The Inaugural Event!
Last weekend, Carleton Ladies Choir and Carleton Men’s Shed Singers hosted four other local choirs for the first ever ‘Carleton Festival of Choirs’ at St Mary’s Church in Carleton-in-Craven. It was a hugely successful event, so I just wanted to share a few details about it, and embed videos of some of the performances so that those of you who were not there get a chance to listen.
On Sunday 8th June, we had six choirs performing for about 20 minutes each. The performances themselves took place in St Mary’s Church to an audience of choir members from the six groups. There was also a live video feed to Carleton Village Hall, where the general public could relax with a cup of tea and some cake while they enjoyed the spectacle on a large projection at the back of the hall. Here’s the video footage that was beamed across the internet (and then about 50 yards from one building to another!!) :
Here’s a little about each choir that performed:
The Carleton Men’s Shed Choir is led by Peter Gunn and meets at Carleton Social Club on Park Lane each Monday evening. They’re a really fun group of guys who combine singing with socialising and having a nice pint (or two!), and anyone is always welcome to join them, whether you’ve sung before (or can read music) or not. Pete arranges an eclectic array of songs in up to 3 parts, including folk, sea shanties and some musical theatre, along with covers of popular music throughout the ages. At the festival they performed:
- South Australia
- No-Hopers, Jokers and Rogues
- Streets of London
- Yorkshire My Home
- Blue Moon
- Paint it Black
The Hellisingers, led by Sue Alderson, hail from the nearby village of Hellifield. Their lively performance of songs made famous by Frank Sinatra were full of characterisation and just the right amount of movement. They were also accompanied on Sunday by Pete Gunn, with the following:
- I Got You Under My Skin
- The Lady is a Tramp
- New York, New York
Sing Out! South Craven is a relatively new choir, led by myself and accompanied by David Weale-Davey. We’ve been rehearsing for 18 months now each Wednesday night at Glusburn Institute. New members are welcome, but we have a waiting list for ladies who would like to sing with us. As their Musical Director, I try to focus our choir’s repertoire on upbeat music, literally and figuratively. On Sunday we performed these songs:
- Best Day of My Life
- Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
- Good Morning Starshine
- Top of the World
- Walking on Sunshine
The Skipton Choir started out life as a Rock Up and Sing group but is now an independent mixed voice choir led by David Weale-Davey. They perform a really wide variety of music from musical theatre numbers to more ‘choral’ repertoire, and meet each Monday evening at Skipton Girls Grammar School. I accompanied them at Carleton Festival of Choirs, and the soloist was Fee Ludlam-Brown:
- Swingin’ with the Saints
- He Lives in You
- Somewhere Over the Rainbow
- Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat
The Cononley Singers are a lovely, friendly group who I’ve known for a long time now, having once been their regular accompanist. From their conception, they have been directed by Tony Hamilton, and they are now accompanied by Robin Terry. They meet on Wednesday evenings at Cononley Village Institute, and I absolutely loved the set of songs they performed in Carelton:
- Happy Together
- Something Inside (So Strong)
- Mr Blue Sky
- Make You Feel My Love
- You Can’t Stop the Beat
- Homeward Bound
- We Will Rock You
I have been the proud Musical Director of the Carleton Ladies Choir since 2013, and for quite a few years now we have had the privilege of being accompanied at the piano by Peter Gunn. We have a really lovely bunch of members who not only sing together each Thursday evening (at Carleton Village Hall) but have in many cases formed lifelong friendships. With a focus on community, we strengthen our bonds through song – and we really do sing EVERYTHING from Mozart to Madonna! We’re super proud to have put on this Festival of Choirs, and being the hosts we came on as the final group to perform:
- The Rainbow Connection
- True Colors
- True Blue
- Yellow
- Why We Sing
The event, compered by Helen Charters, was beautifully finished off with a ‘massed sing’ of Can You Feel the Love Tonight from Lion King (arranged especially for this event by Pete Gunn). I felt that this was the highlight of the afternoon – it was incredibly moving to hear such a heartfelt song performed by the dozens of members of our six choirs all together. I can honestly say that I’ve never heard such an impressive vocal sound in this setting – we really raised the roof with this one!
I do hope you have time to enjoy the videos above of this wonderful event. It was successful in so many ways, but not least in having brought together so many likeminded people to share in the wonders of choral singing. We are planning to do it again at some point in the future, so watch this space!
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