Recent Events ...and not so recent ones
Christmas carol service
James St Church, Southampton.
Sunday 21st December 2025
We've been to this small city centre church on quite a few occasions in the past. Due to their location they often try to have this type of service outdoors to make it easier for folk to attend without the barrier of actually entering the building.
It was cold, the rain fell insistent on the dark and dirty inner city streets, turning collars to the icy wind and patches of grass outside small churches to a dull dark morass. Singers kept their eyes down, glued to their phones for the news that all were hoping for...
We were to be inside! Phew! It was warm in the little church, even too warm for some, and those who'd come dressed in Christmas sweaters rapidly questioned their clothing choice. The building was full of lights, decoration, subsequently people and song. It was a regular lessons & carols finishing up with a Christingle event, and your correspondent hopes to have photos in due course.
Carols in the pub
South Western Arms, St. Denys.
Friday 19th December 2025
Having failed to secure a convenient slot at this venue for community carolling last year, this time your correspondent contacted the proprietors in June. Book early for Christmas as they say.
South Western Arms Facebook page:
And when a bunch of us turned up on the Friday evening, the pub was pleasantly busy with plenty of customers well up for a singalong and even those who were not pretended, which was kind.
We were joined by Mark on hand percussion and Emergency Alto™ from Oxford, and sung for just over an hour. Once we'd sung our final song there were still more requests incoming. Ah, the trials of popularity!
Not really a choir gig, but...
A select (very select) group of our singers went to a Christmas karaoke-along in the Bellemoor pub.
Here they are really getting into the event, singing your correspondent understands, the song "Good News."
Well, that was fun!
Christmas Fun Evening
All Saints Church
Friday 12th December 2025
This event was arranged just to have a bit of a good time at the festive season, we sang a mini-concert at the start as the folk were arriving and getting the all important food set up, then mid way through the evening there was some carolling for everyone.
The evening wound up with a quiz and modesty forbids your correspondent from saying how well the choir team did, but the chocolates which landed on our table immediately after the results were announced were very good.
A Concert for Advent
St John's Church Hedge End
Sunday 30th November
Back in the summer we gave a gospel music concert at this church, and we went back to sing music to celebrate the Advent of Jesus.
Tom Race's haunting setting of "In the Bleak Midwinter" and in a completely different vein, a jolly round of "Christmas is coming" with which the audience sang along.
This was the first Sunday in Advent, so it was a chance to dust off all those interesting Christmas arrangements, and sing a couple of new songs including
Obviously there were half time refreshments, (mince pies, not oranges) and a retiring collection was made for the Society of St. James
Prison visit
Winchester Prison
Sunday November 2nd 2025
Looking back it was nearly a whole year since our last visit to HMP Winchester. Our previous visit was cancelled at quite short notice due to something outside our control.
This time however, 19 of us went to lead the gospel service.
We sang a selection of hymns, church songs and gospels which went down well, but the most significant thing was the testimonies of a couple of choir members which seemed to move those present, and afterwards several inmates took the opportunity to pray with some of us.
Care Home visit
Oak Lodge care home, Freemantle Common
Sunday October 5th 2025
Another in our regular types of event is providing some entertainment at care homes.
We'd not been to this venue before, but it's in the same group as Northlands House where we sang recently and one of the non-dancing staff asked us to visit.
We turned up with 10 singers and our director., and sung to a small gathering of residents, some of whom sang along to a collection of gospels, church songs and the occasional African number.
Music in the City
Saturday September 13th
St Joseph's Church Bugle Street
Click the logo to go to the MITC website
In the pleasant space of St Josephs we entertained a fluid audience with our usual mix of music including a bit of singalong gospels.
We've sung at this annual free music festival on each occasion since its inception and This year was no exception.
Here we are in action, singing appropriately enough the song, "Come and Go with Me"
But how your correspondent knows that is a closely guarded secret.
Amazingly our picture made it to Aunty Beeb's news website, clicking on the picture above will take you to the article about the festival.
Shirley Fringe Festival
The Clockwork Bar, Shirley Rd. Saturday Sept 6th
Always up for a local festival and to support a local chaity, we were allocated a slot in the bar run by the organisers of the event
Click the logo to find out all about it.
The weather was warm and sunny, and eleven of us plus Mark the drummer crammed ourselves into a nook in the bar and ran through a dozen or so varied songs accompanied by Penny on the bar piano.
There were plenty of folk in the bar, and some sang along with our standards. When we reached the end of our set list we asked if they'd like another. Bridge over Troubled Water perhaps? Your correspondent can't recall when we last sung it, but it went down well.
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Clockwork Bar FB page
Gospel Music Event
St. James Church, West End. Saturday June 28th
Organised by Churches together in Hedge End and West End there were a number of choirs on show of which we were one
We sang two 15 minute sets, the first including a couple of African numbers and the gospel standard Total Praise, which if he was tied to a chair and tickled your correspondent would have to admit went pretty well.
Our second set included the favorite (amongst some) Shosholoza and our very own song, Love Arose which you can hear us singing on the video on the home page.
A concert at St. John's Church, Hedge End.
April 26th
A long awaited concert at St John's where we had been asked for singalong songs and African numbers.
Always pleased to oblige we started with a bang with three or four singalong gospels in a first set lasting nearly an hour. This was hard work as our numbers had been depleted by rampaging illnesses.
Then the all important tea and cake.
And then some more cake.
One dear choir member was celebrating her birthday with us, she had brought fizz, and you guessed, cake.
She managed to have Happy Birthday sung to her no less than three times during the interval, after which we sang a second, shorter set.
Throughout the audience was enthusiastic and sang and clapped along, which helps the choir no end.
A visit to Northlands House Care Home
Sunday March 16th
Another in our regular types of event, providing some entertainment at this care home. Your correspondent has been told that we have sung there before, but memory being what it is his mind was a blank on the subject until looking through the records and finding the photographic evidence
2025
2023
Here we are separated by two years, and we have learned to clap!
The audience slowly increased throughout the set until the Choir-to-Audience ratio reached 1.0. Huzzah!
There was some enthusiastic singing along, and towards the end a number of staff members were dancing in the corridor. It obviously took them a while to warm up.
Lunchtime concert
St. Deny's Church, Chilworth
Wednesday March 12th
To cut a long story short we sung about an hour's worth of repertoire, including plenty of songs for the mercifully outnumbering audience to join in with, and join in they did.
Plenty of smiley faces, singing lips and clapping.
Particularly pleasant was to see a couple of former choir members amongst them, giving the chance to catch up over tea and home made cake.
A Wednesday lunchtime well spent.
Turning up the-opposite-of-mob-handed has the side benefit of reducing the chances of being outnumbered by the audience; regular readers of this site will be familiar with our strange pre-occupation with this metric.
Incidentally, your correspondent recently participated in a "Come and Sing" Handel's Messiah where the choir numbered 100 and the audience was about 40 due to space considerations in the venue, so it's not just us.
Here we are.
Nice stained glass east window.
A small (some would say 'select') band of H&V gathered to provide some entertainment at a monthly lunchtime gathering at this small and quite pretty church near Southampton.
Charity Concert for Dementia Support
Salvation Army Hall, Hedge End. Sunday Feb 16th
Dementia Support exists to improve the emotional and physical wellbeing of anyone, and everyone affected by dementia. Music has been found to be helpful, as is explained in this section from the charity's website.
The Salvation Army hall is in a new housing estate, and was clearly built at about the
same time. The main hall was light
and airy inside with a pleasant cafe
area inside in addition to other rooms
your correspondent didn't investigate.
Their Facebook page
But what of the concert I hear you ask, dear reader?
There was good turn out of 22 from the choir including a couple of new members on their first gig.
There is always the worry that we will outnumber the audience, but this was far from the case on this occasion. A friendly and appreciative crowd of about 50 smiled, clapped and seemed to be having a good time.
When invited a fair number sang along to the standards and gospels and even some of the African numbers, so all in all quite an enjoyable gig.
A retiring collection garnered over £400 for this worthwhile charity.
Here we are before the concert, a goodly crowd.
Southampton Art Gallery
January 18th 2025
Due to building work we had thought that our previous gig at the Art Gallery would be the last before closure, but we managed to squeeze another in.
Here you can see us singing at this lovely venue. Click the arrow to play the video
A small but smiley audience watched our first outing of 2025, being coerced into singing along occasionally. The acoustics give full value to any music performed there.
As we were clearing up afterwards, one of the audience requested an African song as whilst we do have some in our repertoire there were none on the set list.
A quick rendition of Siza Hamba Naye fitted the bill.
Back to the pub
Wellington Arms, Shirley. Sunday 20th December
The last choir event of 2024 was a return trip to the pub.
Last year 16 of us went to the Wellington Arms and led a small, but crucially not diminishing, group of customers who variously joined in the carolling.
This year however, we used a WhatsApp poll to find out who was coming, and the results were not promising:
Yes 4
No 17
Maybe 1
So the call went out for anyone else who might appreciate a Sunday evening carolling, resulting in just the Emergency Alto™ who sings with us if we are short and she is visiting from Oxford but that was OK because 5 is enough for this kind of event.
Fortunately there were sufficient non-choir types present to make the evening a jolly singalong and not just a few of us singing to an empty room
So that's it for choir events in 2024.
More to come in the New Year
Now, last year your correspondent made a comment concerning
commercial mince pies,
so imagine his pleasure
when a basket of
home made ones appeared.
Gloria!
Wellington Arms Facebook page:
Christmas Carolling
Hedge End Gardening Club
Monday 16th December
We exchanged our final practice of the year with a visit to a Christmas social held by this club. Not a group we have visited before, but including some folk whom some of us knew.
It was a big enough gathering (by our standards) and they did say that pre-pandemic they were about twice the 30 who were on show that evening, so it's not just choirs which have shrunk.
Smile and wave, boys, smile and wave.
A couple of 30 minute sets with tea in the middle, and finishing up with the ever "popular" chaos of the 12 days of Christmas.
Buttercup House Care Home
Radstock Rd, Woolston. Sunday 15th December
We were contacted via this website and asked to come to sing to the residents at this small care home around Christmas time.
Click the logo for information about Buttercup House
A site visit revealed that the enthusiastic staff expect lots of audience participation from the residents - just the sort of thing we like.
Due to space considerations we were limited to just 9 choir members, thus ensuring that the audience outnumber us (apart from being a captive audience as it were)
We sang for about an hour of joining-in Christmas songs and some of our own presentations.
The audience reactions ranged from dancing, yes, dancing through beaming with delight to sleeping and loud requests that we stop.
Needless to say, we didn't.
Afterwards our hosts gave us some of these unusual knitted Christmas tree decorations each of which contains a Ferrero Rocher chocolate (Huzzah).
Some would describe them as 'cute'. Your correspondent could not possibly comment.
Christmas Tree Festival
St James Church West End. Saturday 7th December
This year there were in excess of thirty small trees each decorated with a general theme of 'Peace'. Lots of angels and doves, and thoughts about those parts of the world where peace is at a premium.
We followed the excellent European folk band Puddleglum who are well worth a listen if ever you can. You should be able to click the image below to go to their website.
Our first public Christmas event of the year was at the regular St James Church Christmas tree festival where many local groups decorate a tree and much cake is eaten.
For ourselves, we performed a set of Christmas songs in our own style, some well known with a gospel twist, some lesser known and some from Africa.
We were pleased to be outnumbered by an appreciative audience many of whom sang along.
Sunday Church Service
Winchester Prison. Sunday 24th November
Another trip to the prison to lead a service, even though this one was sufficiently close to Christmas we were not tempted to dust off a carol or two mostly because we haven't practiced any yet.
Due to the nature of HMP Winchester most often there are hardly any inmates who were present on our previous visits, meaning that whilst it's not new for us seeing us is a new experience for them.
The chapel slowly filled up before the off, and we ran through a range of modern hymns and songs and singalong gospels which always go down well, and this time was no exception.
We were, however, met with a surprise as we were setting up for our final song. One of the inmates called out asking if we were going to "Read the prayers from the box".
Baffled choristers.
After a bit of searching we found said box and divvied up the prayer requests amongst the choir to be read out.
"We put our prayer requests in a box and they're read out at the services and prayed for."
Box? Which box?
Church worship evening
James St Church, St Mary's. Tuesday 5th November 2024
Over the years there have been many places where we have gone to sing, and subsequently stopped going for any one of a number of reasons.
This is the case with James St. Church, a small inner city church in Southampton.
Now they have started to hold monthly worship evenings with different folk doing the leading in a variety of styles.
Cue the gospel choir.
James St. Church
Whilst we have led Taize style worship events, this gave the opportunity for a wider range of music within a worship context.
The congregation outnumbered the choir by about 2 to 1 which is always a good thing, and there was much enthusiastic singing along, particularly with the traditional gospels.
Your correspondent suspects that a future visit to James St will not be delayed so long as last time.
Here are a few of us in front of the gazebo.
This remarkable event has been running for about 16 years now with musical acts performing in locations all over the city centre
This year it is fully stretched over the two days of the weekend.
We were allocated a slot at 2pm on
the Sunday at King John's Palace.
The weather leading up to the event was wet and windy, so a small gazebo had been provided in case this continued. As it was the weather was dry but cold and windy, so we thought that our set would be best appreciated if we stood outside the shelter.
A small appreciative crowd sang along where they could, mostly I expect to try to stay warm.
Music in the City
King John's Palace. Sunday September 29th
All Aboard revisited
Janaway Green, St. Denys. Saturday 31st August
Amusing factoid:
The What3Words identifier for this location is ///shakes.song.vocal
Which is pleasingly appropriate for a choir event.
After the postponement of the All Aboard event in June the outdoor festival went ahead on the lawn between Janaway Gardens and the river, rebranded as the Janaway Jamboree.
There was a variety of activities in progress when we appeared, but the weather was once again not kind, it being unseasonally chilly and blowy.
For this reason the was a smaller audience than expected, but we sang about a 40 minute set and did see a few folks singing along and also a bit of dancing which is always good to see.
At 1pm we commenced the concert with a brief talk on the history of the gallery itself given by one of our number, then it was straight into the songs.
On arrival there were about fifty chairs set out with a solitary lady waiting in one; whether in excited expectation or trepidation it was hard to tell.
Once again we found ourselves at the Art Gallery. When we played our last concert there we thought we had just squeezed it in before the major repair work commenced, but we found that this won't affect the main hall of the gallery until later in the year.
Lunchtime Concert at the Art Gallery
Saturday 20th July
Click the picture for more about the gallery
As we sang the audience began to arrive, led by director Penny's daughter, whom it would be unkind to call a stooge, but she did cheer enthusiastically at the end of each song which helped set the tone.
We sang a range of our usual repertoire, including some slower numbers to take advantage of the gallery's magnificent acoustic.
As 2pm neared there was just time for one more song. What shall we sing? Needless to say there were more suggestions from within the choir than time available so we asked the audience "Slow or Fast?"
They chose "Fast" which was just as well because all our remaining numbers were upbeat. We finished with This Little Light of Mine which seems to be ever popular, probably due to folk remembering it from when they were young.
All in all a really nice way to end end the term, even though no-one complimented us on our shiny shoes.
We sang a Sunday afternoon concert at this care home. We were scheduled to go there last Christmas but a covid outbreak in the home prevented it.
We were pleased to not outnumber the audience, and even had a bit of singing along to the more well known numbers.
Snowdrop Place Care Home
Pavilion Rd Hedge End
Sunday 30th June
A kind lady in the front row complimented us not only on our pink-and-purple kit but on the gentlemen's shiny black shoes. It made the effort of polishing them for every gig over the last 25 years worthwhile.
All Aboard Festival
"Pizza Pontune", Priory Rd. Saturday 15th June
After a dreadful weather forecast of high winds and intermittent heavy rain this community event was officially postponed, but the good hosts in Priory Rd had already cleared out a large workshop at the bottom of their garden and there was a clear desire to actually get some music in (and some drinks).
An introductory video about All Aboard
When the first of us arrived at the venue we had to shelter from the rain under a tarpaulin which had been spread above the front of the building as one of the previous musicians performed to an otherwise full building.
This wasn't the smallest venue we have ever had - that was some years ago in a front room of a house where we had an audience of one housebound lady.
The large workshop with one of the previous acts performing
As there had been quite a bit of overrunning; when our turn came we sang a short set of gospels and standards which went down very well amongst the audience who were enjoying the singing, the beers and the pizzas which were being cooked al-fresco in a wood fired pizza oven in the next door garden.
Birthday Party!
Portswood Church Saturday 27th April.
One of our newest choir members held a large birthday party at Portswood Church, and asked us along.
The birthday girl appeared
to be making a bid for
the record of being the most
photographed woman in town as she circulated the room with a camera-armed friend in tow being snapped with just about everybody there.
The church was full and buzzing with conversation, so we were in no danger of outnumbering the audience as we do on occasion.
Of course we sang Stevie Wonder's Happy Birthday, and several other well known numbers, encouraging the party goers to sing along which by and large they did.
Make some Noise
Central Hall, St Marys St. Southampton. Tuesday 19th March
This was a big musical event being run by Southampton City Youth Sinfonia .
There was the 90 piece orchestra themselves, who certainly made a lot of noise, (good noise, because these are skillful musicians) and a number of other adult and children's choirs who joined in to sing on the last two pieces.
A photo of the event will be added when available
Click the pic for details from the SCYS facebook page
We found ourselves standing on the stage at the Central Hall where the choir began all that time ago, which was a strange feeling, and reminded us that the last time we'd been there was to support the London Community Gospel Choir several Christmases past.
With the Art Gallery soon to be closed for renovations we took this opportunity to give a short concert.
Lunchtime Concert at the Art Gallery
Saturday 9th March
Our experience last time was that the audience quite liked being able to sit down for the concert as chairs were provided for the first time at one of our visits.
However the chairs slowly filled up as folk came to listen, many singing along with us on familiar gospel numbers.
So chairs were once again provided and when the concert started we were in the familiar position of outnumbering our audience.
All in all it was a good event, the magnificent acoustics of the venue making us sound better than perhaps we really are, but who doesn't like a bit of architectural assistance?
Sunday Church Service
Winchester Prison Sunday 3rd March
After our Christmas visit in December we made a return trip to Winchester Prison to lead a Sunday morning church service with an Easter theme.
Due to the nature of HMP Winchester most often there are hardly any inmates who were present on our previous visits, meaning that whilst it's not new for us seeing us is a new experience for them.
On our two most recent visits there have been external circumstances which prevented many of the inmates attending, this time there were no such and the chapel was full with an enthusiastic congregation many of whom came up and chatted with us afterwards.
Mayflower Court Care Home
Portswood, Southampton. Saturday 10th February
Our first outing of the year was at this rather large care home in Portswood. We sang in their comfortable library. We are quite used to outnumbering our audience, but rarely with so few of us on show.
The nine of us sang a range of standards, gospels and hymns and there was a bit of singing along by those residents brave enough to listen to us.
There is a large garden to the rear of the home which can be seen in the picture above, and a suggestion was made that we might return in the summer for an outdoor concert.
Glo oooooo oooooo oooooo oooooo ooooooria!
South Western Arms, St. Denys. Friday 22nd December 2023
If one trip to the pub is fun, then two must be twice as much fun.
This time at the South Western Arms, which the more astute reader will realise is next to the railway in St. Denys.
On Monday at the Wellington Arms we had outnumbered the customers two to one. Not on Friday. We were far fewer, the pub was heaving, and lots of folk had turned up for the event bedecked in Santa hats and Christmas jumpers. Looked like a good start.
South Western Arms Facebook page:
The way we run these sessions is to hand out lists of songs on which the customers tick off their favourite carols and songs, whereupon we sing them. Simples!
Funnily enough almost everyone chose Ding Dong Merrily on High - they just love the long Gloria in the chorus.
Anyway the singing was enthusiastic and by the time we came to the Twelve Days of Christmas they were rocking.
A really good way to get in the festive mood.
Carols at Snowdrop Place Care Home
Tuesday 19th December 2023
We had anticipated visiting this care home for the first time to spread a little Christmas cheer, but an outbreak of covid in the home gave us pause for thought.
Whilst there were only 3 cases we were still going, but at 6pm the number had risen to 9 and in addition one of our number who had been singing with us on the previous evening at the Wellington Arms had also become ill, so at a record short notice we decided to cancel.
We definitely owe them a visit.
A trip to the pub
Wellington Arms, Shirley. Monday 18th December 2023
The last choir practice of the year was exchanged for a session in the pub.
16 of us went to the Wellington Arms and led a small but crucially, not diminishing group of customers who variously joined in the carolling.
Afterwards the landlady gave us a large tray of mince pies.
Now, your correspondent's wife makes the best mince pies in the world so he almost never eats commercial mince pies.
On this occasion, seeing the scale of the pie pile he thought he might just indulge,(it would be churlish to allow them to go to waste after all) only to find that the choir had hoovered them all up whilst he was talking to a customer.
Ah well.
Wellington Arms Facebook page:
Radio Solent
Tuesday 12th Dec 2023
We were asked to turn up to their premises to perform one song for recording.
Alliteration was the order of the day.
Songs in the Studio perhaps?
Wassails in the Workshop maybe?
Renditions on the Radio?
As we often say, everyone wants a choir at Christmas, and this day was no exception.
As is often the case, Radio Solent broadcast a different carol each day in the lead up to Christmas, but this year there was a twist...
As it was to be a Carol it therefore had to be in the Car Park, which caused the recording engineer some headaches. We needed 4 takes to get a reasonably clean recording without fire engine sirens, traffic noise and loud squawking seagulls, to say nothing of our own singing.
A Car Park is possibly not the most salubrious gig venue we have ever had, with ironically a "Strictly No Parking" sign behind us
Performed here by the Zambian Vocal Group whom we think are the original artists.
The good burghers of the Solent region were thus able to hear our version of
Gloria in the Gallery
Southampton Art Gallery Saturday 9th Dec 2023
The Gallery do quite like extra activities going on, and on this occasion there had been a concert by a flute choir in the morning before our spot.
The goose, as they say, is getting fat, and so it's off to the Art Gallery with its magnificent vaulted ceiling which makes us sound a lot better than perhaps we really are.
Ordinarily, without chairs, the audience would drift away as the strain of standing became too great, but this time there were still plenty left at the end, with some standing behind the chairs.
Christmas. The time of year everyone loves a carol.
We sang for about an hour of our Christmas repertoire, and in a master stroke the staff had put out about 30 chairs, and Lo and Behold (to use a seasonal term)
folk started to fill the chairs in eager
anticipation of the jollity to come.
Sunday Church Service
Winchester Prison Sunday 3rd December 2023
After our visit in July we made a return trip to Winchester Prison to lead a Sunday morning church service with a Christmas theme.
Once again the the congregation was smaller, only about 40 this time on account of an incident in the prison so fewer inmates were able to come. This reminded us just how difficult life must be inside.
We used a mixture of well known carols for communal singing as well as a few of our own arrangements which we sang to the congregation.
We led some prayers and a Bible reading as is normal in such gatherings.
There was much enthusiastic singing, and in chatting afterwards the men were appreciative of us coming.
Baptismal Service
Saturday 11th November 2023
St Margaret Mary Roman Catholic church in Park Gate has a modern building and is very light and airy. We were engaged to sing at a family baptismal service, and it was one of those occasions where even though we were low on numbers the choir still outnumbered the congregation, including the baby who was very cute.
We sang a mixture of hymns, gospels
and the song Sizo Hamba Naye from Eswatini which is in the Swati language, and translates as "We will walk with God, my brothers"
which is very appropriate for a baptism.
Afterwards the child's mother gave us each one of these 'favours' containing sugared almonds and chocolate eggs which is apparently a tradition in some places.
Singing at Northlands Care Home
Saturday 15th October 2023
We sang about an hour long short concert for a number of residents in the dining room. This turned out to be about 16 who sang along and clearly appreciated our mix of gospels, African songs and spirituals.
Not that King John, well, perhaps that King John,
but more like this:
Upon arrival we thought that there was no electrical supply for our keyboard in this medieval location, and because the event was seriously short of stewards there was no-one to disabuse us of this idea.
Thanks to the previous act, Uke Box Glory for
playing on whilst we sorted ourselves out.
Once again we took part in this remarkable event. There were hundreds of acts and dozens of venues.
We were allocated a spot at King John's palace, which has
obviously had some raucous music there before because
the roof has been raised.
Music in the City
King John's Palace, Saturday September 23rd
A small but appreciative audience (including some former choir types whom we constantly try to lure back into the fold with promises of cake) heard our eclectic set of songs, even asking for an encore.
Uke Box Glory FB page
Click here to see the Daily Echo's report on the event, including an actual picture of the choir in action amongst the sea shanty singers and others.
There was about an hour to fill between guests appearing and the dinner, and the set list chosen by the bride herself was warmly received, Bev joining in with us for about half of the numbers, and a few guests could be lip read singing along as well.
It was a real delight to sing at Bev and JP's wedding reception. Bev has been a member of the choir for ages, and so we were more than pleased to do this for her.
The bride and groom's outfits were stunning, by the way, and a possible template for some new choir costume.
Wedding Reception
The Winchester Club Saturday 15th July 2023
Sunday Church Service
Winchester Prison Sunday 2nd July 2023
After our visit in November we made a return trip to Winchester Prison to lead another Sunday morning church service.
There was a smaller congregation than last time because there was a clash with families visiting day but the couple of dozen there clearly enjoyed the event.
We used a mixture of well known songs for communal singing as well as some where we sang to the congregation.
It's so much easier when the congregation sings along enthusiastically.
It was good to chat with the men afterwards as well.
Scones and songs
St. Mary's South Stoneham Sunday 25th June 2023
Ah, one of the fine combinations of life! A concert of jolly songs old and new, gospel and standard, coupled with tea, scones and cake.
What a fine way to spend a few hours on a sunny Summer afternoon!
We sashay'd up, we sang, we scoffed and we sang again.
There was a satisfyingly large audience including a number of former choir members who were all keen to sing along when we sort of forced them to.
The Gospel medley round was particularly chaotic, but in a fun way with choir members leading groups of the audience from within.
A few days after the event we were told that a sum of about £400 was raised for the inevitable church roof fund which was particularly pleasing.
Lunchtime Concert at the Art Gallery
Saturday 1st April 2023
One of our choir members works in the Museums service, and so he's able to get us a spot to sing in this lovely space.
They do quite like extra activities going on, so there's not that much persuasion.
We sang for about an hour of our regular repertoire, and a fair few folk stopped by to listen, some for the whole concert, and some chatted afterwards which is always nice.
This time we had arranged for a small film crew from Shedlight Productions
to make a short film of us. Shedlight are a small company whose goal
is to help people communicate their goals by way of film, and in our case
there were a few mini interviews and then some footage from the concert, focussing on our very own Easter song "Love Arose". The film can be viewed from the Home page.
Singing at a care home
Saturday 25th March 2023
Our first outing of 2023 saw us visiting the Hampton Lodge care home in Southampton.
We sang a short concert for as many of the residents who were able to get to the day room.
Guessing what the audience would appreciate we sang a variety of gospels and some hymns, and there was a bit of singing along.
Afterwards a few of us visited one of the residents whom we have known for many years, but was too frail to come to the day room, so we sang a private concert for her in her room.
Singalong at the Art Gallery
Saturday 17th December 2022
Our final outing of the year saw us at the Art Gallery which has a high vaulted ceiling, and has a really long acoustic.
It really is a lovely place to sing.
One entertaining facet of this gig was that as soon as your humble correspondent arrived, with wife and former-choir-member-from-five-years-ago-daughter in tow, the solitary alto present grasped aforesaid daughter and pressed her into being a ringer for this gig (not a bell ringer).
There were a few new songs which have been added in the 5 years since she was last in the choir, but her presence was gratefully received, and who doesn't like singing in a choir at Christmas?
We sang for about an hour of our Christmas repertoire, entertaining a few folk who were taking a break from the hurly burly of Christmas shopping. Although I said 'singalong', there wasn't actually any singing along, though anyone was welcome to do so.
Christmas Tree Festival
St. James Church West End
Sunday 11th December 2022
The church was full of about 30 Christmas trees each decorated by one of the many local groups
On this occasion there was a very small audience, or rather, a congregation as our set was billed as Carols among the Trees, and included Bible reading, poetry and prayers, provided by the St. James staff.
It was intended to round off the festival which had been running for the weekend.
Charity concert
St. James Rd Methodist church. Thursday 8th December 2022
Maggies is a charity which provides cancer support and information, and we were asked to sing at their fund raising concert.
There was an audience of about 50 who enjoyed the event, making it a pleasant experience for us as well.
The West End Singers were scheduled to sing in the second half of the event, including the community singalong carols, so we were free to perform our more unusual Christmas repertoire.
Sunday Church Service
Winchester Prison.
Sunday 27th November 2022
After a fairly long planning phase we finally visited Winchester Prison to lead a Sunday morning church service. We'd done this once before, more years ago than your humble correspondent wishes to recall.
There was a congregation of about 40 who clearly enjoyed the event, making it a pleasant experience for us as well.
We used a mixture of well known songs and a few of our own arrangements, including the singalong Gospel Medley which was particularly well received.
It's so much easier when the congregation sings along enthusiastically.
it was good to chat with the men afterwards as well.
Music in the City
God's House Tower Southampton
Saturday 24th September 2022
We sang a range of gospel and other songs to an audience of about 40, containing a number of former choir members.
The 14th annual Music in the City festival saw us singing in upstars space in God's House Tower, alight and airy space where there was an art exhibition
The sun shone brightly through the glass roof and it was a very enjoyable afternoon.
There was a bit of singing along going on which is always gratifying, and Mark from the Psalm Drummers provided rhythms which improved the sound greatly.
The afternoon saw the world premiere of the song "Love Arose" an upbeat gospel Easter number written specially for the choir by our director
Taize Service
All Saints Church, Pointout Rd.
Friday 17th June 2022
This was a quiet contemplative church service in the small chapel of All Saints in Winchester Rd Southampton.
The service marked the end of a week of prayer,
and the choir led in some Taize style worship.
It was very good to have our director, Penny
back at the helm after a long illness.
Carols on the street
Wednesday 22nd December 2021
It seems like only a year since we were singing carols at the end of Brownlow Gardens in Southampton, which is because it was. This time about 10 choir members joined the fun.
Once again plenty of residents came out to join in and there was some raucous carolling including the well known carol While Shepherds Watched their Flocks to the equally well known tune of 'On Ilkley Moor bar t' 'at.
After this we beetled off to a back alley in Shirley to do another set with diferent locals, all illuminated by mobile phone lights, and a few sparklers. We were accompanied by our choir director playing the keyboard from her summer house in the back garden with a loudspeaker standing in the alley which worked quite well.
There are no photos of these events as it was rather dark in both locations.
The service was
streamed online
here
Carols by Candlelight
Sunday 19th December 2021
A fairly modern carol service at Holy Saviour, Bitterne, which, despite the billing, had very limited candles because the vicar had discovered that the disposable face masks some people wear are very flammable so extra flames seemed a risk too far.
We sang African Noel, a song in the Kituba language , Good News, a gospel number and a gospelly version of the carol Away in a Manger.
