“No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease, No comfortable feel in any member-
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds,
November!” Thomas Hood, (1799 – 1845)
Hmm – soon be Christmas!
Of course, things have changed since the early 19th century, when Europe fell under the thrall of a further mini-ice age – all those jolly Dickensian winters!
Now we have global warming, and as I write two weeks before the beginning of November, I can’t be sure whether all the leaves will have fallen, whether Halloween will be celebrated in an aura of misty spookiness, or whether it will remain unseasonably warm and damp.
However, I can be sure that on All Saint’s Day this year, the sun will rise just before 7 and set at around 4.30. In my early working years, I worked in a London office with very small, very high windows. Mole like, we went to work in the gloom and came home in the dark, with a rare glimpse of the sun at noon.
More events are in the DC.C.’s diary for November the Choir’s AGM on the 1st November is a time to take stock of the year and to look forward. Over the past year we have performed three concerts, sung carols in The Queen’s Square, Adeyfield, taken the choir on tour to Cumbria and hosted three ‘Come and Sing’ events.
We’ve collected for the Hospice of St. Francis, in Berkhamsted and as always have been amazed by the generosity of our audience and members in supporting this worthy cause.
We’ve also been pleased to greet new members and welcome back some who’d kept away during the pandemic.
The AGM is also when we sadly say goodbye to long-standing committee members and welcome new blood.
Our programme from there on includes;
A concert on Monday 14th November at 7.45 in St. Mary’s Church in Luton. It features D.C.C. in a further performance of ‘Were I not to Sing? composed for us by Rufus Frowde our musical director, to words from Revd. Austin Janes, team vicar at Grovehill Church of the Resurrection;
The Choir Quiz on 19th November, from 7.30 at Warner’s End Community Centre (see p4 for details);
Our Christmas concert, this year at St John’s, Boxmoor, on December 13th; and A Barn Dance at Hemel Hempstead School on 21st January, 2023
Do watch out for further details of these and other exciting events, plus information on how to join us, on:
www.dacorumcommunitychoir.org
www.facebook.com/dacorumcommunitychoir
