Event Organisers

Notes For Event Organisers Inviting the SDFS to Perform

If you’re organising an event where you would like to invite the “South Downs Folk Singers” to sing, here are some guidance notes to help.

About Us

The “South Downs Folk Singers” (SDFS) began life following a Heritage Lottery Funded project in partnership with the South Downs Society, about the heritage and songs of the South Downs. This finished in 2013 and the SDFS was formed to enable us to continue singing together, since when we have continued to add songs, harmonies and singers. (For further information please use this link: "Songs Project".)

For those who do not know us, the SDFS. are not a formal choir but a joyful group who sing traditional South Downs songs unaccompanied, as they may very well have been sung in homes, places of work and recreation in the past.

Since 2013 we have been invited to sing at various events in the South Downs area and a few beyond. In keeping with our own origins, these have usually been for charitable, educational or community events, and as far as possible we try and theme our choice of songs to reflect the event.

We do not charge a fee for our appearances, but if hospitality or gratuities ‘in kind’ are provided (e.g. refreshments, parking space, free entry to the event or complimentary tickets for partners) they are always appreciated.

On this site you can find details of the songs we sing and reference in old posts to some of the events we’ve attended. Photos of our performances can also be found on our Facebook page or Twitter

Planning and Preparing for our Programme of Events

We try to plan our event programme as early as possible each year to secure dates in our singers’ diaries. Therefore, to enable us to approach our singers in good time we ask anyone inviting us to give us as much notice of their event as possible, ideally two or three months. However, because we know this is not always possible, we don’t rule out accommodating events at shorter notice if we can – subject of course to enough singers being available.

Our current bookings are listed on our "Diary Dates Page". We are sometimes able to support concurrent events, but again, this will depend upon the number of singers available for each one.

Our performance groups are not the same every time. This can vary from 30 or more singers at larger events, to around a dozen or less at smaller venues. We do not normally perform with much smaller groups, unless this is specifically requested.

When we receive an invitation we canvas our singers for their support (this can take three to four weeks to complete) and those able to attend form a group for the event. So our initial acceptance of an invitation is provisional upon having enough singers available to go ahead. We will let you know as soon as possible and certainly by any agreed deadline. (Since we began our public performances in 2013, when given sufficient notice we have rarely been short of singers and unable to confirm attendance.)

When we commit to an event, we would appreciate it if you’d mention us in your advertising or programme literature, and if we regularly support your events and you have your own website, please consider posting our details as a link.

What We Need to Know from You

Here’s a checklist of the information it would helpful to us to have with your invitation please. If not all details are immediately available, then for them to follow or be discussed with us as soon as possible.

1. The name of the event, who is holding it and for what cause or purpose. (If you have a website with these details the address would be helpful.)
2. The venue and address of the event.
3. The date or dates of the event. If your event is over two or more days please state the day you’d prefer us to attend.
4. The time or times you would like us to sing, and the length of set required. We usually perform sets of up to 30 minutes (40 minutes maximum) and we are happy to perform several sets with reasonable breaks between.
5. The SDFS performance setting: indoors or outdoors; if outdoors, what if any provision is made for bad weather. We usually sing without amplification, but adverse local conditions, (e.g. noisy surroundings or, if outside, windy weather) can affect the performance.
6. Limits (maximum or minimum), if any, on the number of singers who should attend. We try to tailor the size of group attending to the size and nature of the performance setting and the requirements of the occasion.
7. Admission process for our Singers i.e. the need for individual passes or tickets, a list of singers’ names to check in, or perhaps a SDFS member with your staff at the entrance to verify I.D.
8. Parking: available on-site or in the locality. Although we make efforts to car share or use public transport when practical, some parking is usually needed.
9. Other facilities on site at the event e.g. refreshments, toilets, shelter from the weather if outdoors.

If you’d like to send us an invitation, or you need more information or want to discuss arrangements in more detail – please contact our Events Organiser by using our email: southdownsfolksingers21@gmail.com