We had our annual quiz night, organised by our Ladies Committee, on Thursday 11th, which was held at the Commercial, Killay. It was another successful evening raising funds for the choir and the main event was won by the Liles/Stone family after a dead heat between the Jones/Parton/Debbie Rogers team. A great buffet was once again provided by Gareth and Nova and raffle prizes were donated by our president, Geoff Wheel.
On Saturday 13th we sang at the wedding of Jemma Shadrack and Paul Daniels at Salem Chapel, Rhydypandy. Jemma is the niece of one of our choristers, Len Fuge. This was an interesting afternoon with the bride being 40 minutes late after being stuck in the narrow lanes outside the chapel, which were blocked by parked cars. We sang a number of extra items to keep the guests entertained on a rather wet afternoon. We also sang 3 items during the signing of the register, which also took an unusually long time. However, we were able to sing one of our new pieces ‘Prayer’ from Lohengrin, which was really well received. Eventually the bride and groom emerged from the vestry and stood in the pulpit behind the choir as we started to sing ‘All You Need Is Love’, to which they walked out. Although it was a lot longer than usual there was a lovely warm family atmosphere in the chapel, and it was very enjoyable.
We sang at the wedding of Angela Vickery and Michael Donnelly at St David’s Catholic Church on Friday 26th. Angela is a great friend of Rhian, as they have worked together in the Gowerton Veterinary Surgery for a number of years. We also had our own Stephen Wilson playing the organ for the hymns. We sang the bride in with ‘The Rose’ and ‘You Raise Me Up’ and Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ was sung during the signing of the register. The bride and groom then processed out while we, again, sang ‘All You Need Is Love’.
We have confirmed our soloists for the annual concert. Laura Nicholas is making a return to Swansea following her performance with us 3 years ago. This will be her first time in All Saints, and we are very much looking forward to hearing her fine soprano voice again. Also joining us is young 17 year old Ashley Rogers, who is a member of CATS theatre school based in Pontardawe. Ashley will be singing a number of items from ‘the shows’ in which he has performed and we also look forward to hearing him sing.
We are really pleased to be invited back to sing at the ‘All Saints Alive!’ music festival Gala Concert on Saturday 14th September. This is always a great night and is a huge compliment to us for our performance last year.