Worthing Local Group Report - Thursday September 5th

With some regular attendees missing (deterred perhaps by the bad weather or by other demands on their time) but welcoming a new singer joining us at this session - we closed the Barn door on a very wet September day and collectively banished the early autumnal gloom with another evening of song.  After meets and greets some brief notices were shared, about up-coming events and also about the October 3rd meeting at the Barn which also hosts the SDFS AGM.   (The AGM business will be between 7.00 and 7.45ish, then a break, before singing from 8.00pm.  Details are on the Diary Page and a full notice will be on the Blog News Page soon.)

With September in mind, and the events we have this autumn season, we eased our voices in with some "Ale Glorious Ale", before taking ourselves "All Among the Barley"  followed by "The Turmut Hoer" !  Time was then given to a new song for us "The Rambling Combers"  which talks of the people in the days before machines took over, who did essential work in the process of preparing the wool from fleeces towards it becoming yarn.  It was tried with support and guidance from Alan, David and Anne who sang it for us, with melody plus high and low parts - and we all agreed it was an interesting and pleasing one to sing and well worth taking forward at future sessions.  (It can be found on the "Other Songs to Try" page of our Blog.)   Resuming then with more familiar material we continued with "One For the Rook" and the "Lammas Carol" before taking a break.  

The "Brave Young Ploughboy" brought us back, before raising a "Farmer's Toast", and with more harvest products in mind, the "Bee Boys Song".  The summer's end with autumn harvests as we move towards winter was conjured in the beautiful "Fields Lie Silent", and "The Magpie" with it's many warnings maintained a rather sombre mood, although it's also a jolly good sing!

As a brighter diversion towards the end of the evening, by special request Emily led us through the chorus of a song new to most of us - "The Bramble" (from the same song collection that includes the "Oak" song we have also enjoyed).  Emily patiently taught us line by line - and once mastered we then applied our learning to singing it as a round - which was an enjoyable challenge, and we hope to try it again at another session. 

With time running out on us, "Rolling Home" was chosen as our song to close the evening - to then look forward to meeting again with any or all SDFS singers, from all three of our local groups, at our AGM and our next sing at the lovely Barn at 7.00pm on Thursday October 3rd.