Summer Newsletter

Summer newsletter AUGUST 2016 Chairman’s report

Welcome to the 2016 newsletter. Another year gone, and what an eventful one! I must start by saying thank you to Andrew for his patience and vision, enabling us to put on some wonderful concerts this year and to Caroline for her stalwart support. I also have to say a huge thank you to Sandra, our retiring Chairman who has given immense service to the Choral Society over the years (she probably won’t want me to say just how many!) spending many hours behind the scenes organising us all and helping put in the framework for the smooth running of the Society – and I don’t know how she did it with a full time work schedule as well – I hope she is enjoying just being able to enjoy singing. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the retiring members of the committee for all their hard work.

Hopefully you are all now eager for the new singing year to start and have already persuaded friends and neighbours to join us – remember they are welcome to come and try us out for a few weeks before officially joining and as we don’t plan to increase our membership fees they will be getting a bargain as well as huge enjoyment. We are very lucky that we have such a close connection with Christ’s Hospital - we can have great concerts and still be able to donate to the Music School and give annual bursaries to keen students.

As I mentioned at the start, it has been a year of upheaval, but I think we are back on an even keel with – as Katie has recently put it – a small but perfectly formed committee! But we would love to welcome new committee members – it’s not that bad a job, even though unpaid and unappreciated (joke!). I would also like to thank those of you who have joined teams to help with the running of rehearsals etc – a great help to us all.

There is one contentious point I would like to raise, sorry everyone, but it is the ladies’ dress code. We have very few “rules” here at CHCS and I like to think we are a very relaxed organisation overall and not hidebound, but this is one thing that causes problems every year. Just to state the facts – we ask that ladies wear long black ankle length skirts or black dress trousers, with long sleeved plain black tops for our November and Angus Ross concerts, with exceptions at Christmas (plain coloured scarves) and Summer (summer dresses). There are a few members who don’t know where their ankles are which is very noticeable when we process at St Mary’s. Please could a full-length skirt or dress trousers be bought/borrowed for our concerts? You have to agree that a rulebook containing one rule is not over-taxing, so can we all please follow through and Katie will be very pleased not to have to reiterate the position every term.

First rehearsal of the new singing year is on Thursday 8th September at 7.30pm – venue at CH to be confirmed as there is Arts event in the Court Room, and there will be the usual wine and juice whilst music is being distributed and a chance to catch up with members before we begin the business of actually singing. I hope you’ve all had a wonderful summer and are ready to go. Liz Lancaster - Chairman Director of Music’s report

Andrew’s Report will be issued separately before we begin the new term.

Dates for this year

1st rehearsal and ‘social’ Thursday 8th September

No rehearsal for half term Thursday 27th October

Rehearsal in St. Mary’s Church Thursday 3rd November

Concert (and afternoon rehearsal) Saturday 5th November

Age UK Carol singing in Carfax, Horsham Saturday 10th December 1.30 -2pm

Carol Concert Thursday 15th December

1st rehearsal 2017 Thursday 12th January 2017

No rehearsal for half term Thursday 16th February

Workshop Saturday 11th March

Angus Ross Concert (and afternoon rehearsal) Sunday 19th March

1st rehearsal summer term Thursday 23rd & 30th March, then 20th April

No rehearsal for half term Thursday, 1st June

Concert Friday, 16th June

Committee

The Committee and their responsibilities are:

Chairman & Publicity Liz Lancaster 01403 753279 [email protected]

Secretary & Membership Secretary Katie Callas 01403 258403 & 07866 647525

[email protected]

Treasurer Robyn Page

Music Librarian Joan Pye 823412 [email protected]

Workshop Mike Roberts [email protected] Treasurer’s Report

Firstly, before I divulge the nitty gritty of our financial position this year (it will not be that detailed, do not worry!) I would like to say it has been a pleasure to act as your new treasurer for the second half of this year – I look forward to continuing in this role to the best of my ability in the future.

In regards to our financial position this year, we are in a very secure position, even with the expenses of an additional concert in the spring. Once again, as previous years have demonstrated, both the Carol and Summer concerts remain the most popular among our audiences; with both receiving an increase in ticket sales of over £600 more than last year.

This year we awarded two bursaries to two very commendable recipients, with one student having used theirs to take part in the Ardingly Summer School Choral Course this summer. We have also made a donation of £2000 to Christ Hospital Music School. Due to the successes of this year, we are pleased to confirm that membership fees will remain the same for next year and we look forward to welcoming you all again in September. A detailed report of the income and expenditure for 2015- 2016 will be made available soon once the final figures have been put together. I hope you are all having a great summer!

Robyn Page

Treasurer

Membership Secretary’s Report

In preparing my report, I decided to look back through past newsletters and found from 2003 (when I first joined the committee) the same things were said then as now…Membership is good, but we need more men! Esther Clark is kindly writing another article for the WS County Times which will hopefully encourage some new singers to give us a try, but please try to bring some new people to our first rehearsal on Thursday 8th September.

This leads me on to my next point. Thank you to those members of the choir who give up their time to help The Teams 2015-2016. I have included the list from last year, so if you would like a different role, or now have the time or inclination to help a bit more, please let me know and I will amend the list. If I don’t hear from you ( [email protected] ), I shall assume that you are happy to continue as shown below. We always need more help, especially in the ‘Buddy’ role (sorry, I know some don’t like the word, but it ‘describes’ the job) and also strong people to move the chair racks and piano at the beginning and end of rehearsals. The two Michaels do a great job, but there might be some other willing helpers too? Similarly, if you think there is a job that you can do that is not on our list, please let us know.

Help at the first rehearsal on Thursday 8th September…. I know that Joan really appreciates the Library Team and will look forward to their help with music distribution; we will also need the Membership Team to be in force, who can introduce new people to a friendly face to sit next to and the Drinks Team (I think Peter W kindly offered) to pour the drinks that I will provide. Please could you also bring your membership forms and subscription cheque or if you would like to pay by online banking, I am happy for you to email me your membership form.

Name Badges…When I took over the role of membership secretary from Hilary, she described it as one of the best committee roles to have as you get to know everybody by name. As I have already admitted to the choir, remembering names is not always my forte, so my apologies for next term in advance! However, as I have said before, it would be a great help to me if you could wear your name badges clearly so that I and others can read them. However, the main reason to wear your name badge is so that you don’t have to sign in at the school reception on your way into the school as all other school visitors should do. I will bring replacement badges to the first few rehearsals if yours is lost or broken.

Help with learning parts… http://www.cyberbass.com/Major_Works/Vivaldi_A/vivaldi_gloria.htm http://www.cyberbass.com/Major_Works/Handel_GF/handel_coronation_anthems.htm

Katie Callas

Membership Secretary

Committee Teams 2015-2016

Librarian team Joan Pye [email protected]

Help Chief librarian deliver books to first rehearsal.

To distribute books to voice parts at first rehearsal.

Help librarian with book collection after concert and return to car.

Help with rubbing out copies.

Bridget Cozens, Angela Chown, Gill Redston, Val Clift, Mary Gilmore

Membership team Katie Callas [email protected] or [email protected]

Liaise with membership secretary about new members and look out for new member when they arrive. Meet and greet new members and introduce to ‘buddy’ in their voice part.

Be a buddy in voice part. Sit next to them and introduce to others in the voice part. Answer any queries or direct back to membership secretary.

Judith Nesbitt, Paul Maddren, Mary Gilmore, Jean Haynes, Rosemary Chapman

Ticket team Katie Callas [email protected]

Liaise with CH box office over printing of tickets for concerts which will be delivered to Katie Callas’ pigeon hole in CH Common Room.

Collect tickets from Katie Callas.

Promote ticket sales to choir.

Sell tickets to members at rehearsals. Pass monies to treasurer.

Sell tickets on door at concerts (where applicable)

Jean Haynes, Gill Redston

Programme team Liz Lancaster [email protected]

Liaise with Director of Music for concert running order.

Create programme and email out to committee for proof reading.

Arrange for professional printing.

Arrange for FOH handing our programmes.

Rosemary Chapman, Natalie Higgs

Publicity team Liz Lancaster [email protected]

Design poster.

Email to committee for proof reading.

Arrange for professional printing.

Bring to rehearsals for choir to distribute.

Create suitable distribution list and arrange for wide coverage.

Contact local press for recruitment articles

Contact local press for concert adverts

Ideas for recruitment of new members Jonathan Copeland, Esther Clark

Website Team Katie Callas [email protected]

Review website content.

Keep website up to date and suggest improvements.

Make weekly updates when necessary.

Simon Barnes, Pamela Tranter

Room set up team Mike Roberts [email protected]

Helping set up for rehearsals and concerts and tidying up afterwards i.e. staying a short time to help move chairs back etc.

Moving piano at beginning and end of rehearsal

Michael Cade

Choir liaison Joan Pye [email protected]

Someone to check with all other choirs/choral societies in the area re forthcoming concerts – dates, programme, etc., perhaps on an annual basis, so that we don’t have to change dates in future?

Liaising with charities re refreshments for concerts and further publicity

Val Clift, Sue Healy

Librarian’s Report

I have to report a small miracle! After the Angus Ross Concert all of the copies of Faure’s Requiem were returned without me making a single phone call, a record! Unfortunately the same could not be said for the Spring concert when I had to chase up a great many members to return theirs and one Bach went missing so the society had to purchase a new copy. A big thank you to all of those who make such an effort to get their copies back to me if they have been unable to sing in the concert and also to those of you who rub out the markings in their copies when they receive them and a plea as usual to those who don’t. Another big thank you to the “music- team who have been so helpful especially in helping me to erase the markings in the copies before returning them to the library. Perhaps members who don’t clean up theirs on receipt would like to join the team and then you will see how important this is and how time consuming.

Music for next term is:

Vivaldi Gloria Ricordi edition, edited by Casella

Handel The King Shall Rejoice (Coronation Anthem No.2) Novello edition Angus Ross Concert 2017 Mozart Requiem New Novello edition

These will all be available for hire (no charge) at the first meeting.

Happy singing,

Joan Pye

CHRIST’S HOSPITAL CHORAL SOCIETY Membership Form Season 2016 - 17

ADDRESS:

POSTCODE:

TEL no:

EMAIL address:

Voice part (please circle): Soprano 1 or 2 / Contralto 1 or 2 / Tenor 1 or 2 / Bass 1 or 2

Subscription (please circle): Full: £55 / CH Staff: £40 / Under 25 years old: £10

(Please give date of birth if under 25 years: …………………………….)

Please tick one option:

□ I enclose a cheque made payable to CHCS, OR

□ I have made my payment by BACS: 09-01-55, 17206188 I have read the CHCS Safeguarding Policy during the last three months.

(The policy is on the website: http://www.chchoralsoc.org/policies)

Signature:………………………………………………….. Date……………………………..

Please print, complete and return this form to Katie Callas, 1 The Avenue, Christ’s Hospital, Horsham, RH13 0LU or deliver it by hand at a rehearsal.

The information which you supply is for CHCS use only.