10 singers made their way to the Kings Head, including new singer Celia, and tackled the usual mix of old and new, seasonal, and general songs.
We started out with old favourites “On Sussex Hills” and “Poor Froze Out Gardeners” with references to snow, wind and seasonal unemployment. There are four remembrance songs in our repertoire and, as in previous years, we sang two tonight and will sing the other two in November. “All Things Are Quite Silent”, sung mainly by the women, is a plaintive lament from the point of view of a wife whose husband was pressganged into the Navy in the Napoleonic Wars. The contrasting robust “Follow Me ‘Ome”, sung mainly by the men, is a setting of a Kipling poem where soldiers mourn the loss of a comrade. We had another look at “Oak Tree Song”, a suggested new song and then “Run of the Downs” to the new tune written by Worthing member Amaryllis a couple of years ago. She said tonight she’s unsure if she still likes this tune but was met with loud cries of approval from other singers who love it! We had a second go at one we started last month, “Summer is a-Coming in Again”, another suggested new song which isn’t set in summer, but in winter looking forward. The first half ended with “Coppers Christmas Song”, not really about Christmas but more about changes in nature and the coming turn of the year.
After the comfort and socialising break, we sang three of our slower and more reflective pieces – “Lammas Carol”, “Life of a Man” and “My Downland Remembered” (including the new verse about the sea journey to Australia). This was followed by “Seasons Turn” which talks about all the seasons, saying for each of them, “oh THIS is the time I love best”. We spent some time on another newish song “All Among the Barley” before singing by request “Hard Times of Old England” and winding up a very pleasant and tuneful evening with “East Sussex Drinking Song” and “Come Stranger Come Friend”.
Tina
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