Kingdom Singers

Well Friday Night certainly was Music Night. The Concert was held to celebrate the fact that the magnificent organ in the Abbey was 100 years old and the Kingdom Singers were so pleased to be invited to sing and have the opportunity to hear the other performers, four soloists, a pianist and a flautist.

What a lovely start we had, as we walked into the Abbey to the sound of Morris playing The Sound of Music. Never before had our entrance sounded so grand and uplifting and really put us in the mood to sing our best. Although we were a few Members down, we did ourselves proud with the help of the great acoustics in the building. We started off with The Way you Look Tonight and Scots Wha Hae, the latter song rising into the rafters at the end.

It was good to see familiar faces in the good-sized audience and to have Arthur Sutton introducing the other acts

Then came a great treat for the choir, as we sat back and enjoyed listening to the guest soloists - a wonderful evening ahead of us!

Just before the interval, we gave our rendition of Come Unto Me All Ye that Labour and by this time we were all feeling quite cold as we had been sitting in our choir dress for more than half an hour. While we were having a most welcome cup of tea, some clever individual (not sure who) suggested that, in the second half while the soloists perform, we should sit in the body of the Abbey where there was heating under the seats. Oh, what bliss, it was like going to bed with your electric blanket already warmed up. We could really relax and enjoy the show before our two numbers at the end, A Certain Smile and You Raise Me Up.

A lot of hard work, by Morris and many others, had obviously gone into arranging this concert and I believe they had a different concert each night of the week, so well done to everyone involved, we had such a lovely time.

A wonderful evening.  First time in Denny for us and it was a lovely church with great acoustics. A maze of corridors - much bigger than it looked!  Poor Marc only lasted one song then was called out.  Shortest concert he has ever had!!  Roy bravely took on Maggie in Marc's absence.   How Great Thou Art had a verse missing, but the quartet verse turned out to be a very good ladies' duet - well done Hilary and Gillian!!!!   A great mix of songs and the congregation seemed to enjoy the evening - joining in the Elvis singalong with great gusto.  Break in the middle for sandwiches, scones and biscuits served by our hosts - very welcome and set us up well for the second half.

First concert of our new season.   Fairly depleted numbers - poor Marc is ill and others couldn't make it.   Well done Ian for holding the bass line alone!   And Margaret for playing for the whole concert!  Large audience tonight - we believe the hall holds 100 and it certainly looked full.  This was the Kennoway Rural and they had visitors from other local Rurals.  They were very cheery and seemed to have a good time - we certainly did.   And of course, in the true spirit of the Rural - a wonderful tea to follow - just ask Alan!!!!!!!

An interesting evening indeed!   Unfortunately, due to lack of sopranos, Margaret felt she had to call off the concert tonight as we were in fact down to last soprano standing!   However,  the Guild had sold over 80 tickets and it was felt we could not leave them without any entertainment.  So a hastily cobbled together concert party took the stage - with the welcome addition of Jack Leask, accordionist.    Morris bravely played all accompaniments which were thrown at him , as well as accompanying Jack and a successful evening ensued.   The audience was a very warm, welcoming one and the church was a delight to sing in.   We had a lovely tea fterwards and we even managed to sell over 80 quiz sheets as well!   We have been assured we will be invited back as a full choir during the next session, so we look forward to that.

A lovely little Church and a pleasure to perform in.   This was a fundraiser for the Guild and they had some invited guests in the audience.    Despite not having the words to hand, the audience managed to join in the Elvis Singlaong very convincingly!  This was our first concert singing with Heather, our new accompanist - it was lovely to be able to sing with her at a concert rather than a rehearsal.  It was also the first concert for our latest addition to the alto section - Lorna.  Good to note that she enjoyed herself and is planning to come back on Monday!   On a sad note, this was the first concert since the loss of Shirley and was a bit emotional, but we managed to keep a professional attitude and not let the feelings show.   The ladies of the Guild provided us with lovely home baking and we even managed to sell them some of our Quiz Sheets for our own fundraising.   Thanks Ladies!

Another wonderful turnout of our Associate Members - I lost count at 50.   However, this year we managed to purloin a few extra chairs so the choir could sit down as well!   This was our turn to look after our Associate Members and entertain them before providing them with a cup of tea and a biscuit, served by our own fair hands!  Margaret had organised a varied evening, including a version of "Consequences" which was certainly a challenge this year!!!   Her "name that tune" had everyone joining in which set the audience up really well for the singalong.    We sang a few choral pieces and Marion sparkled her way through a lovely solo, gaining some lovely "diamonds" from Derek along the way.   Roy updated everyone on the changes in the choir and introduced our new Alto, Lorna.  The evening was completed with tea and coffee served by the choir.   So, thanks again to all our Associate Members for help and support throughout the year.  

After an easy route to Freuchie, most of us encountered a little difficulty finding the church, however, once we were there, we found a lovely church with great acoustics.  A pleasure to sing in..   We sang a mixed bunch of songs tonight and the audience, although not as large as the organisers had hoped, seemed appreciative and joined in the Elvis singalong with great gusto.  "Maurice" played a lovely piano solo despite some problems organising the pedals - it took three men and a conductor to sort that out!   We were treated to a lovely cup of tea with cakes and biscuits - very welcome..  We were missing one or two members, but we coped admirably!!!!!    Thanks to all at Freuchie for the invitation to visit their church. 

A local venue this time - Margaret O and Elizabeth's own church - so, no pressure!    A bit of a change around in our seating arrangement which made us bob up and down a lot more than usual, but interesting ....!!!   We were down by one or two members, but we still managed to produce a concert which left us feeling good.       We even gained one new Associate member - Elizabeth never likes to miss an opportunity to recruit!  We believe around £500 was raised for CHAS which is wonderful news.   The concert was followed by a very well organised tea - almost military precision here!   A lovely spread and our tea and coffee continually refilled.   Thanks to all the ladies of the church for that!  

A FANTASTIC turnout at the concert this year.   It was lovely to see our loyal Associate Members out supporting us again.   We tried out a couple of our new songs and they seemed to go down well.   Marc introduced an interesting variation to the words of "When You and I Were Young Maggie" - in fact he introduced a whole new word to the English language - must be his South African roots!   Well bluffed, though Marc!!!!!  It was good to be able to sing some of our Christmas songs as well and this led on to ever popular Christmas singalong.   We had the opportunity to provide refreshments for the Associate Members for a change and it was good to be able to chat to everyone after the concert.