With Emily's support and guidance we began our singing with a few songs from those chosen by Tina (our lead in Lewes) for a lunchtime performance in Brighton some of us would be singing at the next day. Foremost was "The Brave Eleven", which uses a traditional folk tune and the words of a poem commemorating a shipwreck off Worthing a hundred years ago. It is regularly sung by Tina with the Lewes Group but is not known by many in the Worthing Group. However, most of the singers due to contribute to the Brighton event knew the song from their singing sessions with our 'cousin' group the 'Secret Shore Singers', where it features as a sea song. So for some we polished off the rust to get the tune and pace right, and for newcomers it was an introduction to the song - and maybe it will be used more often at future sessions at the Barn.
From there we returned to more familiar territory with a few more songs also on the set list for Brighton: "Home Lads Home", "Hard Times" and "Where Stormy Winds Do Blow" - all were revisited and refreshed in readiness. After a refreshment break, the collection of dues and yet more time to chat, "Three Drunken Maidens" enabled us to make a definite move away from the sombre or wintery songs we had opened with. Our thoughts also turned towards brighter days ahead with "When Spring Comes In". A mixture of requests filled the rest of the evening - "Life of a Man", "England for Me", "Old Adam" and "The Lark in the Morning" (the latter, by popular demand, using the words Alan gave us when first introducing the song). These took us towards "The Parting Song" and the close of the session.
March now beckons, with clocks going forward, longer daylight and, we hope, better weather! We'll be at the Barn again for our next sing there on March 5th - hope you can join us then.
H.
