Firstly, with sadness we will be farewelling Matt soon. With much soul searching he has made the decision to move to Brazil in September and we wish him all the happiness one can have in these strange and extraordinary times.

Astrid has kindly and generously offered to work with us after Matt leaves. So… zoom rehearsals in parts will resume and Astrid has plans fo try out a new videoing recording method with us. Details will be in a future post.

In the meantime- we have enjoyed three Park rehearsals and have two more planned at Laurel Bank Park – Hill Street side. It worked very well with our now ‘portable’ piano and tucked in out of the wind.
Dates: Sunday’s 16th and 23rd August. 3pm-4pm.
See current repertoire- we have been practicing all pieces except ‘Africa’.

Date claimer – Farewell to Matt & sing
Sunday September 13th. 3pm at Linda’s home in Highfields. Details will follow – thank-you to Linda for the kind offer to use her enormous outdoor area so we can safely socially distance.
We also have the offer of this space if the weather is raining for the next two rehearsals and the change will be with a notice posted on the website on Sunday morning.

See you soon.

This Sunday’s rehearsal (9/8) will be again in Laurel Bank Park but move to behind Laurel Bank Hall on the Hill Street side. Bring all current music for an enjoyable sing with Matt. 3pm start.
At 4pm a VOCE meeting will follow our sing to discuss where to next. There are no plans to return to our deMolay evening rehearsals in the near future – so all ideas and suggestions welcome.

cheers Marion

We will meet near the Croquet Club in Laurel bank for a sing Sunday afternoon after 2.30pm for a 3 pm start till 4pm. The weather looks like it will be kind to us this week and masked and unmasked singers welcome!
Bring all your music including Somewhere over the Rainbow to sing in real time together. We plan to have a piano this week 🙂

Hi Àll,

Due to the somewhat inclement weather, today’s rehearsal is cancelled. I will see you all next Sunday at 3pm. Have a lovely afternoon and an even better week!

Much love,

Matt xx

Hopefully we will enjoy another outdoor rehearsal this Sunday. Great roll up last week! 3pm start at Laurel Bank Park near croquet club. If weather is uncertain, check the website around 2pm. 🙂

Hi All,

Thank you so much for your patience. Our wonderful video/sound enginerr Andrew Blenkinsop has completed the video. It has been uploaded to YouTube and now available to view and share to your heart’s content. It was a delight to do such a fun project with you all and I hope that you are happy with the results.

The video is available via this link – https://youtu.be/F46Q8O_NQ5U

Please bring this piece of music along on Sunday (available in the repertoire section if you do not have it already) and we can finally do a LIVE version to hear it altogether and in-the-round.

Thanks once again for all your work. Feedback is always welcome so feel free to contact me at [email protected] to share what you thought of the experience!

Have a great week and lots of love to you all!

Matt 🙂

This Sunday at Laurel Bank Park. Meet on lawn behind Croquet Club. Bring a coffee or drink @ 2.30pm for a ‘distance’ catch up and 3pm start. Fingers crossed the weather will be good. See Matt’s posts below for music. 🙂

Hi All,

Hope you are well and keen to get back together to sing! I want to keep our first time back singing en-masse (and in person) quite simple, so we will do some familiar pieces! Please dig out your copies of the following to bring along on Sunday, 19th July (2:30pm bring-your-own-coffee for a 3pm start):

• Baraka na wewe
• Connected
• Ya Basta

Very much looking forward to seeing you all there! Do let me know if you have any questions!

Much love and keep smiling,

Matt ^_^

Wondering what is coming up next? VOCE recently meet. Below are notes from our meeting and a plan for park rehearsals… read on

VOCE Meeting (zoom) 22/6/20
Attending: Rob, Gail, Pam, Michael, Matt, Susie, Linda, Marion, (Chris R) Apologies: Catherine, Chrissie, Stuart.

1. Financials – Rob presented the financials which were accepted. Hall hire has been suspended for the moment. 
2. Video project – Thank you to all the participants  for taking the challenge!! And a big thank you to Matt and parts coordinators Chrissie, Susie and Michael for zooming the rehearsals. Sadly we are farewelling Susie who is starting a new job up north and we wish her all the best. 
3. Finalising and Publishing Video – stay posted cause it’s on its way. 
4. Term 3 Rehearsals – while the calendar suggests our Term 3 is starting, we discussed alternatives to our usual Tuesday evening meetings. Matt has confirmed the following:    
   Sunday afternoon Park Rehearsals.        
   Where: Laurel Bank Park.
   Near hall/ car park off Hill Street.                                     Dates: July 19th / 26th August 2nd/ 9th              Time: 3pm – 4pm  bring a coffee at 2.30pm to chat beforehand if you like.                            
   Music – details to follow in Matt’s post. 
5. We will reassess situation after these 4 weeks. Hope you can join us. 
   
   cheers Marion

No zoom rehearsals are planned in June at this stage. Those participating in the virtual choir project will be busy practicing, recording and uploading their videos over the next couple of weeks. See email from Matt re: uploading to Dropbox.

We await updates with the pandemic medical advise in regards to returning to our evening hall rehearsals and meantime VOCE will continue to consider other alternatives.

take care all,

Marion