Since I last wrote to you in February I have been around the world and – exciting and eventful as it was – I am glad to be back in England and back in the Chorus – I really missed my singing! My sincere thanks are due to Imelda Laybourn who looked after Friends at the May Concert. All Saints, Hockerill, is becoming a regular venue for Harlow Chorus performances as it has a lot to offer.

Our final performance for this season is, of course, at Thaxted Church on Sunday, 11^th July at 7.30pm with the Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra. Our excellent soloists are
  Meryl Richardson (soprano),
  Julia Riley (contralto),
  Nathan Vale (Tenor),
  Brian Bannatyne-Scott (Bass).
The theme is Hope and Glory - and the programme includes
  Brahms: Song of Destiny (sung in German),
  Elgar: Spirit of England and Coronation Ode,
  Walton: Spitfire Prelude and Fugue.
All these works are very appropriate in view of the 60^th Anniversary of D-Day and current European Cup fever. (I don’t think I have ever seen so many flags of St. George flying from buildings and cars!) If you haven’t already booked your seats for Thaxted, don’t delay! It is the finale to the Thaxted Festival and is always very well attended. We do have some unreserved tickets left (£15; concessions £12 and restricted view £6), so do get in touch if you want me to reserve seats for you in the unreserved seating areas.

Advance Notice – an extra Concert for 2004-05 Season
19 September – 7.30 pm – Thaxted Church
Fauré Requiem and Mozart Requiem.
Soloists will be
  Sophie Bevan (soprano),
  Julia Riley (contralto),
  Ben Johnson (Tenor),
  Alex Ashworth (Bass),
  Paul Ayres(Organ).
Tickets are available from Thaxted Festival on 01371 831421. Reserved: £22 and £18; Unreserved: £15 with £12 concessions.

It has been a very busy season for the Chorus. During March the recording went ahead successfully and the CD will be in the Gift of Music autumn catalogue (more details in next Newsletter). The Brandenburg Sinfonia again invited a chamber choir from the Chorus to sing the Vivaldi Gloria at their Vivaldi concert at St Martin-in-the-Fields, and their performance received a standing ovation! Our 'events' choir has also been engaged to sing at a number of weddings – all of which help swell Chorus funds. (Do remember us if you need a small choir for a function – details are on our website.)

Other fund-raising activities have included a very successful Summer Cruise evening with Bill Brockbank that raised about £300 without losing any landlubbers overboard. Everyone had a thoroughly good sea-going time with excellent Scandinavian refreshments organised by the Chief Steward Imelda Laybourn.

Imelda is also running a Slimming Club at Chorus. It has already produced over £70 mainly from altos and sopranos who are failing to shed the pounds!

Gill Vincett ran a Plant and Cake Sale in April that produced approximately £400 - Well done Gill and Keith Vincett!

Jazz, New Orleans style, filled the ARC on 11^th June when we held a Trad Jazz Night. Terry Godwin’s Jazz All Stars, led by guest trumpeter Digby Fairweather, one of the UK’s greatest jazz musicians, gave us a fantastic evening that went with a real swing! We raised about £400 for Chorus Funds. Thanks again to Imelda for her help in organising the bar and refreshments, to Howard Nicholson for organising the band and acting as MC, and to everyone who helped on the night.

As you can see the Chorus is working hard to help itself financially, but these amounts, splendid as they are, need to be backed up with sponsorship. Can I appeal to all Friends to think hard about their business/social connections to see whether there are any companies that the Chorus could approach? If you have any ideas, please contact me.

Our Website has been revamped and updated, thanks to hard work by Christopher Hill.

Harlow Chorus TOUR TO CAPE TOWN – 19 March – 2 April, 2005 is taking shape thanks to tremendous work by Heather Johnson and Val Brockbank. Everyone who has signed up to go now has the difficult task of deciding which excursions to choose from the many on offer once we have completed rehearsals and given two performances of The Messiah with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. It’s all very exciting!

Chorus membership fluctuates all the time; people join and others leave due to changes in job location or personal circumstances. Sadly there are occasions when we lose singers or Friends due to illness and death. Russell Webb, a Tenor with Harlow Chorus for very many years, died very suddenly in May. He will be greatly missed by his family, friends and fellow singers and remembered with great affection. Many of us attended his funeral on 28^th May and sang our best to wish him farewell.

I will be sending out a Newsletter during August with renewal reminders. Meanwhile I thank you for your continued support for Harlow Chorus and I hope that the Friends of Harlow Chorus will continue to develop into a larger and stronger organisation.

Sincerely,