Berberis' World

Tuesday 9 April 2024, The Adelphi Theatre, Strand.

This was an Adam Blanshay Production in collaboration with NHS Charities Together to raise funds “for 230 charities up and down the country”. There are too many people to credit, so I won’t try.

Earplugs.

Earplugs are essential if you are performing with anyone playing instruments that are plugged in. I fear that I was out of tune for far more of this concert than I had hoped. We’d been given sheet music for the songs we were joining in with, but all the note-bashing on the Tuesday evenings leading up to the gig was for nought as cuts were made on the day, far too late to actually memorise anything different.

However, no-one goes onto the stage at the Adelphi trying to conceal bits of A4 behind the singer in the row in front, so we all just got on with it as best we could (some much better than others).

The songs were ‘500 Miles’ (not the Proclaimers version, which would have been much easier), ‘From Now On’ (from ‘The Greatest Showman’, which I saw on the small screen), and ‘You Will Be Found’ (from ‘Dear Evan Hansen’, with which I was previously unfamiliar, but which has a phenomenal drum accompaniment).

This is being written nearly two and half years after the event. I can find 9 photos from this evening, none of which convey anything much except that the predominant set colour was NHS blue.

Monday, 18th December 2017, Southwark Cathedral, London SE1 9DA.

Carols for choirs and audience: Once in royal David’s City/Of the Father’s heart begotten/Silent Night/Hark! the herald angels sing/The First Nowell/O come, all ye Faithful

Soloist on Once in royal David’s City: Joe Davies (Bromley Youth Music Trust)

Southwark Cathedral’s full title is, apparently, The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie. It’s across the road from London Bridge station, and right next to Borough Market, and is spectacular. I’d attended one of these services before, as a member of the congregation. This time, it was at the invitation of the Mayor, Sadiq Khan, who’d invited us and The Metropolitan Police Choir to perform a couple of songs during the concert.

The Met Police Choir is 65-strong group of serving and retired officers and police staff. It was formed in the 1960s as a male voice choir but, in 2016, auditions were opened to men and women, and there were just over half of the choir present this evening. Even with reduced numbers they sounded amazing.

We sang ‘Behold That Star‘ (arr. by the genius that is Bob Chilcott) and ‘Bridge’, and I was genuinely pleased about how well they both went. There was no sign of the collective anxiety that occasionally mars a performance, despite the nervousness which surfaced after the dress rehearsal. The Met Police performed ‘Still, Still, Still‘, by Norman Luboff and it was beautifully done. They also sang ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’ (arr. Arthur Warrell) which was completely different in tone but still sounded superb.

Young Joe Davies was note perfect, and seemingly not at all bothered either by the capacity audience or the many cameras which were undoubtedly focussed on him during his solo. And so polite! He came up to us during the reception after the concert and praised our performance, which was lovely of him.

And then there was the descant. There was no way I wasn’t going to sing them – apart from Silent Night and The First Nowell, which I don’t know that well. I’d probably not have been anywhere near as confident without Duffy next to me, and we belted out the lines with gusto. All in all, a great evening in a magnificent venue.

Sunday, 8th December 2013.

Tomorrow afternoon, just outside A&E, I’ll be taking part at the launch of a single, a mash-up of Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge over Troubled Water’ and Cold Play’s ‘Fix You’, which is clumsily titled ‘A Bridge Over You’, and which was recorded at Air Studios in Islington on 3 November.

Saturday, 20th April 2013, St Mary’s Church, Lewisham.

Praise the Lord: Traditional, arr. K Burton
Even Such Is Time: Poem – Sir Walter Raleigh, Music – Bob Chilcott
Total Praise: Music – Richard Smallwood, arr. Dan Ludford-Thomas
For Once In My Life: Miller & Murden, arr. Jon Cohen
Lean On Me: Bill Withers, arr. Jon Cohen
And So It Goes: Words and music – Billy Joel, arr. Bob Chilcott
Accentuate the Positive: Arlen & Miller, arr. Jon Cohen
The Turtle Dove: Traditional, arr. Vaughan Williams
How Can I Keep From Singing?: Music  R Wadsworth Lowry, arr. Jon Cohen
She Moved Through The Fair: Traditional, arr. Peter Hunt
Bridge Over Troubled Water/Fix You:  Simon & Garfunkel/Coldplay, arr. Peter Mitchell
Like A Mighty Stream: Jacobson & Hogan
Come and Go With Me: Traditional, arr. K Burton

The Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust Choir

Sopranos: Suzanne Benett, Zoe Davies, Caroline Duffy, Sheena Joseph, Joan Mills, Elem Nnachi, Katie Rogerson, Christine Scarsbrook, Elizabeth Steele
Altos: Antonia Boyce, Caroline Harbord, Petrina Pottinger, Claire Roberts, Caroline Smith, Nora Smith, Sarah Wood
Tenors: Edmund Chaloner, Chidi Ejimofo, Derrick Kiteke, Errol Woodburn
Basses: Simon Fitzgerald, Malcolm Hancock, Aaron Hoyte, Emmet Masterson

The Liam Dunachie Trio

Piano: Liam Dunachie
Double Bass: Andy Robb
Drums: Dave Storey

Musical Director: Peter Mitchell
Artistic Director: Dan Ludford-Thomas

As I’m writing this nearly five years after the actual event, it’s fair to say that I don’t remember much about this concert. However, what I can say – without fear of contradiction – is that the Liam Dunachie Trio would have been amazing, Dan would have been full of energy and inspiration, and someone/several people, at some point, would have forgotten the words +/- the tune of one or more of the songs.

I don’t recall Praise the Lord, The Turtle Dove, or Like A Mighty Stream, probably because we don’t perfom them anymore. I do recall For Once In My Life, but we don’t perform that anymore, either. Come & Go With Me would have involved several key changes at the end (although not as many as I expect), and at least a dozen of the people at this gig have now moved on – including Dan and Pete.

Thursday, 1st March 2012.

Congratulations on being chosen by Gareth for the Lewisham Hospital choir!

We are emailing your line manager with all your rehearsal dates – on the condition they are happy to release you for these, you’re in the choir! If you don’t hear back from us, then please assume everything is OK.

FIRST REHEARSAL
The first choir rehearsal is taking place tomorrow, Friday 2^nd March, 12:00 – 14:30 in the Lessof Auditorium. This is located in the Education Centre at the main Lewisham Hospital site. There will be a 30 minute break in which you can go and grab lunch half way through the rehearsal.

Gareth also has something planned for the choir in the evening and you will need to be available 17:30 – 22:00. You will be given more information about this during tomorrow’s rehearsal. It would be a good idea to have something to eat before your evening with Gareth begins – for those who can make it, there will be sandwiches available at 17:00 in The Lewis Club (at the main hospital site).

REHEARSAL SCHEDULE
Attached is a rehearsal schedule with a few tweaks to the dates. We’ve added the weekly Tuesday rehearsals to this schedule, so these are now all the dates you’ll need to be available for. Please note that most of the Tuesday rehearsals will take place 16:00-18:00. Please have a look and, if you haven’t let us know already, please let us know ASAP if you think you’ll have any problems attending any of these dates/times.

Finally, Gareth has asked if you could come to the rehearsal with the names of some songs that you would like to sing in the choir. These could be anything from personal songs that mean a lot to you, to songs that you think might be appropriate for you to sing as a group.

Many thanks and we look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Congratulations once again
The Twenty Twenty Team