Best wishes to everyone for a very happy and exciting 2025.
Our first rehearsal back will be on Tuesday 14th January – see you then!
Tag Archives: New Term
Ruttertastic!
Choir is back up and running again – and we’re going to be in mock choral society mode this half of term as we learn Rutter’s fantastic Requiem!
It’s a hefty piece and we’re looking forward to welcoming some instrumentalists / soloists when we perform it in November at an autumn-inspired concert.
There’s lots of rehearsals in the meantime though and it should be fun! See the calendar page for more details.
We’re back for summer!
Rehearsals have started again and our diary is already starting to fill up with a silent film to accompany, a gig on a bandstand and a summer picnic sing. Keep checking our calendar page for the latest updates!
Welcome New Folk!
After such a busy end to 2023, we’ve had a relaxed start to 2023. But just in time to counteract the effects of ‘Blue Monday’, rehearsals begin on Tuesday 17th of January at 7.30pm.
At this time of year – lots of people like to come and ‘try us out’. If this applies to you – you’re really welcome to come to any rehearsal – just say hello to whoever is leading on the night – Aga, Matt or Ashley (our choir leaders) – and you’ll be taken care of. It doesn’t matter if you only come to one rehearsal or end up being a regular member – singing is so beneficial to us all.
Speaking of new folk… It’s going to be a folk-music themed term! There’ll be some well-known catchy melodies with a few surprises mixed in. See you soon!
Autumn Term 2022
Choir returns on Tuesday, 6th of September!
We’ll be back in the St Giles’ Centre at 7.30pm, just across the road from St Giles’ Church. All the dates you need are on the calendar page here.
New singers are always welcome! We’re a friendly bunch and you can turn up at a rehearsal whenever you like to try us out. Just tell one of our choir leaders (Aga, Matthew or Ashley) that you’re new when you arrive. It can be quite daunting coming to have a sing with a new group of people, but we aim to make it as comfortable and as fun as possible!
This term, we’ll be preparing for a concert in Novermber and our usual Christmas gigs. See you soon!
Late January Kick-off
Happy New Year!
Whilst the end of 2021 didn’t end quite the way we hoped – with several cancelled events due to the virus – we’re hoping that 2022 will be a good year to sing!
We’re not putting any concerts or gigs in the diary just yet – but we’ll begin rehearsing again each Tuesday from the 25th of January.
We hope to see you soon!
New Term!
Choir is back and you’re very welcome to join us! Whether you’re a regular / occasional member or just interested to see what we’re all about, here’s what you need to know.
Our first Rehearsal is in St Giles’ Church on Tuesday 7th September with Aga. It starts at 7.30pm. There’ll then be rehearsals every Tuesday up until half term (see the calendar page for more details).
If you’re new and wanting to try us out, your first rehearsal is free. Our regular fees are £5 or £3 concessions (students / seniors) and you can pay in person (cash only) or online. These are suggested fees though and if you continue to suffer financial hardship from the pandemic, please join us for free or pay as much as you can afford.
The use of masks for singing inside isn’t mandatory, but do feel free to wear a mask as you enter / exit – or even if you want to sing with one on. We’ll make full use of the space in St Giles’ when singing together. Please wrap up warm though, as the church is a bit chilly compared to our cosy and toasty hall!
We need to restart our half time hot drink helpers list – please do consider volunteer for this vital task!
See you all very soon!
Outlook for Autumn
We’re really looking forward to returning to a ‘nearly normal service’ come the autumn term!
We’ve updated our COVID-19 risk assessment and this takes into account the latest government advice. The main change is that we’ll be holding rehearsals in St Giles’ Church, rather than outside or in the St Giles’ Centre for the time being. We’ll have a lot more room in the church to be comfortable and to spread out, although do wrap up warm as St GIles’ is a big space!
Please note that the use of masks for singing inside isn’t mandatory, but do feel free to wear a mask as you enter / exit or even if you want to sing with one on.
We’re also going to restart refreshment breaks, but drinks will be served in single use cups for as short a time as possible (unless you bring a reusable cup) and you might want to consider bringing a flask or other refreshment instead.
Finally, we’ll now be rehearsing from 7.30pm (instead of 7.45pm) and rehearsal fees are £5 and £3 for concessions. These will remain ‘suggested’ fees for another term as we know that some people continue to suffer financial hardship due to the pandemic.
We hope that you’re excited to come back – we even have a first gig in the diary – see the calendar page for details. We wish you a lovely end to the summer and look forward to seeing you in September!
One word – Organoke. *drops mic
Well – it’s been quite some time (6 months) since your choir leaders wrote a post on the website. Apologies. We move in mysterious (lethargic) ways and we prefer to think that our lack of contact has encouraged you to come to more rehearsals to find out what on earth we’ve got in store for you. Or you could just blame our organisational skills. (What skills?)
Moving on – this summer is going to be big. Usually, we do a summer concert, perform outside in the park, join a few other choirs for another concert and so on. This term we have all that and more. The ‘more’ being ‘Organoke’, a new concept exploring the age-old link between the church pipe organ and rock and roll…
Essentially, we’re going to join in and lead karaoke classics accompanied on the organ in St Giles’ Church, with the help of a band, a bar and some fancy dress outfits. Admittedly, this is not a normal combination and to the best of our knowledge this hasn’t been done before and probably for good reason. But as the opening night of Camberwell Arts Festival on the 11th of June it’s going to be great and definitely something different! We’re working out exactly how it will all work but come to choir to find out more – you never know when the next post will be.
In the meantime, check out the calendar which has upcoming rehearsals and concerts and see you at choir soon!
The Roaring 20’s are back
The roaring 20’s are back – and so are we!
Our new term starts on Tuesday 15th of September with Aga. You can see our schedule on the calendar page here. And like last year, we’re preparing music for a visit to 1920’s London with our silent film night, on Saturday 31st of October.
In October 2014, we accompanied Alfred Hitchcock’s silent film, ‘The Lodger: A tale of the London Fog’ with live music. We thought we’d stick to the same town and era so that we can encourage even more dressing up this time around. So dust off those fascinators and top hats!
Like last time, we’re combining period and new music. Whether we’ll be able to recreate one of the best chase scenes in cinema history to ‘Mad World’ is anyone’s guess, but we’ve certainly got some ideas. Piccadilly is a film about ambition, desire and jealousy set in the glamorous west end – it’s hugely stylish and we’ll be using the British Film Institute’s restored version to bring it all to life.
So definitely a date for your diaries – see you at a rehearsal soon!
Camberwell Community Choir 