Tag Archives: Stithians Ladies Choir

✨MAGIC IN THE AIR✨

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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💜

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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.

🎶OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL EVENING🎶

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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.

Photo from Simone’s latest CD

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?

🌟🌟🌟

AT LAST – A CONCERT!

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We have several concerts planned for this year and our very first will be in a couple if weeks. Our numbers have settled down and we are enjoying the luxury of a Covid-free period of time whilst still being cautious.

The proceeds of this concert will go to support the work of iSight Cornwall, there will be tasty refreshments afterwards and our brilliant line up of guests ensures a fabulous evening of music.

Why not join us? You can pay at the door or get a ticket from any choir member.

SEE YOU THERE!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

WE DID IT!

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Like most choirs we have had a disturbingly empty couple of years. When we eventually got back together we decided that a good way forward, to give ourselves something to aim for, would be to enter the Cornwall Music Festival. Quite a few of our longstanding members had retired, others had reassessed their priorities and we were also blessed with some new members, so the change in the choir was considerable.
So it was with great happiness that we entered the class for Ladies Choirs on Friday 18th March with only three choir members missing! Unfortunately we were the only entrants but the Ladies sang their little socks off and thoroughly deserved the Howard Griffin Shield. The adjudicator was fulsome in his praise likening the Ladies’ tone to melted chocolate and warm honey – we were quite hungry by the time he finished!

Penny holding the shield

Our next challenge that evening was to go head to head with the winner of the Male Voice Choir class, City of Truro MVC, for the Choral Championship. This is a very grand title for what proved to be a friendly sing off between two excellent choirs with a lovely atmosphere of mutual admiration and respect. In the end we managed to pip them to the post by the narrowest of margins and came away with an awesome gold cup.

Our wonderful accompanist Rico with the gold cup

The Ladies were absolutely ecstatic that all their hard work, during very uncertain times, had paid off. Here is a photo of the choir showing the lovely ribbons that we wore to show support for the people of Ukraine.

So … it’s onwards and upwards for Stithians Ladies Choir. We have several concerts planned for later in the year and we will share the details when they are finalised. As with all groups of people there have been huge challenges for the members in the past couple of years but we feel positive and energetic about the future which is obviously GOLDEN!


🏆🏆🏆🏆

🌟🌟🌟🌟

A UNIQUE CELEBRATION

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Here at Stithians Ladies Choir we love celebrating good news – the arrival of new family members, new jobs and many of Life’s other milestones. Today is the birthday of esteemed and valued choir member Thelma Rolling. Nobody would believe it but she is 90 years old!

Some of the Choir Ladies with Thelma
Photos from the celebratory tea and cake after practice at Carnon Downs Methodist Church

Thelma joined the Choir in 1996 and has thoroughly enjoyed her time as a mainstay of the second alto section. She really looks forward to her Thursday practice nights and is a seasoned performer at concerts – often regaling us with witty anecdotes, reflecting her wicked sense of humour. We believe that Thelma is the first Choir member to celebrate their 90th year with us – let’s hope we can all follow her shining example of drive, determination & dedication.

🌟 HAPPY BIRTHDAY THELMA 🌟

🎶 WE’RE BACK 🎶

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THE LAST TIME WE SANG TOGETHER 8th MARCH 2020


Every single member has been longing to get back to singing after so long apart. Obviously the welfare of everyone is paramount and we will be easing our way back. We are starting with …. A PARTY! 🎈 After all, we have all had at least one Birthday in the last 18 months, so tea, cake and a huge catch-up are essential. This is also an excellent opportunity for new members to join us. So why not come and see what Stithians Ladies Choir is all about?

THURSDAY 2nd SEPTEMBER 7.30

CARNON DOWNS METHODIST CHURCH HALL

We will be back to singing the following week, the 9th.
Same place, same time.

SEE YOU THERE!

🌟

True Grit!

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Saturday 9th December was memorable because an icy Arctic blast brought freezing temperatures and snow to many parts of the UK. Luckily the snow did not reach Cornwall but Stithians Ladies needed all their resolve when they reached their concert venue … Budock Church, with all its ethereal beauty, had a heating malfunction! With enviable stoicism they tackled the first part of their programme wearing their fetching red and black uniform …but after a while, watching The Saxy Maids struggle with their very cold fingers … (but somehow making a gorgeous sound)

MD Bea, herself resorting to the trusty duffle coat …gave the order to don the coats and scarves. Relief!

Considering the conditions everyone did remarkably well – including the audience, all of whom stayed with us and enjoyed some truly fabulous music. The Saxy Maids swung some gorgeous arrangements, accompanist Rico introduced us to a new composer, President Thelma read a humorous poem

and Lee brought the house down with her Santa hat!

… you try singing whilst in fits of laughter! Actually it was just what we needed at that point and spirits were lifted as we approached the final song. Afterwards everyone was very glad of a nice cup of tea and some beautiful home made refreshments, really pleased that they had been able to support Children’s Hospice South West whose representative came along to explain how the donations make a huge difference to their work.

Thanks also to compere Andrew Thomas who was obviously tougher than  everyone – note the lack of outer garments!

This concert was memorable in several ways, raising a significant sum for a truly worthy cause and raising the awareness of many people that Stithians Ladies always rise to a challenge and will not be defeated!

STITHIANS LADIES CHOIR.                                                                          for the joy of music and friendship

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photos courtesy of Peter Williams