Saturday 17th October 2009
Barefooters and Friends: Workshop and Gig
at The Newman Hall, Westbury on Trym. 2-5pm and 8pm
At the workshop 65 people enjoyed learning to sing Autumn Leaves arranged for voices by Gitika Partington and My Guy arranged by Elaine Wilson. The participants sang these songs at the evening concert which was opened by some hilarious poetry from John Christopher Wood, followed by stunning guitar solo from Kit Hawes and a gripping short story about a mermaid in Asda by Charlotte Beedell. The Barefooters performed a tight 40 minute set with a variety of humour, old time and modern songs to a happy audience. These events will be few and far between, so watch out for the next one!
Sing For Water 2006, 2007, 2008 and the Big Sing of 2009
This year's Big Sing - Sing For Water West 2009 - took place on 27th June in the Amphitheatre down at the Harbouside. It involved over 600 people from many different choirs and "scratch" singing groups around the South West and has so far raised over £22,000.
For the past four years the Sing Your Socks Off team have been running Sing for Water workshops in Bristol and, more recently, Wiltshire. We formed "scratch choirs" (i.e. starting from scratch) who learnt a great selection of songs over 5 singing workshops and then performed them to raise money for Water Aid, a charity which sets up sustainable clean water projects in developing countries. In 2008 these concerts in St George's, Bristol and the Civic Hall in Trowbridge along with the sponsorship efforts of the participants, raised over £10,000 which will contribute to the provision of clean water and sanitation in parts of Malawi and Ghana in Africa. Many of the participants also went to the huge "Sing for Water" gathering at the Thames Festival in London to perform the songs again with many other choirs from all over the country. Helen Chadwick founded "Sing for Water" in 2002. More info at www.singforwater.com
Sing Your Socks Off for Summer - a day in the hills overlooking Bath
Walking, singing, beer, tea and cake!
Sing Your Socks Off for Summer was led by Chris Samuel, Ali Orbaum, Dee Jarlett and Wendy Sargeant. We had a beautiful sunny and hot day beneath the beautiful Solsbury Hill overlooking Bath and the Avon Valley. In the morning people walked to the top of the hill and then down to the slopes where we ate, sang and enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of the owners of the land who gave us beer and cups of tea. We hope to repeat this lovely day next year.
Barefoot Picnic July 12th 2009
This year's picnic on Solsbury Hill looked as though it was going to be wet, but the sun shone and the singing was fantastic. The new awning that Andew and Annette Mercer have put up from their barn gave us shade and excellent acoustics to sing under. We now know that rain or shine, the singing outside on this glorious hill will always be fine.
Sing Your Socks Off by Lake Garda October 2008
This October, Dee, Ali, Chris, Fran, Elaine and adminstrator Ilse Hambrook took 56 people for a 5-day holiday by Lake Garda.Click Here for the flyer about SING YOUR SOCKS OFF BY LAKE GARDA
We stayed in an ancient abbey, eating fresh and simple food, much of it grown in the walled gardens. We sang every morning and some evenings, walked down to the lake for swimming, enjoyed optional extra dancing, taize singing and writing workshops, lazed around reading and sketching in the beautiful gardens, made our own entertainment with performances and party games and relaxed in the Trattoria just outside the walls of the abbey.
We had a day out in Gardone, travelling there along the beautiful Lake Garda by boat. We explored the town and ate in a restaurant.
We shared the songs we had learnt during the week at a small performance in a hotel in Desenzano
Sing Your Socks Off in Innsbruck 2006 and 2007
We have organised 2 great holidays in Innsbruck. About 35 people came and the first year we stayed in the Youth Hostel on the edge of town. Although the workshop room was great and the rooms adequate, it was a little too far out of town. Last year, we stayed in the newly refurbished convent Haus Marillac which was spotlessly clean, really comfortable and we had the whole place to ourselves. It was very central and the workshop rooms were spacious and light. We had such fun that two of the participants decided to help find somewhere new to go to this year. In October 2008 we are going to an Abbey by Lake Garda. Look at the flyer for details!
Singing Holidays for the Holiday Property Bond
We have run singing holidays for Holiday Property Bond in January 2007 and 2008 at St Simeon in France and March 2008 and 2009 at Henllys on Anglesey, North Wales and also at Tigh Mor in the Trossachs last November. We will be doing more of this thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding work and these may be open to people who have attended previous singing holidays with us. HPB bondholders... watch this space. To see a little souvenir film from our recent holiday in Scotland, check out http://vimeo.com/2363222