2023 - an eventful year
| Type of post: | Chorus news item |
| Sub-type: | Knights News |
| Posted By: | Chas Owen |
| Status: | Current |
| Date Posted: | Mon, 1 Jan 2024 |
It all started with our January Open Night when we welcomed two new recruits into our ranks. Both Terry and Sam are now well-established Knights who are aiming to be with us at Harrogate.
In March we entered the prestigious Watford Festival, which has been going for over 70 years. We competed in the class for choral groups with fewer than 24 singers, (we had 11) and won.
This year saw the presentation of the Jean Digby inaugural award for the best a cappella group. Jean was an inspirational local barbershopper, who sadly passed away in 2019. Jean was the founder of Hemel Hempstead choir Just A cappella, who proudly presented the award in her name. The Knights were delighted to be the first recipients of the beautiful award.
The highlight of our year was at the Bournemouth Convention, winning the Small Chorus Award with just 19 singers on stage. We achieved our highest ever mark and equalled our highest position of sixth place.
We are unlikely to retain the title in 2024, as we hope to have some 40% more singers on stage. This is all down to carrying on with recruitment throughout the year. All these new faces have certainly created a buzz in the chorus and we are all looking forward to helping BABS celebrate their 50th Anniversary in Harrogate.
June followed quickly after Convention and again we recruited some new members at our summer Open Night. July and August were a lot less hectic but we certainly ‘shared the joy of singing’ during the latter part of the year. It started with our sell-out show on September 30th, then continued with our six week Time to Harmonise course which ended in mid-November. We also squeezed in three sing-outs before our annual dinner at the end of that month.
December saw us doing a number of small group gigs, including three in one day which ended with an evening performance at John Lewis, High Wycombe store. In total we sang at eight different venues ending with a live performance on Chiltern Voice Radio. We donated our fees to the various charities thus helping them to raise over £3k in total.
You might think we would rest up now, but not a bit of it as we swing into the new year with our recruitment Open Night on the January11th. This will be followed by our first week-end retreat in February and then competing at the Watford Festival and singing at the “Choirs R Us” concert in March.
Looking further into the future, we are starting to plan for our own 50th anniversary in 2025.
Finally, we offer our congratulations to our long-standing member, Matthew Cawthorne, who has just been appointed acting BABS Vice Chair. Matthew joins a long list of Knights who have held the post of Chairman. In fact, Matthew will eventually be the seventh Knight to hold the post.
For the record, the other six are BABS founder member Gerry Holland, John Wiggins, Tony Searle, Chas Owen, Chris Tideman and Stuart Lines. Not bad for a little town like Chesham.
Chas Owen
Knights Membership Secretary
In March we entered the prestigious Watford Festival, which has been going for over 70 years. We competed in the class for choral groups with fewer than 24 singers, (we had 11) and won.
This year saw the presentation of the Jean Digby inaugural award for the best a cappella group. Jean was an inspirational local barbershopper, who sadly passed away in 2019. Jean was the founder of Hemel Hempstead choir Just A cappella, who proudly presented the award in her name. The Knights were delighted to be the first recipients of the beautiful award.
The highlight of our year was at the Bournemouth Convention, winning the Small Chorus Award with just 19 singers on stage. We achieved our highest ever mark and equalled our highest position of sixth place.
We are unlikely to retain the title in 2024, as we hope to have some 40% more singers on stage. This is all down to carrying on with recruitment throughout the year. All these new faces have certainly created a buzz in the chorus and we are all looking forward to helping BABS celebrate their 50th Anniversary in Harrogate.
June followed quickly after Convention and again we recruited some new members at our summer Open Night. July and August were a lot less hectic but we certainly ‘shared the joy of singing’ during the latter part of the year. It started with our sell-out show on September 30th, then continued with our six week Time to Harmonise course which ended in mid-November. We also squeezed in three sing-outs before our annual dinner at the end of that month.
December saw us doing a number of small group gigs, including three in one day which ended with an evening performance at John Lewis, High Wycombe store. In total we sang at eight different venues ending with a live performance on Chiltern Voice Radio. We donated our fees to the various charities thus helping them to raise over £3k in total.
You might think we would rest up now, but not a bit of it as we swing into the new year with our recruitment Open Night on the January11th. This will be followed by our first week-end retreat in February and then competing at the Watford Festival and singing at the “Choirs R Us” concert in March.
Looking further into the future, we are starting to plan for our own 50th anniversary in 2025.
Finally, we offer our congratulations to our long-standing member, Matthew Cawthorne, who has just been appointed acting BABS Vice Chair. Matthew joins a long list of Knights who have held the post of Chairman. In fact, Matthew will eventually be the seventh Knight to hold the post.
For the record, the other six are BABS founder member Gerry Holland, John Wiggins, Tony Searle, Chas Owen, Chris Tideman and Stuart Lines. Not bad for a little town like Chesham.
Chas Owen
Knights Membership Secretary
