Four concerts, a wedding and a funeral

We had a very busy summer term, with some great highs and some very sad lows. It is quite wonderful that being in the choir provides a huge source of friendship and support whatever the circumstances; enriching our lives.

On Saturday 3^rd June, with the help of funding from the Big Lottery Fund, we had a splendid Day trip to Chester, followed by afternoon tea and an evening Concert at St Chad’s, Hanmer ( http://parish.churchinwales.org.uk/a110/). Our concert was very well received; the audience found our repertoire to be a refreshing change from the types of concerts which are normally held there. It was a beautiful venue, we were made most welcome and it was a real privilege to sing in such a stunning setting with wonderful acoustics. It was wonderful to join with new friends in the enjoyment of music and song. It was very late when the choir returned to Salford, horrified on returning home to learn about the unfolding tragedy at the Ariande Grande concert.  It brought a stunned silence…people attacked where they had gathered to enjoy music and song…it has only now, as the summer draws to a close, seemed possible to write about it on this blog.

On Saturday 17^th June we gave a fundraising Concert at St James’ Church Eccles Old Road. It was delightful to see the ladies on the refreshment & raffle stall at the back of the church dancing to our Abba medley! A very pleasant evening for us all.  In addition, the afternoon ‘Tea Break’ concert at Bramhall Baptist Church on 12^th July was good fun. Our hosts went to trouble to make us feel welcome, including some pertinent jokes; it was a light and frothy afternoon, lifting everyone’s spirits.

On 14th July, we raised our voices at our Summer concert at Eccles Town Hall (ECHO, https://ecclestownhall.org/) to raise funds for the upkeep of the choir, with some of the proceeds going into our starter fund for next years’ travels. This venue is important to us because we are Eccles Community Choir and the Hall is the key volunteer-run community space for Eccles. However, we have to pay to perform here, so it is crucial that we get a good sized audience at the Hall to at least cover our costs. Thankfully, the audience seems to grow with each concert – please do come along to our annual Christmas, Spring and Summer Concerts. You will be supporting us and ECHO.

On 5^th August, the choir was invited to sing at a wedding at St Peter’s church, Prestbury. As Sarah and Thomas made their vows, the choir celebrated with them. The bride sent us the following message:

“I just want to send you an email to say a massive thank you for all your hard
work with the choir and for singing at our wedding. It was a pleasure to
have you there and you were wonderful!
It was nice to have a lot of smiling faces at me in the choir when I was at
the front feeling very nervous, it relaxed me! Can’t thank you enough.”

On 6^th August, a member of the choir, Agnes, sadly passed away. She was 91 years old and she had a happy death. Agnes sang in the choir for seven years, from 2004 to 2011. She never really left the choir though, because she came to many of our concerts and kept in touch with her friends in the choir. Agnes’ Funeral was on 22^nd August at St Luke’s RC Church, Salford and twenty-three members of the choir managed to attend. We gave her a marvellous send-off and according to her wishes, we attended the ‘party’ afterwards; over 100 people came to celebrate her life. We received many compliments about our singing at the funeral; Agnes would have been totally overwhelmed and delighted by it all.

So, the summer break was actually quite eventful and we are back at Branwood School on 12^th September, ready to start preparations for autumn and winter performances. We are open to new members and there are no auditions; come along and give us a try, or come and listen to us perform – the more, the merrier!