(Noel Coward, 16.12.1889 – 26.3.1973)
This tune means so much to me. Almost my earliest musical memory is of my mother playing it on the parlour piano. It’s a sad song about love and loss but it danced through my head as I took a walk today in the late afternoon. The sun was low in the south west and lit up the spring blossoms all around me. The Winter Flowering Cherry has passed it best, but there were Magnolias in full bloom, Forsythia – love ’em or hate ’em – and in my garden the Clematis Armandii has started to flower and throw out tender green shoots. All beautiful and none of them native to our islands.
Even the humble daffodil may have been brought here by the Romans, tucked somewhere inside Caesar’s robes.
I could go on naming all the ‘migrants’ we find in our gardens throughout the year, but how dull our lives would be without their vibrant colours.
And so, to the choir, and our next ‘big thing’. On April 23rd, St George’s Day and Shakespeare’s birthday, we will be staging a concert, ‘Were I not to Sing’, at the Methodist Church in Hemel Hempstead. (See over the page for details and how to get tickets.)
*’Were I not to Sing’ the title piece is very important to us. Composed to mark the choir’s 10th anniversary by Rufus Frowde, our founder and Musical Director, to words by the Revd. Austin Janes of Grovehill Church of the Resurrection, it was given its first performance on November 9th, 2019. A repeat concert was planned for March 2020 when, as for so many, our plans were scuppered by Covid
So it is with renewed vigour and excitement that we look forward to the 23rd and hope that you will come along and lend us your ears.
*’WINTS’, as we call it, is undoubtedly an English composition, by an English composer.
Part of the joy of having Rufus as our musical director is his knack of finding new pieces for us to sing in many language and from many cultures and we welcome the challenges. I joined the choir in 2013 and I have over 100 songs from all over the world in my collection.
We rehearse on Tuesday mornings in term times at the Church of the Resurrection, Grovehill, from 9.40 – 11.30 am. Our summer term starts on April 19th. You’re most welcome to come along at any time to see what we offer.
If you’d like to join us or book us to sing for your group you can find more information on www.dacorumcommunitychoir.org,
www.facebook.com/dacorumcommunitychoir, or speak to Sally on 07402 181182
