Festive lights around the Barn's ancient beams and a decorated Christmas tree greeted us when we arrived for our last Barn session of this year. The decorations increased with the arrival of festive hats and jumpers adorning our singers. We welcomed two new singers to the fold and fun, and after a few brief notices (about our new membership of the English Dance and Folk Song Society, and outline plans for our wassail events in January 2025) the singing began.
"Pentonville", "The Holly and the Ivy","Wassail the Silver Apple" and "Sweet Chiming Bells" gave us a lively start to proceedings. Emily then led us through a couple of rounds which were, as ever, a delight to sing - first "Hey Ho Winter Snow" building to four parts, then "I Heard a Bird Sing" beautifully done in two parts. Lovely! "Deck the Halls", "Moon Shone Bright" and "Hark the Herald Angels" took us to the break and gave way to chatting, quaffing whatever beverages we had with us, and enjoying the 'sweetmeats' folks had brought to share as befits the season.
The second half began with Barbara S sharing details of a talk her son will be giving at Worthing museum on Tuesday - about the history of our treasured woodlands and forests. Thereafter we resumed with more seasonal songs, starting with "Holly Bears a Berry (the Sans Day Carol)" and "Sugar Wassail", before changing the mood a little with descriptions of a cold winter on the Downs in "Where Stormy Winds do Blow". The evening continued with more old favourites and requests - the next one's being the "Boar's Head Carol", followed by "Ideo" and then the "Apple Wassail".
The session concluded with another round - or two. "Child of Light" was lovely and worked well on its own, but sounded even better when then blended with "Hey Ho Winter Snow". The rafters at the Barn were lifted as too were our spirits after an enjoyable and festive evening. We'll be back there very early in the New Year, on January 2nd, when no doubt more of wassailing songs will get an airing in readiness for our first 'sings out' in January - the first of many more sessions and events to come in 2025.
H
No comments:
Post a Comment