We travelled to Northampton over the weekend of 4th and 5th June. Our first engagement was for the wedding of Jo Tyson, daughter of John Morgan, one of our 1st basses. This took place in All Saints Church, West Haddon, a small village 10 miles from Northampton. We sang a number of items before the wedding and the bride walked in to the singing of ‘O Gymru’. We sang ‘The Rose’ and ‘Can You Feel The Love Tonight’ during the signing of the register, and the happy couple walked out to ‘The Rhythm Of Life’. We then had some refreshments, supplied by John, and made our way to Northampton.
We stayed at The Lime Tree Hotel, and had a short rest before changing for our concert in Mount Pleasant Baptist Church on Kettering Road. This venue had been set up by Charles Clewett, who had previously sung there with another choir (‘Voices of Pembroke’) a few years earlier. It was also great to have Charles along with us for the weekend. We had a short rehearsal to check the acoustics, which were excellent, and then had tea which was prepared by church members. The evening was compered by the Rev Paul Lavender, who also played some excellent piano solos during the concert. We were able to sing two new items to our repertoire, Schubert’s ‘Sanctus’ and ‘The Longest Time’ by Billy Joel. The concert was a great success, enjoyed by all, and raised over £500 for the church’s organ fund.
Following the concert we went to the Old Northamtonians Rugby Club for some refreshment and more singing, and returned to the hotel, later, to continue the ‘afterglow’.
Thanks must go to Stephen Wilson, who did a fantastic job accompanying the choir during the weekend. Also, thanks to Lawrence Sutton, who arranged the weekend in the absence of Alan, who was away on holiday.
Trip to Carmarthen – 12th June 2011
On Sunday 12th June we travelled down by coach to Merthyr Church, which is a few miles west of Carmarthen. It was a wet, miserable and misty night, and we were sure that it was a very pretty place, but we couldn’t appreciate the scenery! In fact, the concert had been re-arranged from last November, and it felt more like autumn than summer. The evening was arranged by William Bott, after hearing us in a concert last year, and he also arranged for 4 young musicians to perform as soloists. They were all excellent and included was Osian Dafydd, who will perform with us again in our annual concert in a few weeks time. The church was full and we had a great ovation at the end of the concert. The evening concluded with the National Anthem and refreshments were provided by members of the church. Many thanks to William for organising the evening and also for driving the bus.
