✨MAGIC IN THE AIR✨

STITHIANS LADIES CHOIR

The magical acoustics and atmosphere of All Saints Church, Falmouth were the setting for our Charity Concert last weekend. We were delighted to host the gentlemen of Mousehole Male Voice Choir who journeyed east to share a delightful evening of music and camaraderie whilst raising funds to support the Children’s Hospice Southwest. https://www.chsw.org.uk

MOUSEHOLE MALE VOICE CHOIR

The bold, bravura performances from the Mousehole Men were a perfect foil for the silvery tones and quirky humour of the Ladies, whilst a shared warmth of tone and resonance kept the listeners spell-bound.

THE THREE SOPRANOS modelling their new jewellery!

The audience was large and appreciative, delving deeply into their pockets to support the work of Children’s Hospice Southwest – we do not yet know the amount collected but we will be having a cheque presentation as soon as we can. Mary Murfin from the charity explained during the evening how important such collections are for this vital local resource.

Preparing to sing together.

As a finale to the concert the choirs joined together to sing the rousing Morte Christe, followed by thunderous applause, many congratulations and scrummy pasties!

⭐️A MAGIC EVENING INDEED!⭐️
watch this space for a possible repeat performance!

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💜A WONDERFUL CELEBRATION💜

We celebrated International Women’s Day a couple of days later than the official date – we calculated that not many people would attend a concert on a Wednesday! But people certainly turned out in force to share some fine musical performances and some equally fine refreshments.

OUR WONDERFUL AND TALENTED GUESTS WERE …..

CELTIC CHORDS BARBERSHOP CHORUS
‘CELLIST BECKY McGLADE WHO PLAYED “LADIES IN LAVENDER”
SINGER ANNE PARKES

We have celebrated International Women’s Day in previous years but this was our first time in The Hub, Carnon Downs Methodist Chapel and it proved to be a lovely venue with excellent acoustics and facilities. We put up the purple decorations and balloons and enjoyed learning about the history of Women ‘s Day from our wonderful narrators Oriel and Sue.

There was a lovely friendly and inclusive feeling as we shared music, singing and, at the end of the evening, superb refreshments provided by the ladies. We were delighted to be supporting the work of Carnon Downs Memory Cafe and two of the organisers came to explain to the audience the nature of their work and how we were helping with the funding.

Here are a few more photos of the evening.

International Women’s Day is marked around the world on March 8th ( or thereabouts in our case! ) and we look forward to more celebrations in future years.

Stithians is officially switched on!

We were invited to join in the festivities for the switch on of the Stithians Christmas Lights and what a lovely event it was. The main road through the village was closed to traffic to enable a beautiful procession of lanterns made by the children. The procession was impressively led by Kernow Pipes and Drums

There were lots of stalls in the Stithians Centre selling gifts and edibles and the mulled wine was flowing at The Seven Stars. The countdown to the switch on ushered in a blaze of gorgeous colours illuminating the traditional architecture of Stithians.

The choir was given a handy performing area in front of the Stithians Centre and we opened our programme with “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” to the delight of the audience.

To be honest – it was freezing but we were really glad that it was dry. Of course our mascot, Betty, came along too and she sensibly wore her winter drawers and big coat – joined in the singing too!

So the second of our Christmas performances came to a close with lots of smiles. We join the Stithians community again on Sunday 11th at 3pm for the Carol Service at the Methodist Church.

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SUCCESSFUL SATURDAY

The Ladies were invited to sing at The Golden Lion Inn, Stithians to enhance the festivities of their Christmas Market. It was a lovely occasion in a relaxed atmosphere and our mascot, Betty, made her debut appearance!

Here are the Ladies enjoying their break from singing. We were delighted to welcome retired member Lee who delighted everyone with “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree “

Sopranos Viv and Trixie adding a touch of Christmas glamour

All in all everyone enjoyed themselves and we look forward to a return visit next year.

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⭐️In other news – we congratulate two of our members who sing in a Barbershop Chorus. Isabell and Kerry took part in the Camborne Music Festival singing with local group Celtic Chords and they won their class with impressive marks. More music making – more happy smiling faces ⭐️

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OOOOO BETTY!

Meet Betty, Stithians Ladies Choir’s latest member. She is named after the Choir’s very first accompanist and was created by the talented Jane Madge from our second soprano section. Betty has yet to have a voice test but we feel she will fit into the Ladies’ shared love of music and laughter.

PS – that’s a really small chair!

BEAUTIFUL BODMIN 💜

We were delighted to be invited by Loveny MVC to join them for a concert in the atmospheric St Petroc’s Church in Bodmin, and off we went on a beautiful autumn evening, ready to sing our hearts out.

Most of us travelled on the coach – it’s some time since we all had a trip together ( 2018 to Lostwithiel if I recall correctly ) Luckily all the arrangements went smoothly and we all arrived in a timely manner and raring to go!

Once again we were joined by our good friend composer and ‘cellist Becky McGlade

who joined us in two of our pieces. Being a superb soprano, she also sang with us because one third of the top soprano section was missing. We are really grateful that she spends time with us and shares her talents so willingly and plays our theme tune “Ladies in Lavender” !

We were also joined on this occasion by flautist Dylan Cooper-Waite

who came to our rescue at the last minute. We sang Caccini’s version of Ave Maria which has a lovely flute accompaniment. Unfortunately the Choir member who usually plays that part was not able to be with us and we are incredibly grateful that Dylan was able to step in at such short notice and play so beautifully.

The gentlemen of Loveny MVC were in fine voice

and the fabulous acoustics of this wonderful church enhanced their powerful sound and varied programme. We joined them at the end when they sang Morte Christe – a fine, rousing end to a superb concert in Beautiful Bodmin. We loved performing in St Petroc’s and we thank Loveny Male Voice Choir for their kind invitation – perhaps we can persuade The Boys in Blue to travel West before too long!


Many thanks to Paul Kenealy, Bodmin Camera Club

for the superb photos
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BIG CHEQUE FOR iSIGHT CORNWALL

A substantial sum was raised by Stithians Ladies Choir and Friends at their concert in September. Pictured are Chairman Peggy and Treasurer Connie on either side of Carole Theobald from iSight Cornwall.

Some of Choir were having a social evening when the photo was taken and the amount donated, in case you cannot read it, was £653.02, which will help iSight Cornwall deliver transport solutions for those who need them. One of our members has also become a volunteer driver and is thoroughly enjoying her new responsibilities.

🌟Read more about iSight Cornwall HERE🌟

OUR NEXT CONCERT

We will be guests of Loveny Male Voice Choir

The splendour of St Petroc’s Church Bodmin will be our venue.

Some of our recently joined members will be experiencing their first concert with us and we will be sharing a lovely, varied programme with some solo verses and featuring our dear friend Becky McGlade on ‘cello.

It will be a super evening of music from two award winning choirs and only £8 entrance payable on the door.

⭐️SEE YOU THERE,⭐️

🎶OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL EVENING🎶

Our first concert for two and a half years!

Friday September 2nd was another first for Stithians Ladies Choir. March saw us entering and winning the County Music Festival and now we produced a concert worthy of our award. Carnon Downs Methodist chapel held a large and very appreciative audience as we presented a varied and interesting programme of musical delights, the evening being expertly led by Rev. Liz Harris.

One of our ladies is a member of Carrick Consort, a recorder group who meet locally at Playing Place. They delighted us with a selection of music from a range of composers and eras which was enthusiastically received.

Our other guest, who is now a regular performer at our concerts ( although we last appeared together on 8th March 2020, just before the first lockdown! ) was the soprano Simone Hellier.

Once again she delighted us all with her stunning voice, artistic interpretations and her wonderful connection and musical partnership with pianist Rico Gerber – our very own accompanist.

The choir was really back on form, even though we are now fewer in number and three ladies were not able to be there, the sound was absolutely the Stithians Sound – so flexible when singing a broad variety of songs. We sang three brand new numbers – there may have been a few crossed fingers – but they were perfectly performed and the audience loved them.

As usual we rounded off the evening with scrumptious refreshments and a raffle and a large and very useful sum was raised for iSight Cornwall, the charity’s representative having told us all about the valuable work they do in the County. I believe they even gained a couple of new volunteers which made our efforts even more rewarding.

It was wonderful to be back sharing our love of music and laughter with so many people. Our next concert is on SATURDAY OCTOBER 8th 7.30 at ST PETROC’S, BODMIN as guests of Loveny Male Voice Choir. Maybe we will see you there?

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