Spring into Summer - Events Update

After a busy and enjoyable April singing at a variety of events and venues, our May into June sings and events continue.  Thanks again to our singers and leads for their time, and to our hosts for giving us such great opportunities to 'sing out’.  Over the recent Bank Holiday weekend a group of us sang at Oldland Mill's Open Day near Keymer on May 5th, and now we’re looking forward to the rest of the 2024 summer season. So here is what we're up to in May and June - with more to come after that!

On Saturday May 18th we’ll be having an extra SDFSingers open session, a social sing in the Downland air of Highdown Hill near Worthing - starting at around 11.00am.  We’re hoping the sunshine and South Downs songs will combine well for an enjoyable time!

The Amberley Chalk Pits Museum is holding a "Nature Event” on Sunday June 2nd, and we will be supporting this by sharing our songs with visitors to this interesting event. 

Then on Sunday June 16th we’ll be making a return visit to sing in the beautiful grounds of Parham House in celebration of "Sussex Day”; a splendid garden in which to also enjoy Father’s Day!  We hope the weather will be as glorious as it was last year - but please, not quite so hot this time!

 

Thursday June 20th sees the SDFS Chichester local group session back at the "Three Moles” pub in Selham (where they used to meet for their regular sessions).  This time it will be for a special Folk Evening as part of the Graffham Arts Festival.  We’ll be singing a couple of sets and enjoying the other music on offer during the evening.  (Please consult the pub or the Graffham Festival organisers for more details of this event.)   We’ll be back at the "Chichester Inn", in Chichester, for the group’s July session as usual.  

Sunday June 23rd is the last day of the 2024 Worthing Festival and we’ve offered to sing our songs in the town centre on this finale day.  More details for this and our other summer events are expected soon, and they'll be noted on our Diary Dates page or as Latest News posts as soon as confirmed.

So take another look at our Blog soon - or email us sooner if you’d like to join us and become a "South Downs Folk Singer” yourself. Start by letting us know you’re interested and then come along to one or other, or even all three, of our monthly local group sessions - and if you’d like to, begin to learn our songs to sing with us at our public events in the future.  

A warm welcome awaits and there will be more lovely events and songs to sing as the year progresses.  Some details of our autumn into winter events are already on our Diary Dates page - so please take a look!   

Update - Lewes Local Group Meetings

Lewes Local Group monthly meetings – temporary arrangements pending new permanent venue!

 

While consultations and enquiries are continuing regarding a new venue, we will continue to meet on the third Monday of the month as usual and will gather at 7 for 7:30 at the Fuego Lounge café bar, Unit 1, The Old Courthouse, Friars Walk, Lewes, BN7 2FS. 

 

If the weather permits, we will then move on to do some singing at the nearby Railway Land Nature Reserve (meeting place outside the Linklater Pavilion, Railway Lane BN7 2FG just inside the reserve).  

 

If the weather is bad, we will continue socialising, eating and drinking at Fuego, or other nearby establishment by agreement  

  

Worthing Local Group Report - Thursday May 2nd 2024

As happened last year, the Barn was in use as a poling station for the local elections so, again, we had kind permission to sing next door in the church with its lovely acoustic and magnificently painted ceiling.  Not completely distracted by gazing upwards, a large group of songsters gathered to enjoy songs from our repertoire old and new.  After some brief notices about future events we started our singing with a selection of Maytime songs - "It is the First of May", "Hal n Tow" and "The Cuckoo" (for which an additional verse was offered and may be included in the future).  Emily then proposed a few songs not sung by us for a while - "Rolling in the Dew" and "Drink me Brave Boys" from the original song workshops ten years ago, followed by the gentle and poignant "Home Lads Home" and "Loyal Lover" from the many songs added since.

After the break with time to chat and appreciate our ornate surroundings, we resumed with a lovely round "As Me I Walked in a May Morning ..." skilfully directed by Emily building it into 4 parts by the time we finished.  In complete contrast we moved on to a song first introduced at a Worthing session in March 2020, and occasionally aired since at the Chichester local group where it has been liked by all -"Three Drunken Maidens", led by Alan.  Singers familiar with it joined in and the tune was readily picked up by others.  So having been met with general approval it was agreed to put it on the 'Other Songs to Try' page of the SDFS Blog for others to enjoy.  Last but very much not least, we spent time revisiting the harmonies  of "The Oak Tree" song under Emily's guidance until uniting in a beautiful three part rendition of this lovely song.  

A rewarding and fitting finish to our evening of singing in the church.  We'll be back in the beautiful Barn for our next session on June 6th - see you there.

H.    

A Song to Try - Three Drunken Maidens

Here's a traditional song offered by Alan Wheeler.

You'll find the lyrics using the link below.

Lyrics