We invited friends and family to a Christmas concert at Pebworth hall during our last rehearsal of the year. We sang some Christmas songs and also used the opportunity to sing in public some of the new repertoire that we have been learning through the pandemic. Unfortunately we had to cancel the planned mince pies and mulled wine because of new Covid measures introduced by the government just before the event, but some enterprising visitors brought their own refreshments to enjoy in the carpark, serving from their car boots! It was a very enjoyable evening and our audience was in fine voice joining in with a selection of carols to finish the evening off in seasonal style!
We were delighted to perform at the Badsey Christmas Event again. This year the stage had moved to the carpark of The Wheatsheaf and the stage had a roof, which was a great improvement both acoustically and weather-wise! After we had performed our set we led a community sing a long of carols accompanied by our MD, Shulah, on her violin. Everyone really enjoyed getting in the Christmas spirit.
September 2021 saw the beginning of a new chapter in our history. Firstly we moved to Pebworth Village Hall, which has lots of space and an excellent internet connection, and then, on the 23rd September, we started livestreaming our rehearsals again on Zoom. We were delighted to be joined by Claire direct from Tanzania. It was lovely to see her and have a catch up chat. She dutifully joined in the warm up and then we performed a short concert for her which she enjoyed.
Tonight we bid a fond farewell to our MD, Claire, who has left to take up a position at an international school in Tanzania for 2 years. We presented her with some champagne and a signed card featuring an African elephant, and toasted her with some very fizzy lemonade! She, and we, very much hope that she can return to us in due course, but, in the meantime, her good friend and fellow RCM graduate, Shulah Oliver, will take over as MD.
We were able to resume live rehearsals in September and, following a detailed risk assessment, and the purchase of appropriate face masks, hand sanitiser, temperature gun, and pop up protective screen for our MD, we held our first live rehearsal for several months on 10th September at a new venue, Badsey Rec. Despite having to socially distance and sing wearing face masks, it was lovely to be able to sing live again.
As our new venue had Wi-Fi we were able to live stream the rehearsal to members who were shielding, and, with the aid of a laptop and an iPad, we could have camera on the MD and one on the Chorus, so members at home could see the conductor and join in with the choreography! The photos below are from our Christmas rehearsal on the 17th December. To get in the festive spirit we donned seasonal attire and enjoyed a carol sing along in the second half of the rehearsal, as we had been unable to have Christmas sing outs as normal, and a good time was had by all! The first Covid-19 lockdown started on 23rd March 2020. With live rehearsals no longer possible we decided to try Zoom rehearsals. Claire, our MD, and Sara, our music coordinator, gave themselves a crash course on how to run an online rehearsal, and, with a degree of trepidation, we held our first Zoom rehearsal on the 2nd April. Everyone was delighted to see each other online but we soon discovered the limitations causes by time lag! As time went on Claire became an absolute whizz at delivering a very different type of rehearsal which worked well online and we all thoroughly enjoyed, whilst waiting for a return to live rehearsals.
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