Harmony Rag 2006 Summer Edition

QUARTET OF NATIONS NEWSLETTER, REGION 31, SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL

SUMMER 2006

HARMONY RAG CALGARY HERE WE COME!varnish to dry took some organisation

We had a fabulous time in Detroit last year and quite a lot of us stayed another week and visited Ontario, Toronto, Niagara and many other amazing locations. The leaves and scenery were really stunning, the CN Tower was unforgettable (and I’m afraid of heights!), and Niagara Falls is an all time ‘must see’. I can certainly recommend Canada in October. We received a wonderful welcome in both Detroit and Canada.

Before we went to Detroit, Glenn, our newly married Director, together with the music team felt it would be a good idea have a year out of competition. Luckily, soon after the Detroit experience he changed his mind and the Music Team decided on the songs. The quartets also started hard work on their showpieces.

We had some Doug Harrington coaching (we were all spellbound and it wasn’t just the amazing coaching!), a Development Day thanks to some of our talented LCS members and a Dress Rehearsal where we sang to a packed house. The Wednesday prior to the contest we received a mountain of good luck cards from all our friendly competitors, other friends, family and supporters. The excitement had grown to an all time fever pitch by the time we all set off for Plymouth on Friday 12 May. The Quartet competition on Friday evening was one to be remembered and I could tell Glenn was so proud of

Sound Bites, Upbeat and Just Them who all gave their all and wowed the audience. Then came the results! Just Them who are the new reincarnation of Pure Innocence did an excellent job as mic warmers and proved they are rising stars. Upbeat moved up a record number of places and came third with their sparkling performance! Sound Bites hit the jackpot again with their wonderful ringing sounds and came first (4th time round!). What a night it was for Lace City!

In the informal afterglow in the bar some of the medallists wowed us yet again. EU4IA showed us just why they were 8th in sound at International and why they are going to Vegas this year! What a friendly foursome they are and they gave us a few tips on outfits/presentation.

Then came Saturday! We were all staying in three hotels so getting to the right place at the right time, making hair behave, attaching false eyelashes, plastering on make up and getting nail

and flexi attitude! We were singing eighth so fairly early rising was essential. As we arrived on stage we heard all our super supporters, family and friends cheering and it gave us all a big buzz.

When we heard the other choruses after our own performance it was apparent that the standard had risen yet again. Our friends from Aberdeen were fantastic and looked romantic in their smoky blue floaty outfits complete with their glittering diamonds. Then later we heard Forth Valley! Their choreography was so impressive and they wore lovely glamorous green tops again with sparkly diamonds. Their sound was ringing round the whole pavilion and we were all convinced they had beaten us!

When the results were read the excitement grew yet again, the top choruses were announced and cheering filled the whole arena. Congratulations to all this year’s medal winners but even if you didn’t qualify for a medal this year, take heart as I mentioned before the standard overall has increased dramatically. Raising the performance standards becomes much harder but singing every week reduces stress, keeps us young, exercises the lumpy middle bits (in my case anyway!) and is great FUN! It also gives me an excuse to go to the pub afterwards!

Talking of pubs some of us celebrated our win at the “Duke of Cornwall” opposite the Pavilion. We sang until the early morning with the Mayflowers and created some interest from the locals.

There was a sailors’ party going on at the same time and one or two quite posh chaps came through to listen. The entertainer for this event was a takeoff of Frank Sinatra. He seemed very interested and would like to listen to any chorus having a public sing out in Hampshire where he lives.

We can’t wait for Calgary – we’ll let you know how it goes!

Lynn Johnson Lace City Singers

QUARTET OF NATIONS NEWSLETTER, REGION 31, SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL

QUARTET OF NATIONS NEWSLETTER, REGION 31, SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL

SUMMER 2006

SOLENT SOUNDS WIN A HAT TRICK!

Fabulous! Wonderful! Fantastic!

Well, what can I say? Convention 2006 – the best ever for Solent Sounds!

After all the rehearsals, the learning of choreography, the fitting of costumes, and trying to remember where we had put our false eyelashes, we set off for Plymouth. We were in high spirits (as Solent Sounds usually are!) and we were looking forward to putting it all together for Saturday afternoon’s contest. The morning’s rehearsal went well and Lorraine, our Musical Director, looked amazingly relaxed how does she do that? A couple of hours later we boarded our coach for the very short journey to the Pavilions intent on

Superlatives like this are often bandied around at Conventions, but never were they more appropriate than for Spinnaker’s first Convention as a newly chartered Sweet Adelines Chapter.

In May 2005 we enjoyed competing for evaluation with 27 on stage, and having not completely embarrassed ourselves we set out on the twelve month journey to charter, to grow and to ready ourselves for May 2006. To place fourth and win the “AA” division last week was beyond our wildest dreams.

The preparation really kicked off in October last year

enjoying our performance and expecting to be placed tenth, or ninth, or even…Eighth. Dare we think about achieving such dizzy heights?

Our performance over and reasonably happy with our efforts, we settled into our seats awaiting the results and preparing to offer endless applause to those judged to have

Classic Harmony Despite a disappointing result, Classic Harmony had a fantastic weekend and we’d like to thank those who were in the auditorium on Saturday morning for the ‘walk-ons’ and joined in with us singing Happy Birthday to one of our longstanding members, Jan Coghill. Jan has been with the chorus since it started, in fact even before it became a Sweet Ads chorus, Jan was an original member of the mixed Classic Harmony group – along with her husband Joe, one of our ‘Groupies’. Jan was up on the risers, ready and waiting to sing Take me Home

vowel-matched/lifted the abdominals/danced/coiffed their hair better than we had. No-one’s flabber was more ghasted than when we heard the words “most improved chorus – Solent Sounds”. We were in uproar – anyone would have thought we’d won the lottery! (Note: this is better than winning the lottery). Lorraine and I, having collected our ribbons, sat down again and then it slowly began to dawn on me – if we’d won the most improved, we could be in with a chance to win something else! Third place in the midsize chorus was announced – it wasn’t us. Ah well, we thought – maybe next year. But then came second place and it WAS us! The chorus members were beside themselves.

Lorraine and I made the journey to the stage again and this time we had MEDALS! Never before in the history of Solent Sounds had this happened.

Back we went to our seats, the chorus clambering to get their hands on the medals. We were now content, but this was not the end of it. When the overall positions were announced and we came in fifth, Lorraine and I just stared at each other unable to move. Someone must have given us a nudge because off we went to collect our second set of medals. On the way, Lorraine had to ask one of the members of Surrey Harmony (who were in the wings) if she was dreaming!

Well, we were most certainly not dreaming. There could not have been another chorus more proud than Solent Sounds as our medals jingled on our collective bosom! We had waited so long for this moment but, more than anything, we were glad that, at last, we had pulled it off for Lorraine, our Musical Director.

Lorraine Orridge

Country Roads and didn’t even realise straight away that we were singing about her – but as she celebrates her birthday around every Convention weekend, we thought it was about time we told everybody else.

Six of our members were also in a ‘Happy Birthday’ mood as they sang the chorus five times on Saturday evening in a Chinese restaurant! It all started with a family birthday gathering for Betty, who was 80 years young, this then snowballed into singing it again four more times. In fact one couple asked if they sang in the restaurant every weekend! Would be a nice idea, but they thought 258 miles was a long way every weekend – but apparently the food is very good and they had to discuss the idea!

We’ve already got plans underway for next year and with a CD to record, more shows, sing-outs and festivals in place and of course the highlight of our calendar, the Christmas Spectacular – it’s going to be a busy year.

As always we’d like to thank our director John, who despite all his moaning, secretly enjoys spending the odd weekend away with 30 women (apparently he likes to listen to us discussing shoes and make-up!)

– Convention wouldn’t be the same without you – but can you promise us you won’t skip across the stage in Birmingham?

Ally Page Classic Harmony

Is it true for all choruses - the rehearsal on the morning before you go and compete is just the best singing you ever do? We certainly felt we could do no more, with Paula’s expert help always insisting on that extra bit of resonance.

Why can’t we just invite the judges to listen to us then? The stage performance is a bit of a blur – those few precious moments just go by so fast. I remember the fantastically warm reception from the audience to us “newbies”, but little else.

For many of our members this was the first chance they had to hear the best choruses in the Region and how fabulous they are. Wonderful performances all round - it’s a shame when you only get to experience half the competition.

The end of the contest and the results being announced was one of those moments you know you will remember for ever.

Whether you are new to barbershop or have been in the hobby for ever - what else in life gives ordinary people the chance to experience moments like that?

One of our new members raised a smile when she wrote afterwards to me: “As a newcomer to competition I had NO IDEA what to expect. There was no way of assessing what we even thought about Spinnaker let alone what anyone else might do. I thought we were struggling and doing all this work just to get to ‘don’t make a fool of yourself’ level. It was quite an when we ran a singing course / recruitment drive. This was eye opener to see we were at ‘if you try a bit harder you can very successful and led to 12 new members, who despite really make an impact’ level.” everything we threw at them (retreats, outfits, choreography, rehearsals, extra rehearsals, choreography rehearsals, extra choreography rehearsals, Sandra Lea-Riley) stuck with us.

The “new ladies” – and by the way, we banned that term two months ago to make sure we were thinking as a team – were fantastic and slotted in to the chorus like they were born to it. I have to say if you look at the DVD of the contest, there is no way to tell which are new and which are old – if you get my drift.

Finally chartering just days before the deadline, we were on the home strait. Our April 1st retreat weekend in sunny Bognor Regis set the tone for the serious preparation – late night partying and raucous laughter, mixed with a bit of hard work, under the guidance of our great coaches Sandra LeaRiley (bass of Eu4ia) and Paula Williams (LABBS Singing Judge and director of fourth place LABBS chorus “the Belles of Three Spires”).

And then the weekend we were all waiting for, arrived.

What a wonderful welcome we received from anyone we met! It always feels good to be a barbershopper, but for the new kids on the block to be made so welcome is very special.

Our hotel on the outskirts of Plymouth was nearly as close to Portsmouth, but they looked after us well. Friday of course was quartet day and we were all gathered to raise the roof The partying was decidedly less restrained on the for our own quartet, Octavia. A great contest ended with a Saturday night, and I can say no more without damaging the bang when Octavia leapt up the rankings from last year to reputations of many normal peace-loving ladies. take the silver medal. Up against such fine competition, this And so we look forward to the future with eager anticipation was as good a start to the weekend as we could have hoped. and I know everyone in Spinnaker just can’t wait for next year The only problem – could we hold back on the celebrations to come round. until after the chorus contest? I am assured everyone was Mike Taylor in bed by 10pm.

Musical Director, Spinnaker

Photos by courtesy of “The News”, Portsmouth

SUMMER 2006

SUMMER 2006

QUARTET OF NATIONS NEWSLETTER, REGION 31, SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL

GOING DUTCH! We are delighted to announce that the members of region 33, the Netherlands, have joined region 31 as from 1st May this year!

Many of you will know that the members of region 33 approached us earlier this year and expressed a wish to join region 31. With 4 choruses and just over 200 members, the Netherlands region was not large enough to remain a region in its own right, but they didn’t want to leave the Sweet Adelines family, so what could they do? The members of region 33 voted overwhelmingly in favour of joining region 31 and so we asked choruses in region 31 for their views. The response that came back was overwhelmingly in favour too!

I’m sure that we can all imagine that if we were in the same position, we would hope that the hand of friendship would be extended to us by another Sweet Adelines region.

So we wish a warm welcome to our sisters in the Netherlands - Flying High Singers, New Land Singers, Route Sixteen and Valley Voices choruses. Flying High Singers won gold in the last region 33 convention, held in March this year. They will be representing region 33 at International Convention in Calgary next year, singing alongside Lace City Singers! Sounds like an opportunity for a party…

We are truly an international region, comprising the four countries of the UK as well as the Netherlands, but this is nothing the Quartet of Nations can’t handle! We look forward to meeting our new members at the education workshop in November and at next year’s convention in Birmingham, and we are delighted that our friends in the Netherlands will be able to carry on singing as part of Sweet Adelines in region 31. – Welcome!

Valerie Taylor Communications & Technology Co-ordinator, On behalf of the RMT

Hello Region 31,

we took part in the overseas conventions and competitions with great joy. We even have had one convention here in the Netherlands, in Akersloot, for those who remember! We can From across the North Sea, we would like to say hello to all look back at those times with great pleasure and our new barbershop friends. We are very happy to we are convinced we’ll be finding that start this new fiscal year as members of the same friendship and camaraderie ‘Quartet of Nations’ Region. We’ are again with all of you in the time the four choruses and their quartets ahead of us, as members of Sweet of former Region 33. We have gone Adelines International. through long and exciting years, with We are looking forward to a different forms of management and future with new perspectives and different SAI status, a time with very challenges and we hope to many successful conventions and meet many of you at regional competitions. Now we can truly say that gatherings and educational events. history always seems to repeat itself: we are once more returning to where we Warm greetings, came from, the British SAI barbershop family.

Flying High Singers Chapter, Your region is not new to all of our members here. In the mid New Land Singers Chapter, ’80s, we used to belong to the British-Netherlands Area and Route Sixteen Chapter, Valley Voices Chapter

City of Roses – New Director City of Roses, Sweet Adelines International, are proud to announce, that as from Summer 2006, we will have a new Director, Mary Robertson.

Mary has sung with the City of Roses since 1996, becoming co-director in 2005. Over the years Mary has stunned the chorus with her wide

knowledge of musical ability, able to learn all four parts, much to the annoyance of our baritones, who pride themselves on thinking that their part is the most challenging.

We are very much looking forward to working together with Mary, our new Director in Harmony.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our current Director, Bill Riehl, for all the hard, and enthusiastic, work he has put into our Chorus. We wish you all the very best on your move back to the USA and keep up the good work!

Quartet of Nations Lanyards

We are arranging for specially printed Quartet of Nations lanyards to be made - these are the straps you wear around your neck at convention or education workshops with your name badge attached.

Each chorus will be issued with lanyards for all their members. When you get your lanyard, please hang on to it, as you’ll need to bring it to any regional events you attend. Non-members and visitors (and anyone who has lost their lanyard) will be able to buy them for £1.50.

QUARTET OF NATIONS NEWSLETTER, REGION 31, SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL

SUMMER 2006

Somerset hills chorus One of our most enjoyable sing outs recently was when the ladies of Somerset Hills Chorus were invited to join the local police force! To be more precise, the Avon & Somerset Constabulary Male Voice Choir. The occasion was a Grand Charity Concert in aid of the three local charities chosen by the Mayor for his patronage during his year of office. The event was a great success with many people expressing their enjoyment of the two contrasting types of singing. With the front rows of the audience containing no less than three town mayors and deputy mayors the ‘bling’ almost matched that of the chorus! Our local MP was also obviously enjoying the performance judging by the delighted expression on his face and enthusiastic applause. It was very gratifying to find that members of the audience were quite happy to dig further into their pockets at the end of the evening to swell the takings by a further £256.

A pleasant surprise arrived in the post a few weeks later when the chorus was invited to attend a Civic Reception, in the form of a dinner dance, in order to meet the new Mayor and Mayoress. There was some hesitation

when it was realised that the date concerned was the eve of convention. However, as we had a relatively short commuting distance to this year’s venue, it was decided that it was possible for those who wished to attend the event to do so and still be fresh enough for the main competition on Saturday.

Consequently, several members of the chorus attended the evening in order to ‘fly the flag’ for Somerset Hills Chorus and all reported having had a most enjoyable time.

Shortly after the charity concert the chorus was pleased to be guest performers at a musical evening at one of the local senior schools. The purpose of the evening was to showcase the very varied musical talents of the students. Imagine our pleasure when we discovered that two fledgling barbershop groups were part of the programme, one male and one female. Maybe we’re biased, but it was unanimously agreed amongst ourselves that the girls were far

superior to the boys! All the students and their parents, tutors, etc. applauded our own efforts enthusiastically so, hopefully, having given them a taste of experienced barbershop singing the youngsters will be inspired to develop their expertise - which brings us to the youngsters we saw on stage at convention. How encouraging to see so many and witness their dedication and promise. We were proud to watch our own two younger members on stage with Showstoppers. This was their 2nd convention experience and we were delighted to share with them the thrill of winning the Small Chorus category. Even if you’ve won previous gold medals there’s still a tremendous buzz when you hear YOUR chorus announced as the winner. In our case it was particularly gratifying because two girls had gone down with laryngitis and could only produce a whisper.

In fact, one of them only arrived at convention a couple of hours before we were due to go on stage, in response to a frantic text! The show must go on! Our afternoon was rounded off by a charming incident when we found ourselves invited across the road to another hotel where a wedding party had just arrived and we serenaded the young couple with our winning ballad whilst their guests photographed and video’d the scene. Aahh!

Congratulations to all our fellow medalists - we look forward to meeting up with friends old and new at the workshop in November.

Yours in Harmony Somerset Hills Chorus

Farewell Mags

choreographer, Norma Ferrier, but we knew we were up against stif f competition, and we had just heard the sad news that one of our chorus members had been taken from us, suddenly, af ter a shor t illness.

Margaret Scott (Mags) was an enthusiastic member of FVC having joined as a baritone with the ‘Class of ‘95’. She had spent 3 years as joint baritone section leader and competed on the quar tet stage with ‘Cappuccino’ (1999).

She then changed to singing lead to compete with ‘Out of the Blue’ (2004) and For th Connexion (2005). Mags was a ver y gentle, modest person who loved Barbershop singing and gave 110% to whatever she did.

Saturday 13th May was a day of mixed emotions for For th Valley Chorus, having won a Silver medal and the Jeanne Miller cr ystal rosebowl at convention, in my hometown of Plymouth. We couldn’t be sure how things were going to turn out. We had ever y confidence in our new MD, David Sangster and

I personally shall miss my singing pal, roomy and ver y, ver y dear friend.

Elaine Lyell.

For th Valley

SUMMER 2006

QUARTET OF NATIONS NEWSLETTER, REGION 31, SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL

‘TIDINGS’ FROM COASTLINE HARMONY Between September and December 2005 we utilised the ‘DIVA’ advertising campaign and held two Open Evenings offering Free Singing Lessons. As a result we were delighted to welcome 8 new members, which increased our chorus numbers to 37. All these new ‘Divas’ successfully passed their auditions and have worked hard to learn our contest songs.

In November 2005 Coastline competed in two local Music Festivals. The first was at Worthing, at which we sang ‘Love Medley’ followed by Billy Joel’s ‘And So it Goes’ which features our tenor section. The adjudicator enjoyed “a well presented and balanced sound” stating ‘Love Medley’ had “impressive and stylish movements with a nice fresh sound”, whilst ‘And So it Goes’ “gave a great contrast to the uptune”. These great comments earned us 1st place and the Norfolk Cup with which we were delighted.

We then took part in The Mid-Sussex Competitive Music Festival and found ourselves competing against The Sussex Harmonisers, a local men’s barbershop chorus. We sang our two contest songs ‘Love Medley’ and ‘Oh How I Miss You Tonight’. The adjudicator “loved the way the performance moved” and commented “we created lots of spark and vivacity in the uptune with clean executed moves”. Two of our chorus members are related (husband and wife and father and daughter) to two of the men’s chorus so the competition had an additional edge to it!

The local newspaper printed an article and photo (see above) in which our President Jackie Bowles was quoted as saying “It was the first time we have competed against each other and Coastline managed to beat the men’s chorus. Although there wasn’t much between us my husband (Chairman of The Sussex Harmonisers) has been very good about it!” The article proved to be excellent publicity for both choruses.

In February this year we entered the Portsmouth Festival for the second time. This year’s Class included a lot more competitors and we were delighted to gain a Distinction. Entry into the Festivals provided valuable experience for our new members, 5 of who at the time of writing are looking forward to Convention.

In March we held a very successful and enjoyable evening of Fashion, Flowers & Harmony at our President’s Golf Club in Mid Sussex. Not only was this a great opportunity to promote ourselves but we were delighted to raise £800, which was split between Coastline’s charity and the Golf Club Lady Captain’s charity.

At the end of March we were thrilled to enjoy an exhausting but inspiring coaching weekend with Lorraine Rochefort from the USA. Lorraine certainly impressed us with her knowledge

and coaching ability and our MD Becky Thorpe has worked extremely hard in instilling the chorus with Lorraine’s techniques to prepare us for Convention.

In April we joined Valerie Paddock, one of our founder members, in celebrating her Golden Wedding. Valerie has been a member of Coastline for nearly 30 years and we were invited to join her and her husband Bill at the picturesque local village church where they renewed their marriage vows. We were all then treated to a grand reception complete with Magician! Of course Coastline was requested to perform on this occasion but Valerie requested to ‘sit out’ so that she could actually listen to her chorus.

As I write this it is just one week away from Convention and I know that all of you will be rehearsing and gearing up for our annual get-together. By the time you read this it will all be over for another year, but I know that all the wonderful memories of panic, joy and camaraderie will still be with us.

Coastline were thrilled to bits to be awarded Second Place Small Chorus 2006, under the direction of our MD Becky Thorpe. This is our first medal for over 13 years, and with 5 first timers on the risers. Congratulations to all medal winners, especially Lace City Singers and Sound Bites and good luck in Las Vegas.

Now all the hard work and excitement of Convention is over we are now putting our minds to rehearsing for our Show ‘CAMP CHAOS’ which we hope to produce in November and which will include an ‘ABBA’ medley arranged by our Assistant MD Debbie Hopkinson. Look out for further details in the next edition.

Finally, in October 2007, Coastline Harmony will be celebrating our 30th anniversary as members of Sweet Adelines, so more planning, partying, fun and singing. Can’t be bad!

Sue Goodwin – Publicity Officer Coastline Harmony Chorus What an exciting weekend Coastline Harmony had at Convention! After 13 years Coastline broke back into the medal table with a bang and were delighted to receive 2nd place small chorus medals.

We had 28 members on stage and of those, 6 were singing with us for the first time. We also had members of two competing quartets and members of two noncompeting quartets on stage – not bad for such a small chorus! This was due to a lot of hard work by the chorus over the past year led by our young, talented and dynamic Director, Becky Thorpe. I’m proud and excited to be a member of Coastline Harmony, “ a fine chorus” as said by one of the judges. Watch out Birmingham next year!

Debbie Hopkinson Assistant Director Bass – Made to Measure Quartet

QUARTET OF NATIONS NEWSLETTER, REGION 31, SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL

SUMMER 2006

Aberdeen Chorus – a family affair Aberdeen Chorus now has several

Team member Jeanette Yuile and Mhairi Adie and Sarah Constable who had enjoyed success singing bass and baritone with Dorothy in Quartz.

Said Dorothy, ‘I am absolutely delighted that Andrea is getting so much joy from singing and I was so proud of her singing in her quartet after only a few months in the chorus.

Bobby Dazzlers performed immediately sets of mothers and daughters as well before Vocal Zone so I didn’t hear her as numerous sisters and cousins. sing but I knew from the applause that Four of the daughters experienced they must have sung very well’ contest for the first time and thoroughly Andrea added ‘Singing is so much enjoyed the experience. Andrea Lovie fun and has really given me confidence one of the daughters who joined the in my job as well as in my singing. I just chorus less than a year ago found herself love singing with the chorus and with competing in the quartet competition my quartet Bobby Dazzlers. We couldn’t against her mother. believe it when we came 7th in the Andrea’s mother, Dorothy Main, quartet contest and I was over the moon Regional Faculty, ex RMT member, ex when we won the bronze medal with the Aberdeen Chorus President took part in chorus’. the competition as lead singer with Vocal Zone while Andrea E Anne Cargill competed with Bobby Dazzlers with Regional Management Publicity Officer, Aberdeen Chorus

THE UNSEEN HEROES When I arrived in Plymouth on

Friday I went to lunch with Valerie Taylor and discovered that she had been in Plymouth since Thursday. She had arrived early to set up all the IT services that were needed for the competition.

On Friday morning the risers arrived and it fell to her and any others in the auditorium at the time to help erect them and the acoustic shells. So whilst the rest of us were on our coaches gaily singing away, they were slaving away working on the stage.

There are many unseen heroes of convention that never get a mention and I have come to realise that we should thank them, for without them there would be no sound system, no computerised scores and certainly so risers to sing on. Even the guys who photograph, tape

and video us were there setting up all their equipment long before we arrived to sing.

Tina Newcombe was there to greet everyone at the briefing having already sorted out those lovely Ikea bags and her couriers.

So just take a moment at the next convention to remember that all of the peripheral stuff did not magically appear, courtesy of those little night elves, but was due to the hard work of all the people behind the scenes.

After the quartet competition the acoustic shells had to be dismantled and put up on the main risers and this was done with the help of a couple of directors and some husbands from the audience.

There are too many names to include them all but this is just a BIG THANK YOU from all in the region to unseen heroes.

Deborah Lamble

Bags More Harmony at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe After their successful debut at last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe with their show ‘Bags of Harmony,’ Vocal Zone quartet from the Aberdeen Chorus will be performing again in their own show ‘Bags More Harmony’ at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on Saturday 26th August 2006 at 16.30 at St Andrew’s and St George’s Church on George Street. Last year’s Fringe reviewer said – “a cracker of a programme…superb close harmony singing”. Gwen, Dorothy, Anne and Val would be delighted to see you at this year’s show.

The quartet can be booked via their website www.vocal-zone.co.uk.

SUMMER 2006

QUARTET OF NATIONS NEWSLETTER, REGION 31, SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL

Surrey Harmony Surrey Harmony is looking Swell,

Spiffy, Swanky and Ritzy and it’s all because of our new Flapper dresses.

Producing nearly 80 costumes in a matter of weeks might give some people the Heebie-Jeebies. But as usual, the Surrey Harmony Costume Committee members are the Cat’s Meow.

The small cuts from pinking shears still visible on her hands Sue Careless recalls cutting out the costumes for our new 1920’s package. “Janet Hurst did

the front row, but I did the rest. Some nights I was still cutting out at one o’clock in the morning, and I know Janet was burning the midnight oil as well”.

Daphne Waite with her usual forensic technique was in charge of accessories, tracking down our long black gloves, feathers for our headbands, fringing and our 20’s beads – Ikea Christmas decorations in their previous life.

The pink, blue and yellow dresses are the Bee’s Knees, transforming us instantly into 1920’s Shebas displaying our Gams. So it’s well done to the Costume Committee who can relax for a little while anyway. When she was spending hours cutting and sewing Sue’s 8 year old Grandson said to her, “It’s a good job you’ve got that job otherwise what would you do all day”?

Sam obviously has a lot to learn about being a Sweet Adeline.

Thanks to everyone who helped with the costumes. * Explanations of 1920’s Slang can be found www.geocities.com

‘T was just before Christmas - a few months ago We were told we needed men to tango So five of us met one Sunday at dawn…

And by pooling ideas, young Anton was born We first bought a head from an internet source Being sure it was in a plain wrapper of course John brought a broom handle and cut it in two And we shaped a man’s torso in foam, tights and glue

Get ‘em Young!

We sewed on a shirt and added a tie Plus a black dress suit jacket - he looked quite a guy His legs were so skinny & seemed rather bare So Joan insisted that he had underwear The next time we met she brought pants red and blue And we stitched up his trousers and added some shoes

This is Olivia (Eu4ia’s baby!) reading about her mum Kate and her aunties, Sandra, Nancy and Jane going to Las Vegas. She obviously has good taste in reading matter. You know what they say – Get ‘em young!

Kate Eu4ia - Tenor

We met several more times to finish them all We produced four men dark handsome and tall And though it was fun, may we please make it plain We would be pleased NEVER to do it again!

Julia Marshall 2006

QUARTET OF NATIONS NEWSLETTER, REGION 31, SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL

SUMMER 2006

Review of the Sweet Adelines UK championships in Plymouth 12-14th May 2006!!

What a fabulous weekend we had in Plymouth - fantastic, thanks has to go to the YWIH co-ordinator and chorus director wonderful, overwhelming! The weather was on our side as well, which added to the overall enjoyment. Plymouth looks wonderful in the sunshine and so did you - when you all arrived at the arena in your sparkly, wonderful costumes and with faces and hair made up to perfection it made me feel very proud to belong to such an exciting and empowering organisation. I am sure you all have many highlights to take home with you from our competition weekend – I have too many to count!

Our region is going from strength to strength and the standard of our competing quartets and choruses is just amazing. Our official guests and members of the public were full of praise and enjoyed the entertainment immensely. We know how to put on a show, that’s for certain!

Both the quartet and chorus competitions went very smoothly and all of you did fabulously well up on the stage – only other competitors know how scary it is up there.

Well done to all our quartets and choruses, you were all amazing!

Thanks to the weather being on our side this year, we held our mass sing outside the Pavilions and this was very well received by the public.

Jenny Lawson did a wonderful job as usual, directing us all in song. Thanks to Jenny for being so wonderfully enthusiastic and fabulous.

The Show of Champions concert on Saturday night was full of wonderful performances from our medal winners and what about the great MC’ing going on in the front? We all enjoyed the funny jokes and great moments of artistry from both Elaine Hamilton and Chris Bentley – well done girls. You could tour as a double-act anytime!

All the quartet and chorus medal winners strutted their stuff so well and it was a joy to take it all in. Big congratulations to all the medal winners – our region is so lucky to have such a lot of talent. Special big congratulations are due to our gold medal winning quartet, Sound Bites, and our gold medal winning chorus, Lace City Singers. Spectacular performances from you both and we look forward to seeing what Sound Bites can do in Las Vegas in October. Will we have 2 quartets in the top 15 next year? You go girls!

Lace City Singers will have to wait until Calgary in 2007 before showing what they can do. We expect nothing but great things from you all and hope you enjoy the preparations for your performance there.

We all enjoyed the YWIH chorus and the new quartet “Topaz”. The YWIH chorus has very limited time to rehearse and still manage to put on such a wonderful show. A big

Angela Sanchez-Rosemurgey. You are doing a great job and the youngsters obviously enjoy performing for you. 10 out of 10! I am sure you will all join me in saying how inspiring it is to see the YWIH girls perform – they make me feel so young…

We also have to admire the courage of the 4 girls in Topaz – what a performance they put on for us. Well done to you all and we look forward to seeing you in the quartet competitions next year!

Our fabulous 2005 gold medal winning quartet Eu4ia did a wonderful job entertaining us – there were not a dry eye in the hall when Eu4ia sang, “What’ll I do”. Little Olivia, Kate the tenor’s little girl, even cried out loud... We will remember a few of the blonde jokes and the effortless MC’ing done by the girls between songs – Eu4ia are true professionals and I am sure they will be wonderful in Las Vegas.

Our 2005 gold winning chorus Surrey Harmony followed Eu4ia’s performance with a fabulous show, which will go down in history as one to be remembered. Noreen Collyer’s tango was so funny and how she could still move her neck after all those head “throws” is beyond me. The front row was wonderful and the sound and choreography from the chorus was so slick.

Surrey Harmony will be wonderful in Las Vegas! The deputy mayor and his wife were spotted many times singing along and joining in. They thoroughly enjoyed the evening and so did all of us.

Sunday morning arrived and many of you still managed to attend the morning educational sessions even though you had obviously not slept much – well done to all of you who managed to struggle down to the Pavilions. We all very much enjoyed the physical and musical warm-ups. Our regional faculty is such an asset and we can’t promote their services enough. Please contact them in person to see what they could offer to do for your chorus or quartet. We again made use of our judges for the morning session and they all did a good job answering all those questions and provided some useful information and food for thought on how to handle life after competition – if there is such a thing…?

All good things must come to an end, and on behalf of all the members of the RMT I would like to thank you all for your contribution, which made the weekend the success it was. We all hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

See you all in Birmingham next year!

Jeanette Yuile Marketing and Membership Co-Ordinator

SUMMER 2006

QUARTET OF NATIONS NEWSLETTER, REGION 31, SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL

Judges’ Feedback What a Convention! 18 choruses,

including our two newest choruses Spinnaker and County Connection Harmony, in a spellbinding competition which once again showed our strength in depth, with all of our competing choruses this year scoring C or above, which is a magnificent achievement.

16 quartets, some starting out on their quartet journey for the first time, some old hands…The standard was impressive and we all witnessed some stunning performances. Huge congratulations to you all for making both contests so exciting and entertaining.

Particular congratulations to our champion chorus the Lace City Singers and our champion quartet Sound Bites.(I have dreamt many times over the course of this year that I might one day write that sentence but never imagined it would become reality this year!). Very many congratulations too to all chorus and quartet medallists and a particular “well done” to Solent Sounds who won no less than three awards in the chorus contest!

You may not realise that just after the chorus contest results are announced (whilst you are all mass-singing) a post-competition meeting with the judges is held to which the Education Coordinator (me), Events Coordinator (Deborah Wheeldon) and Competition Coordinator (Tina Newcombe) are invited. This is the occasion when the judges give an overall view of the Region’s achievements, and this feedback is invaluable when it comes to designing an education programme for the future benefit of the Region.

Our four judges this year (Patti Burklund, Diane Porsch, Janie Macchiaroli and Linda Masterson) were very complimentary about the standard in our Region. Diane remarked on how much the standard had gone up (a “huge improvement”) since her last visit four years ago.

Here, in a nutshell, is their feedback: Posture is affecting vocal skills in some singers. Work on this.

Sometimes songs are too demanding in terms of the skills level of the performer. Take advice on song choice. A simpler arrangement sung well is often the best choice.

Work on clean intervals, instant tuning and accurate intonation.

More work on American vowels needed.

Match vowels throughout for ringing chords.

Increase vocal stamina, as under contest stress this tended to diminish as the performance progressed.

Watch out for synchronisation and chord solidity. Make sure all the notes of the chord are hit at the same time. Ensure that all words are in tune even words like “and”, “but”, “the”, which are often short.

Take the dynamics to a wider range whilst maintaining the musicality. Ensure that softs are well supported.

Allow the phrases to tell the story in a song making sure the phrases are well connected with no “white space”.

Maintain the forward momentum.

Do not leave the stage too abruptly.

(Diane demonstrated this during the Sunday morning Q&A session.)

Make sure you take the time to acknowledge the warm applause.

• • • • • • •

• • •

Stand there until the applause starts to die away and be less in a hurry to leave the stage.

Make up was generally well done but make sure that there is more intensity of colour. Some hair styles were rather too casual and not sophisticated enough. The costumes were often very classy, but the hair did not always complement.

Make sure the face is the focal point so style hair away from the face.

Ensure that trousers are well fitting always.

Let go and be less careful physically.

Please contact me if you would like clarification of any of the above points.

The judges were very approachable and friendly and worked extremely hard on behalf of us all. Thanks again to them, and also for providing the Sunday morning education sessions. This is something they do voluntarily and we were delighted that all four judges were able to stay for the extremely interesting Q&A session which was chaired impeccably by Patti Burklund.

Thank you for your evaluations on all aspects of the weekend. We take your comments very seriously and we will certainly try to provide you with education sessions which are more interactive next time.

Once again, on behalf of you all, may I thank everyone who gave up so much of their time to organise what was an amazing convention. We have a fantastic Region here and we have so much to be proud of. My particular thanks go to all members of the Convention Team who worked so hard (and late into the night) behind the scenes for you all. Roll on Birmingham 2007!

Alyson Chaney, Education Coordinator.

•

• • •

Good News All Choruses

The 2006 Convention raffle made a total profit of approx. £1,200 and the Regional Management Team has decided to spend the money in a way that will benefit each chorus – we will be dividing the profit equally between our registered choruses who all took part in selling raffles and thereby helped to achieve the profit in the first place.

We are going to spend the money to fund 1 member from each chorus with free registration to the November 2006 workshop (worth £60).

Please register a member of your chorus to attend the November workshop by letting our Finance Co-ordinator, Eileen Milne, know the member’s name, e-mail address and postal address details. We will ensure that a registration voucher is sent to the nominated member.

We hope you agree that this is a good way to spend the profits. Those of you who are good at maths may have worked out that £1,200 divided between our current 24 choruses would make less than we are offering each chorus – the RMT has subsidised this offer to make up the difference. We look forward to seeing you in Scarborough!

Best wishes, The RMT 10

QUARTET OF NATIONS NEWSLETTER, REGION 31, SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL

SUMMER 2006

RMT Report •

• •

•

•

Here is a summary of issues discussed at the last two RMT meetings in March and May 2006: Tina Newcombe (City of Roses chorus) will be stepping down as Competition Co-ordinator. The RMT would like to thank Tina for all her hard work and unflappability!

Emma Riley (Surrey Harmony chorus) will take over as CC in 2007, with assistance from Tina.

Two members of the RMT will visit the Netherlands to establish contact with the Dutch choruses and discuss regional activities and members’ needs.

The next regional faculty training session is 9-11th June 2006. This will be facilitated by Alyson Chaney and Michelle Walker.

The education workshop in November 2006 will be held in Scarborough. There will be 3 or 4 symposium choruses plus a YWIH chorus. The workshop will incorporate the region’s second YWIH festival.

Arrangements are in hand for the 2007 regional convention at the Birmingham Symphony Hall. The Sage at Newcastle is being considered as a possible venue for 2009 and 2010.

• • •

Rumors quartet are confirmed as faculty for the education workshop in 2007.

Members of the RMT are being funded for 2 days’ accommodation (but not travel) to attend the RMT networking event at International Convention in Las Vegas. The event is to discuss proposals to restructure RMTs worldwide.

The 4 members of the RMT whose posts came up for election in May 2006 are continuing in their roles for a further 2 years. Volunteers for the next set of vacancies are being sought.

For those who are interested, minutes of the November 2005 RMT meeting can be found in the December 2005 edition of Harmony Rag, which is available on the regional website: www.sweetadelines.org.uk

PHOENIX RISING

Phoenix chorus, former LABBS members and LABBS 2005 international gold medallists, has been granted prospective chorus status by Sweet Adelines International. Watch this space for more news!

SCARBOROUGH HERE WE COME! PRICE AND BOOKING Jim Arns is the Master Director showmanship judge, DETAILS BELOW

DON’T MISS THIS EXCITING EVENT DON’T GO ANYWHERE ELSE 3-5th NOVEMBER 2006!

The regional educational workshop will be held in Scarborough at the Scarborough Spa. The venue is fabulous and we expect a sell-out so please get your booking forms in as soon as possible to ensure you get a place.

Those of you who would like to have a closer look at the venue can check out their website at: www.scarboroughspa. com. You can also use the site facility to plan your route for travel.

We have managed to secure two of the most fantastic coaches in the Sweet Adelines International ranks for Region 31’s November 2006 educational workshop. Jim Arns and Renee Porzel, both of The Melodeers chorus from Chicago, will facilitate a whole range of great classes, together with our own regional and international faculty. You will be spoilt for choice throughout the weekend.

of the Melodeers Chorus, four-time Championship Chorus of Sweet Adelines International (1995, 1998, 2001 and 2004). The Melodeers are known for their “Pushing the Envelope” style of performance. They work in their amazing sense of humour, which keeps audiences laughing and crying from coast to coast. Jim has shaped The

constantly in demand for her expertise in the area of showmanship, and is highly respected for her ability to inspire and motivate others. Since Renée joined the Melodeers in 1990, she has been an integral part of the chorus musical team, designing award-winning choreography that involves the chorus emotionally in the musical product and captivates audiences.

Her choreography has helped the Melodeers Chorus to be the only chorus to win four consecutive Sweet Adelines International championships.

As we expect this workshop to be very popular the usual rules apply – first come, first served. Make sure you get your registration form in early to avoid disappointment. Please use the registration form printed here to get a place at the workshop.

The provisional price for the whole weekend will be £60 per person, which also will include all the meals on Saturday and a Ceilidh party on the Saturday night. A bargain if you ask me!

Melodeers’ rich harmonies and distinctly energetic sounds and vivacious style.

As a member of Region 31 you are getting a fantastic opportunity to witness his unique style by taking part in our regional workshop this year.

Jeanette Yuile Renée Porzel is an internationally Marketing and Membership recognized teacher, coach and Co-Ordinator

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QUARTET OF NATIONS NEWSLETTER, REGION 31, SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL

QUARTET OF NATIONS NEWSLETTER, REGION 31, SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL

SUMMER 2006

WHERE DOES MY MONEY GO? •

Team Co-ordinator Sheila Doherty, Surrey Harmony Chorus 4 Boundary Road Carshalton Surrey, SM5 3HG Phone: 020 8395 2765 shortscot@aol.com ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

By laws and rules Regional calendar Meeting agendas Facilitate meetings Job Descriptions/tasks Long range monitoring Strategic planning

Directors’ Co-ordinator Elaine Hamilton, Forth Valley Chorus 26 Gogarloch Syke Edinburgh EH12 9JB Phone:0131 334 2372 elainemrssh@aol.com ♦ ♦ ♦

♦

Directors’ resource liaison DCP programme and register Directors’ mentor/buddy programme Regional song resource

Chapter Co-ordinator

Moyra Strachan, Forth Valley Chorus 77 Balnagowan Drive Glenrothes Fife, KY6 2SJ Phone: 01592 771645 alexander.s@blueyonder.co.uk ♦ ♦ ♦

Chapter leadership forum Chapter liaison Historian

Events Co-ordinator

Deborah Wheeldon, Lace City Singers Chorus 3 Versailles Gardens Hucknall Nottingham, NG15 7NY Phone: 0115 963 0114 deborah.wheeldon@tiscali.co.uk ♦

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

♦

Chair of Regional Convention (or appoints) Convention team Event registration Site negotiation Regional meetings co-ordinator Liaison with Chapter Co-ordinator

Ever wondered what you get in return The administration needed for for your international dues? We each pay an organisation of about 27,000 $80 a year to belong to Sweet Adelines members all over the world, run International (usually our choruses pay by a professional staff in Tulsa, this to SAI out of our chorus dues). Here Oklahoma. are some of the things that money is A web site where we can get used for: information, order materials, register Faculty trained to teach our for events. members all over the world.

Volunteer members (international Judges trained to judge our contests board of directors) who monitor both regional and international. the use of corporate funds by Music arrangers trained to create investing wisely and being fiscally good music for all of us to sing. responsible.

Planning and education for our A wealth of education materials chorus directors. at reasonable prices for directors, Funding for the web cast of the up and coming arrangers, faculty, contests at international in order for judges etc. everyone to enjoy and appreciate Regional Management Team our finest quartets and choruses training (subsidised by dues). around the world.

And of course there are benefits Newsletters, such as the Sing Ezine that money can’t buy: to keep us updated, educated and The joy of singing! informed, plus the Pitch Pipe (it costs Friendships throughout the world over $12 a year to print and mail (literally). four issues to overseas members) Opportunities for personal growth which is packed full of education, and creativity. inspiration and information.

Health benefits from singing.

Help with recruiting new members Opportunities to learn at regional for our choruses, and publicity meetings, IES and international materials and ideas for building conventions. our own identities as choruses and Sounds like good value. Who needs regions. the gym?

•

• • • • • •

• Education Co-ordinator Communications/ Technology Co-ordinator

Valerie Taylor, Surrey Harmony Chorus 9 Norman Avenue South Croydon Surrey CR2 0QH Phone 020 8660 8037 Email: valerie.taylor@privacysolutions.co.uk ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

♦

♦ 12

Directory/newsletter Web page/Internet admin.

Nomination/tellers Committee Regional leadership database Regional meeting materials and minutes Reports to/from international

Marketing/ Membership Co-ordinator

Jeanette Yuile, Aberdeen Chorus North Wing, Durris House Durris Aberdeenshire AB31 6BD Phone: 01330 811544 j.yuile@btinternet.com ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Public relations/marketing Prospective chapters Chapter at large Growth and Retention Chapter visits/status checks Regional events promotion Growth promotion International and Regional membership awards

Alyson Chaney, Lace City Singers Chorus 4 The Cottages, Maythorne Southwell Nottinghamshire, NG25 0RS Phone: 01636 814377 alysonchaney@yahoo.co.uk ♦

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

♦

♦

UK & Ireland visits programme Faculty development Arrangers resource Audio/visual tape library Choreography resource Quartets Staff development Young Women in Harmony curriculum Performance approval/ appraisal Chapter-at-large quartet auditions

Finance Co-ordinator

Eileen Milne, Aberdeen Chorus 26 Cromar Gardens Kingswells Aberdeen AB15 8TF Phone: 01224 742453 Email: ge@cromar26.demon.co.uk ♦ ♦ ♦

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Regional dues Non-dues revenue/grants Budget preparation/ maintenance Contracts Income/expense reports Long range financial planning Chapter finance advisor

• • • • • • • • •

Pitch Pipes For Sale Imported from Sweet Adelines £15 and £1 post and package cheques payable to: Mayflowers Plymouth Chapter.

Contact: Rose Padwick, Windyridge, Broad Park, Oreston Plymouth Devon. PL9 7QF. Tel. 01752 407787.

13

SUMMER 2006

QUARTET OF NATIONS NEWSLETTER, REGION 31, SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL

Finance Report

unfortunately the statement does not arrive until around the 7th of the following month. I hope to give you a detailed statement of Convention in the next Harmony Rag. Thank you all so much for your effort in selling Raffle tickets it was a success and hopefully you will agree with how the money is to be spent. I do appreciate it is a BOTHER when there is so much else going on for Convention but it is the only fundraiser we have for the Region.

The Bank Reconciliation has been If we can come up with anything easier done up to April 06 the deadline I’ll keep you informed. Congratulations for Harmony rag is 30th May and to all winners.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Deborah Wheeldon for making registration so smooth and uncomplicated. As you know this was my first time on the RMT for Convention but they are a wonderful team of ladies to work with and made a huge job a lot easier.

I also wish to thank my friend Sandra Chalmers who I couldn’t have got through the weekend without.

Congratulations to all the winners. It was a wonderful weekend.

Eileen Milne, RMT Finance Coordinator.

QUARTET OF NATIONS NEWSLETTER, REGION 31, SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL

Region 31 Barbershop Workshop 2006

£

EXPENDITURE

with

Jim Arns & Renee Porzel

…MASTER DIRECTOR & CHOREOGRAHER OF 4-TIME INTERNATIONAL CHORUS CHAMPIONS THE MELODEERS

 DATES: Arriving from 5 pm on Friday 3 November 2006 finishing 12:30 pm Sunday 5 November 2006.

 VENUE: Scarborough Spa Complex -

located in Scarborough’s picturesque South Bay - one of the most prestigious venues for events on the Yorkshire Coast.

 WHAT’S INCLUDED? : As well as top

quality educational classes, included in the registration fee is tea/coffee throughout the weekend, lunch on Saturday and a Saturday night Ceilidh & buffet.

£

January

522.70

January

449.66

February

1314.63

February

7379.63

March

6319.02

March

3034.42 1820.52

April

27151.63

April

Total

35307.98

Total

 ACCOMMODATION: A full hotel

booking service is provided by the Scarborough Conference Bureau who have negotiated the best available rates through their affiliated hotels and guesthouses.

Book online via the links on the Quartet of Nations website: www.sweetadelines.org.uk or telephone: 01723 357879 quoting 1 ‘Sweet Adelines’.

 WORKSHOP CHORUSES: Participants will have the

12684.23

opportunity to sing with one of the workshop choruses. Music and learning CDs will be sent out in September 2006. Choruses will join other guest acts in our Sunday Showcase.

REPRESENTED BY: Balance 31/12/05

48957.53 Balance at current account

44949.38

Less unpresented cheques

569.78

Plus Income

35307.98 Treasurer Account

44379.60

Total

84265.51 14 Day Business

17123.35

Less Expenses

12684.23 Money Manager

10078.33

Balance at February

71581.28 Balance at February

 YWIH: The Spa Theatre is the dedicated venue for our

festival within a festival for Young Women aged 10-26. There will be specially arranged classes and the opportunity to perform in the YWIH Festival Chorus as part of the Sunday Showcase.

 FACULTY: Jim Arns is the Master Director of the Melodeers, 4-time International Champion Chorus, (1995, 1998, 2001 and 2004) from Illinois. The Melodeers’ amazing sense of humour keeps audiences laughing and crying from coast to coast.

Jim has shaped the Melodeers’ rich harmonies and distinctly energetic sounds and vivacious style.

71581.28

Raffle Convention 2006 Expenditure Raffle Books Postage TotaExpenditurel

£

Raffle winners

141.88 86.84 228.72

Income

2061.26

Total Profit

1832.54

1st

A Morgan Laurelbank, Woodcote Lane, Stonehaven, Kincardineshire

2nd

Robinson Penyrall Farm, Pentre-cwrt, Llandysul, Carmarthenshire

3rd

Heather Riley 3 Selbourne Close, Reddish, Stockport

Renee Porzel is an internationally recognised teacher, coach and showmanship judge, highly respected for her ability to inspire and motivate others. Since joining the Melodeers in 1990 she has designed award winning choreography that both involves the chorus emotionally in the musical product and captivates audiences.

Regional Faculty - Educators from Region 31 will lead a range of ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ classes and direct the workshop choruses.

Contact Information Address:

Postcode: Daytime telephone: 2

Email address : Chapter Name:

Registration Fees 3

No.

Members @ £60

£

No.

Non-mbrs @ £70

£

4

YWIH @ £20

No.

£

A late booking supplement of £10 per person applies for bookings made after 31 Aug 2006 Supplements @ £10 £

No.

TOTAL

£

Please make cheques payable to: Quartet of Nations – Region 31 and post to: Deborah Wheeldon, Events Co-ordinator 3 Versailles Gardens, Hucknall Nottingham, NG15 7NY Booking deadline - The Regional Management Team reserve the right to refuse any bookings received after 30 Sept 2006.

Attendee Details – Important!

For group bookings: Please attach a sheet listing all group members: 

Full name



Membership number (if applicable)



Voice part (Bass, Baritone, Lead or Tenor)



Details of any needs due to disability or dietary requirements (other than vegetarian).

NOTES: 2

Music and CDs will be mailed during September 2006. Prior to this date, all correspondence will be via email.

3

Member rate applies to registered Sweet Adeline Members who have paid Region 31 dues for the year 2006-2007 and front line male directors of SA Choruses.

4

1

To satisfy conditions for subsidised use of the venue, all hotel bookings MUST be made through the Scarborough Conference Bureau.

14

BOOKING FORM : Name:

STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS INCOME

SUMMER 2006

YWIH applies to young women age 26 and under. Group leaders are responsible for ensuring the safety and supervision of young people under the age of 18.

15

SUMMER 2006

QUARTET OF NATIONS NEWSLETTER, REGION 31, SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL

Regional Faculty

Regional Convention Dates:

2005 – 2006 Regional Faculty listed below are available for chorus or Quartet coaching. Please feel free to contact them to see what they can do for you.

Alternatively if you are unsure who to contact, your Education Co-ordinator, Alyson Chaney can advise you on who would be best for you.

Dorothy Main Aberdeen Chorus mwmainjoiners@tinyworld.co.uk

May 2007 Birmingham’s Symphony Hall May 2008 Birmingham’s Symphony Hall

10th -14th October 2006 International Convention Las Vegas

Michelle Walker Lace City Singers Chorus shelbywalks@yahoo.co.uk

3rd -5th November 2006 Regional Workshop

Glenn Chaney Lace City Singers glenn@lacecity.org

Stockport Liberty Belles

Our 30th Anniversary Show title is: ‘Ritz, Glitz and Hatrix’ 23rd September 2006 7.15p.m.

Plaza Theatre, Stockport, Cheshire.

Coastline Harmony

Anne Cargill Aberdeen Chorus acargill@lochside.fsbusiness.co.uk Gwen Topp Aberdeen Chorus gmtopp@tiscali.co.uk

Camp Chaos Saturday 11th November Blatchington Mill, Brighton. .

Got a show?

Let us know the details and we will print it here. Swell those audiences for free!

DEADLINE for the next issue

AUGUST 28th

2005 – 2006 Alyson Chaney Education Co-ordinator Lincoln Sounds Tel: 01636 814377 alysonchaney@yahoo.co.uk Sheila Doherty Team Co-ordinator Surrey Harmony Tel: 020 8395 2765 shortscot@aol.com

Other Diary Dates:

Elaine Hamilton Forth Valley Chorus elainemrssh@aol.com

Alyson Chaney Lace City Singers and Lincoln Sounds Chorus alysonchaney@yahoo.co.uk

Regional Management Team

Elaine Hamilton Directors’ Co-ordinator Forth Valley Chorus Tel: 0131 334 2372 elainemrssh@aol.com Moyra Strachan Chapter Co-ordinator Forth Valley Chorus Tel: 01592 771645 alexander.s@blueyonder.co.uk Eileen Milne Finance Co-ordinator Aberdeen Chorus Tel: 01224 742453 ge@cromar26.demon.co.uk Valerie Taylor Communications/Technology Co-ordinator Surrey Harmony Tel: 020 8660 8037 valerie.taylor@privacysolutions.co.uk Deborah Wheeldon Events Co-ordinator Lace City Singers Tel: 0115 963 0114 deborah.wheeldon@tiscali.co.uk Jeanette Yuile Marketing/Membership Co-ordinator Aberdeen Chorus Tel: 01330 820034 jyuile@muir-matheson.com

Editor - Deborah Lamble 72 Sopers Lane, Christchurch, Dorset BH23 1JF Tel:01202 487287 Email:deborah@lamble.plus.com Advertising Rates ~ 25 pence per single column centimetre 16