Join A Choir

The pictures below from Bath Abbey were taken on December 10th at a workshop and evening concert organised by Bath's Mr Music, Grenville Jones, to celebrate the JOY of singing in a Choir.

IF YOU ARE LOOKING for a Choir we rehearse from 7:45pm to 9:30pm at St Alphege Church in Oldfield Park, BA2 3NR. To join you'll find out more about Grenville's friendly Thursday evening mixed-voice WelcomeChorus Choir on www.welcomechorus.org.uk www.bathmalechoir.org

The celebrated City of Bath Male Choir recently returned from a memorable visit to Nashville, Tennessee. Come and meet us on a Tuesday evenings to discover the experience of singing in the UK’s leading Male Voice Choir. We rehearse on Tuesdays from 7:45pm to 9:30pm at Beechen Cliff Methodist with Laurie and Grenville.

Grenville has 25 Good Afternoon Choirs across the West of England with over 1,000 singers. Bath Good Afternoon Choir meets on a Thursday with Grenville at Widcombe Baptist Church from 2pm-4pm, singing for fun a Choir with over 60 happy members. Find all Choir details on www.goodafternoonchoir.org

Voices for

By Tessa Armstrong: In November

Voices for Life’s children’s choir performed in front of some of Bath and Somerset VIPs including the Mayor of Bath, the Mayor of Glastonbury, the Lord Lieutenant and deputy Lieutenant of Somerset, the High Sheriff of Somerset and the Vice Chair of B&NES Council written by Jools and Sue will be premiered bringing even more children the confidence boost and joy of singing.

The VIPs were guests at an evening drinks reception in the Holburne Museum. The reception was attended by supporters of the charity to celebrate this important milestone in the charity’s development, thanking supporters from Bath for all their help in developing the charity.

The children sang music composed for the charity, including We are every Child by Francis Faux and Jamila Gavin which was written in celebration of the Queen’s Jubilee and ‘Crabs’ from the musical journey Stardust by Bath’s Jools Scott and Sue Curtis. Stardust has been performed in Bath Abbey by hundreds of Bath children since the charity’s founding in 2021.

To date Voices for Life has reached more than 1,200 children from 28 schools from across Bath and Wiltshire. In 2023 the charity aims to continue its work with performances in Wells Cathedral and Bath Abbey.

A new work Extraordinary!

Tessa Armstrong, Voices for Life Founder and Executive Director, said: “It was wonderful to introduce our new children’s choir to the

To advertise, contact Erica on erica@bathvoice.co.uk or call 07402 441485 charity’s fantastic supporters. We really couldn’t have reached so many children without their ongoing support, and I was delighted to be able to share this important milestone with them.”

The Voices for Life website is: www.voicesforlife.org.uk

Brief

Alexandra Park News: After a three-year break due to Covid, the Alexandra Park Friends, who organise the Park’s Summer Picnic, wanted it to return in July, but sadly have decided to not stage it this year.

The reason is the organisers are thin on the ground and more support is needed for such a major event.

However they will be holding their Seed Day on April 1 when parents and children can come along to the park at 10.30am to help plant out the very colourful flower bed near the entrance.

Anyone with time and enthusiasm to offer should contact the secretary on alexandraparkbath@gmail.com.

Ofsted News: The Combe Down Nursery on Combe Road, had an Ofsted inspection last November bringing good news for the kindergarten. And good is the operative word as it was found to be of a good standard.

Overall effectiveness, the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management were judged as being good.

The verdict was an improvement

The Rotary Club of Bath has celebrated raising a record amount for charity from its community fireworks display, held on the Recreation Ground on 5th November last year. The community event raised a total of £38,000 for Rotary charities. The amount will be shared between two charities supported by the event this year, Youth Connect South West and the Glasshouse Academy, and the Club’s own charitable Trust.

Rotary Club President, Roger Morris, said: “As a Club we were delighted to be able to put this popular event on again, after a three year break due to the pandemic. We had great support from our sponsors, Bath Recreation Trust, and from our partners, including the Students’ Union at the University of Bath, and Bath Rugby. “Most of all, we are very grateful to the people of Bath who came along in their thousands for what everyone seems to agree was a thrilling display.” on the last inspection so it’s no surprise there was a positive feeling amongst staff after the inspection.

The event is organised with support from members of the University of Bath’s Student Union RAG committee, who help set up the safety fencing, and act as stewards alongside members of the Rotary Club.

Ofsted mark using four grades - grade 1: outstanding; grade 2: good; grade 3: requires improvement; and grade 4: inadequate.

Audience generosity: Pantomime audiences at the Theatre Royal Bath have raised more than £13,800 over the festive season

n REVIEW

during twenty-one charity collections - from 20th December to 31st December - which took place after matinee and evening performances of Aladdin.

The charities that will benefit are: The Alzheimer’s Society; Bath Foodbank: Macmillan Cancer Suppor; Trauma Recovery Centre; Wonderfund.

Young Ones: Bath and North East Somerset is one of a handful of areas bucking a national trend and seeing its population get younger on average writes Local Democracy Reporter John Wimperis

The United Kingdom as a whole has, for a long time, had a population which is growing older on average. But in BANES and some other rural areas, the opposite of this is happening.

In BANES there has been a 1.3% increase in the proportion of the population ages between 18 and 30, the second-highest increase in England after West Lancashire where the proportion of people in this age group went up by 1.8%.

Bath and North East Somerset where a local authority with a population of just over 190,000 contains the University of Bath which has almost 20,000 students.

Review: Relatively Speaking, Theatre Royal Bath: Ten bob notes, bus conductors and posters of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Robin Herford’s sparkling production of Relatively Speaking takes us out of the Cost-of-Living Crisis into the decade of 60’s permissiveness and a time when life was er… not simpler… but rather more complicated.

It was Alan Ayckbourn’s first hit and with its plot twists and misunderstandings it still keeps the laughs coming as the characters all speak at cross purposes. Greg thinks Ginny is screwing around, Philip believes Greg is having an affair with his wife Sheila, Ginny wants to finish with Philip and marry Ginny – and as for Sheila –well she is simply confused – until a pair of tell-tale slippers turn up on her patio.

Refreshingly, it’s a narrative driven by a woman and turns the misogyny of the time on its head.

Alan Ayckbourn’s 1967 play Relatively Speaking is one of the 20th century’s great British farces. OK the first few minutes seemed a bit flat, but it was freezing outside, and it was the first night. A long wait for a taxi, a mystery pair of slippers and Ginny’s unhurriedly getting dressed sequence moved the story to the next scene: Greg’s quest to meet Ginny’s parents.

With that very British attribute of not wanting to take offence or ask a direct question the story of Ginny and Philip’s relationship quickly unravels.

Marital infidelity real or imagined, young love – however blind, the cynical sexual imbalance in power relationships and that old fashioned phrase: familiarity breeds contempt – Relatively Speaking has been a hit for decades with its complex plot, breezy dialogue and familiar domestic settings. And for the most part the near full house lapped it up as a brilliant Liza Goddard as Sheila finally clicked as to chaos taking place on her patio.

Steven Pacey as Philip brought the drama to life with his angry and manic obsession over a lost garden hoe – and of his horror that his affair was about to be revealed. Naïve (and frankly dim) Greg played by Anthony Eden had a touch of the modern stand-up comic about him while delivering his lines as he repeatedly failed to see what was going on in plain sight.

Manipulative Ginny (Olivia Le Anderson) was the slick accustomed serial liar as she slipped on her stockings without a hitch, switched from lover to daughter and back to fiancée – all with a winsome half smile as the evil angel of deception.

The pristine home of Philip and Sheila was more 1980s Bradley Stoke rather than a wisteria covered detached home built after the war but no matter. Greg’s flat was recognisably set in the era of The Summer of Love and when Jimmie Rodger’s hit song English Country Garden was still played on The BBC Light Programme. Hugely enjoyable and excruciatingly funny this production of Relatively Speaking should be compulsory viewing for anyone from abroad planning to visit England on a mission to discover our national character.

Harry Mottram