUE

The South Downs Folk Singers Lewes Local Group will be moving to a new venue at:

"The Kings Head", 9 Southover High Street, Lewes  BN7 1HS 

Starting from the next session on Tuesday 18th July 2023. 

We will be arriving from 7pm to meet the manager Dec and start singing at 7:30-10pm as usual. We hope to see as many of you as possible for our first session in our new home. 

Lewes Local Group Report - Tuesday June 20th 2023

It was a small but enthusiastic group that met in the John Harvey Tavern for our monthly song session, with lots of “apologies for absence” due to the holiday season but we still managed to create a good sound, and just as importantly, to enjoy singing together.  We were pleased to welcome back Jo, who hasn’t been able to join us for quite a while.  She slotted in as though she’d never been away and we hope she’ll be able to become a regular singer once again.

There was a brief, discreet discussion about the email Tina had sent to all singers who have attended pub sessions or events within the past year, asking for peoples’ thoughts about a possible new venue.  She has received some responses and will feed back to the group after a week to give everyone time to respond. 

Tina had prepared a list of possible seasonal songs for us to choose from, favouring those we didn’t practice last month, and we began with “Ebernoe Horn Fair”, in preparation for singing at Petworth Park for the summer solstice.  Lord Egremont (of Petworth) presents the prizes at the fair so this was an essential on the songlist.  “Ha’nacker Mill” followed and Tina took us through a high and a low harmony which will be lovely additions to the tune, with a little more practice. We continued with “Green Grow the Laurels” and then “Come Stranger, Come Friend”.  We had some discussion about when this was written, estimating mid 20^th century and having just checked the website for further information, Ron Spicer who wrote it, lived from 1929 to 1996.

On a bird theme we continued with “Nightingale” and “Magpie” before “Seasons Turn” which we all enjoyed despite it relating properly to the beginning of spring. “Rosebuds in June” was a special request, followed by “Bee Boys” and “Turtle Dove”.  We finished a good evening with a rousing rendition of “Thousands or More” and look forward to hearing the group consensus about our future venue.

Jan

Chichester Local Group Report - Thursday June 15th 2023

Twelve stalwart singers came out on a hot June evening to a fairly quiet venue, where we entertained those that passed through on the way to sit in the outdoor spaces.  A topical political song by Steve A got everyone in light hearted mood for the start as Alan explained that he had selected songs to practice that hadn’t been sung recently plus a couple for review by the group.

"Sussex By the Sea" with alternative words by Amaryllis started the practice proper – due to be sung the following day at Parham House Sussex Day.  "My Downland Remembered" followed, including the requested extra verse to lengthen it which everyone agreed went well.  Alan introduced a possible new song, "England for Me" by local musician Dave Toye which in fact had been on the SDFS website for quite a while.  The group quickly picked this up and thought it would make a good addition to the set lists.  His second introduction "Bold Reynolds" by the same writer, the group thought not suitable for choir singing.  "Bee Boys Song" with discussions about the technicality of bee-keeping followed and the first half rounded off with "Brighton Camp" and finally "The Loyal Lover", a lovely popular song.  
 
Following well needed refreshment, the second half of the evening continued with "Ebernoe Horn Fair" (a must to sing at the forthcoming Petworth House booking as Lord Egremont of Petworth presents the prizes at the fair).  "Ladies Go Dancing at Whitsun" plus a new song introduced a month or two ago by Dave G - "Summer Is A Coming In Again".  The latter much appreciated by all present.  Following the idea of singing “old” original songs from the early days of the choir at the forthcoming ten year celebrations in Worthing, "The Cruel Mother" was fairly quickly abandoned but followed by the more eagerly sung "Three Drunken Maidens" (from the Isle of Wight) which Steve W agreed to put on the “songs to try” part of the website.  As a final flourish before heat exhaustion set in, the group sang "Pleasant and Delightful" without a single set of words to be seen!
 

Anne S

South Downs Folk Singers sing at Amberley Museum World Environment Day

On Saturday 3rd June, fifteen of our singers spent a very pleasant day singing our traditional Sussex songs to visitors at the Amberley Chalk Pits Museum. We sang outside the Village Green Store and were warmly applauded by the stallholders opposite, who were there to encourage us to be more environmentally friendly in all that we do. Passengers on the old “Southdowns” Bus waved to us from the windows as they passed by. Thanks to Alan for leading the singing and conducting us so well, and to Steve W for his introductions. And a big thankyou to the Museum for inviting us. Can we do it again please?

Dave

Worthing Local Group Report - Thursday June 1st 2023

Quite a few event notices were given at the start of our evening, reflecting how busy we'll be in June with four public performances in a month.  Then, under Emily's guiding hand, we revisited some of what we'll be singing at the first of these events - Amberley Museum on June 3rd.  We began with what has become a good warm-up and fanfare, "Country Life", before moving on to "When Spring Comes In"; "One For the Rook" and "My Downland Remembered" (choosing this time not to repeat the last first verse at the end).  A change of scene had us singing a round in three parts "As Me I Walked ..." which we hope to engage our audience in on the day.  The first half of our evening was completed with "The Nightingale", the "Sussex Wedding Song" and the "Bee Boys Song" - before a break and more shared news of other local events, including the new Worthing Festival and some dates at Horsham Folk Club.  

Our singing resumed with "Turmut Hoers"; "Life of a Man" and "Oak and Ash and Thorn" before trying another round with summer words to the "Banberry Ale" tune, which some were familiar with, this time talking of "Ripening Strawberries Juicy and Bright".  (If not already on the Rounds Page of our Blog, the two sung this evening soon will be.) 

To finish the evening, by request, we sang two songs both with the shadow of warfare, and separation from home and loved ones, woven into them.  First "Ladies Go Dancing" with its wistful tone and gentle pace, and then by contrast "Sussex By the Sea" in its louder marching rhythm - on which note we marched home after another enjoyable evening of song.

We'll at the Barn for a sing with a difference at our next session on Thursday July 6th - 7.30pm

We hope that our South Downs folk singers from all three of our local groups will gather in this central location to join in an evening of songs by request, old and new, to celebrate the 10 years since the "South Downs Folk Singers" began.  

We considered having a summer picnic gathering somewhere on the Downs - but fearing the weather could fail us and rain stop play, we've opted instead to use the lovely Sussex Barn already available to us - and guaranteed dry!

We're asking singers to bring some sweet or savoury snacks (no more than easy to eat 'finger-food') to share, and drinks of their own choice, to have in the break and add to the evening's enjoyment.