Soundsfun Choir at Southlands

Great evening with the Soundsfun Choir

A YORK choir formed especially for a musical comedy put on at York Theatre Royal in July 2009 gave an excellent concert at Southlands on September 11, leaving the audience wanting more.

The Soundsfun Choir started their programme with a calypso, When We Sing In The Choir Together, with words by Southlands member Amanda Crawley and continued with a mixed and well-balanced programme of light and popular songs.

These included spirituals, an Adrican lullaby, Soualle, and popular numbers like I Could Have Danced All Night (Loewe), Getting To Know You (Rodgers and Hammerstein), Alexander's Ragtime Band (Irving Berlin), and Summertime (Gershwin).

In addition there was a humerous recitation from Janice Lowther, entitled Albert And The Privy, a piano solo from accompanist David Hammond, and two solos by Amanda Crawley.

The evening ended with refreshments -- teas, coffees and "posh" biscuits, including some very popular home-made biscuits.

The Soundsfun Choir came together as a community choir for the Lip Service Theatre production of Desperate To Be Doris and enjoyed the experience and the new friendships they made so much that they decided they wanted to stay together and build on the new friendships made. This led to their asking Amanda Crawley to be their musical director.

The concert was arranged by the Southlands Events Group, the new name proposed for the Fundraising Group to reflect more accurately what they are trying to do.

The group organises occasional fundraising events because money is needed to pay for various projects, but it is also responsible for organising the church's free birthday party in November and for the Christmas Festival which was intended to bring people on to the premises.

It is also asking the church to back the idea of a two or three-day Easter festival in 2011 which would include an exhibition featuring Easter traditions from one of the continents.

The group agreed that its aim should be to organise quality events to which people, including our own members and friends, would want to come, thus making the job of fundraising relatively painless.

This year's Christmas Festival, running over the first two weekends in December and the week in between, will as already reported focus on angels and Nativity scenes instead of Christmas trees and Nativity scenes.

The Events Group is also providing the meal, based on recipes from Cambodia, for a Harvest Extra event on Saturday, September 25, starting at 4.00pm, in aid of the Methodist Relief and Development Fund.

Arrangements are also being made to cater for a visiting party from Wigan on Thursday, October 7, plan a church family lunch one Sunday in October and arranged concerts by a male voice choir and a steel band in the spring.