SDCS News
Well, it’s certainly been a very different year for choirs. In common with everyone else, SDCS rehearsals came to a halt in March 2020, but we were determined to find a way to carry on singing. The committee met regularly via Zoom, and we decided that we would have a virtual Christmas concert. This was a step into the unknown for all of us, but we are very lucky that our music director, Jeremy, is not only an amazing musician, but also a tech whizz, and by virtue of his fantastic hard work and encouragement we managed to produce our first virtual concert of Christmas music, jointly with Angrove Singers and Vox. We rehearsed every week via Zoom, which was a new experience for most of us, and sent in our individual recordings to Jeremy, who then performed minor miracles to put everything together into what turned out to be an excellent concert. Liz Greenhalgh and her son Danny organised the ticket sales, and the audience came from far and wide. We were able to make a significant contribution to charity from the proceeds, and chuffed with our success, planned two further concerts for Spring and Easter. These were equally successful, and gave us the opportunity to sing some lovely pieces, including Will Todd’s “Like a Rainbow Shining”, which he wrote in response to the pandemic.
With the relaxing of restrictions, the committee turned their thoughts to restarting rehearsals in person again. We had a “Sunday Afternoon Sing” at Swainby Church Hall in August, which was very enjoyable, and really fired us up to organise the resumption of regular rehearsals. For a number of reasons, we have decided to move to a new venue, Stokesley Parish Church, and they have been extremely helpful and welcoming. Resuming “proper” rehearsals has been a complicated process, but we are so looking forward to welcoming back choir members old and new. Rehearsals resume on Monday 6th September at 7.30pm. In preparation for this, we have produced a safety protocol and risk assessment, and it is important that everyone reads these documents and follows the guidance, to keep everyone as safe as possible. We have also produced a seating plan, so as to maintain reasonable social distancing, and so choir members may find themselves sitting in a slightly unfamiliar position. All the seats will be clearly labelled.
We will be singing two lovely and familiar pieces: Faure’s Requiem, and Vivaldi’s Gloria, which we will perform at our Autumn concert on Saturday November 13th.
We can’t wait to dust off the vocal cords and share the pleasure of choral singing once more!