Two dates for your diary this summer!
Firstly, we’re excited to be performing at the free Music in the Parks event on Sunday 16 June from 3-5pm at Romsey Rec, Cambridge. You can expect our usual mix of joyful song on stage from about 4pm.
We’re delighted to invite you to Sing! Community Choir’s Summer Concert 2024 on Saturday, 13 July at 7.30pm at Netherhall School in Cambridge. Come and join us for an evening of fun & sunny music. We’d love to see you there!
We’re thrilled to share the wonderful news that Sing! Community Choir’s Winter Concert “Glow” raised £1,000 for the brilliant Cambridge City Food Bank , providing aid to local families in crisis.
It was great to see so many of you come out and support us, and this wonderful cause.
Photos and audio from the concert are now online. You can also watch back your favourites from our concert YouTube playlist.
Our Winter concert is just around the corner – join us on Saturday, 10 February from 7.30pm at Netherhall School in Cambridge for an uplifting evening of music and songs to banish the winter blues!
Tickets are £8 (£5 for concessions) – under tens go free. All proceeds to Cambridge City Food Bank to Cambridge City Food Bank, supporting local people in crisis around Cambridge.
We have two exciting events coming up that you won’t want to miss!
The first event is our performance at the Mill Road Winter Fair. This is a wonderful annual celebration of the diverse and vibrant community of Mill Road. We will be singing at St Philips Church at 2pm on Saturday 2 December. Come and join us for a mix of festive singing and good cheer. The performance is free and everyone is welcome!
The second event is our 2024 Winter concert. This is our big showcase of the term, where we will share the songs we have been working on for the last few months. The concert will be on Sat 10 Feb at 7:30pm – save the date! We are looking forward to singing our hearts out and making you smile!
We hope to see you at our events and thank you for your support!
We’re on the look-out for more low-voiced members for our choir in September 2023 to join our Tenor and Bass sections (our Alto and Soprano sections are currently full).
No auditions or experience is necessary! Music is taught by ear, so you don’t need to read music. We meet on Thursday evenings during Cambridge school term times at Hills Road Sixth Form College. Subscriptions are kept low to keep Sing! accessible to all.
Learn more about what we sing (and how much we enjoy singing it) by checking out our most recent concert videos.
If you’d like to have a go at singing in our fun, friendly choir, then join us for our free taster sessions from 7th September 2023. We’ll be learning material right from the start that we’ll carry on through the term. Our taster sessions run for three weeks:
The best option is to come along on the 7th if you can – if you then decide to join the choir you won’t have missed anything!
If you’re not free on 7th then you’re also very welcome to come and try us out on one of the subsequent weeks.
We’re thrilled to share the wonderful news that Sing! Community Choir’s Summer Concert raised more than £1,320 for the charity Home-Start Cambridgeshire, which supports struggling families across our county.
Huge thanks to all the Sing!ers – and their amazing friends and family – who gave so generously at our summer concert on 8 July, which saw a sell-out audience dancing in the aisles. At nearly 300 people, it was our biggest audience yet and it was definitely a night to remember!
Aaron Venables, Chair of Trustees for Home-Start Cambridgeshire, said: “We are delighted that Sing! Community Choir chose to support Home-Start Cambridgeshire. Their summer concert was a fantastic way to show support to a charity that has community at its heart, and the money raised will go directly to help families who have fallen on tough times, here in the county we all call home.”
Photos and audio from the concert are now online. You can also watch back your favourites from our concert YouTube playlist.
Find out more about Home-Start Cambridgeshire’s vital work here.
Summer’s here! Why not join us for our Summer Concert on Saturday, 8 July from 7.30pm at Netherhall School in Cambridge for an uplifting evening of music with songs ranging from Frankie Valli to Whitney Houston to the Greatest Showman.
Tickets are £8 (£5 for concessions) – under tens go free. All proceeds to HomeStart Cambridgeshire to help support families in need across the county .
By Katie Grace
It was an extra special weekend at the beginning of May. Not only was it the King’s Coronation but it was also the Sing! Community Choir weekend away. Woohoo!! Sixty of us ventured into the Suffolk countryside and descended on Ringsfield Hall, near Beccles. Having stayed in the beautiful Thetford Forest for the past four years, there was some anticipation about how this space would work for us, but I think I can safely say it all worked out very well.
Choir members began trickling in from about 5pm on a slightly rainy and damp Friday evening. Since we were hidden down some country lanes, this was perhaps a little adventure for those arriving after dark! Once safely inside, it was exciting to see all the space we had. There were some ‘soft
areas’ with comfy sofas and chairs for us to relax in. It was also ‘exciting’ to see the bathroom/toilet situation (some members with quick maths skills looked a little pensive at the bathroom-to-weekender ratio; but it all worked out fine!).
Once most of us had arrived and settled in, we launched into a few hilarious rounds of Just A Minute – the popular radio game show, brilliantly hosted by Andy and marvellously masterminded by Marie. We learned that Rowan really does love dinosaurs and how the battle of Hastings actually
happened in 1666! Who knew?!
Off we toddled to our dorms, with a few party people staying up later to enjoy drinks and crafts and late-night chats.
Our social guru Jon miraculously masterminded a timetable for us all so we could enjoy as many different activities as possible. The workshops were run by members of the choir with other talents besides singing. There was glass fusing, printing in nature, haiku writing, improv, movement to
music, felting, lino printing, cross stitch, social crafting and a ‘watching the coronation’ group. Ringsfield Hall also put on some outdoor team building, bushcraft and archery activities for us. So there was plenty to choose from.
Choir members were free to do as much or as little as they liked. Some went for a peaceful walk in the beautiful grounds or found a quiet corner to knit. Some sat on the stairwell plaiting each other’s hair and some found contentment playing the piano. Some even went for a run!
Saturday night dinner was provided by the venue, something we didn’t have at Thetford. It was delicious and much appreciated after a busy day of activities. There was plenty of pasta bake and bolognaise, salad, garlic bread and pudding for us all. With our bellies full, choir members slowly
wobbled out to the campfire to gather under a bell tent of sorts, and enjoyed all being together and having a sing. I heard everyone had a lovely time. (I may or may not have passed out on my bed fully clothed at about 8pm!)
Choir numbers grew on Sunday as we were joined by our lovely choir ‘day trippers’ for our teaching session by Craig Lees and Declan Davies (Craig is the Musical Director behind Leeds Contemporary Singers). I think I can safely say on everyone’s behalf how utterly brilliant they were. Also that most
of us are now seriously considering how we can arrange a musical accompaniment to provide the soundtrack to our lives.
Without introducing himself, Craig brilliantly launched straight into an invigorating warm up. Choir members demonstrated excellent focus and concentration as they touched each other’s knees and massaged each other’s shoulders!
Craig taught us the Whitney Houston belter How Will I Know and how to get emotion into our voices. Who knew there were so many ways to sing the line “How will I know” – maybe with a whimper or a cry or absolute desperation? It was a lot of fun.
Next, Becky and Beth bravely conducted us singing a few songs from our own Sing! repertoire in front of Craig and Declan: the Friends theme tune I’ll Be There for You and Coldplay’s Viva la Vida.
They gave us helpful feedback on how to get more out of performing these songs.
The weekend away sadly came to a close about 4pm and everyone seemed to chip in with the final clean up before heading back to real life.
All in all, it was a great weekend. But don’t take my word for it. Here are a few quotes from other Sing! members about what they thought of our weekend away.
“Everything I expected and more. Nice to meet new people and chill out in this corner of Suffolk.” — Alex
“Wonderful.” — Clare
“Delightful.” — Marie
“Lovely times with lovely people.” — Becca
“Lovely to spend time with people you see every Thursday at choir, getting to know them a bit better in the beautiful surroundings of Suffolk. There are so many talented folk here, sharing their skills.” — Vicky
“Wet. But warmed by the good company.” — John
“Lino printing went amazingly well. I’m happy, happy, happy.” — Lydia
“Getting to know people from other sections of the choir is great. It’s not an easy job to organise sleeping, eating and multiple activities for 60 people. Jon did a brilliant job and seemed unfazed and relaxed. We thank him very much and everyone on the music committee for making this happen.” — Elyse
See you all again next year 🙂
Katie
Please note that these facts may not be correct at time of writing and are purely the mutterings of my tiny mind. I do truly hope there are similarities to real people and actual events that occurred!
You can peruse more photos of the Sing! weekend away on our Flickr album here.
The days are getting longer, the sun is (mostly) shining, and all thoughts turn to the Sing! Summer Concert!
Please save the evening of Saturday 8th July 2023 to join us at The Netherhall School, Cambridge for a fun evening of music and song. We can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on with you!
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to stay up to date with the latest concert news!
By Una
I’d always loved singing in a group. Some of my happiest school memories came from being part of the choir; performing in shows, going to competitions and enjoying that amazing sense of camaraderie that singing together brings.
Skip forward a few (ok…maybe more than a few!) years and I’d heard about Sing! Community Choir. The rehearsals were local to me and I was encouraged by the fact that I didn’t need to read sheet music or do a scary audition. I thought I’d give it a go, thinking it might be fun and that I might enjoy it.
It was the best decision I’ve made in a long time!
I have loved coming to Sing! rehearsals every week. The whole experience has been so inclusive, welcoming and just downright fun! Even on the rare occasion I couldn’t make it, I knew I would be able to catch up using the lyrics and recorded tracks on the Google Drive.
I never felt any pressure and these were a great way to practise at home too. The rehearsals became a great social experience; it’s lovely to chat to so many different people from all walks of life and enjoy some delicious snacks very kindly provided by a different group each week.
Cut to the night of the Christmas Concert, which also happened to be the culmination of Sing!’s 10th anniversary year celebrations. Arriving at St Andrew’s Street Baptist Church, there was a sense of nervous energy and excitement in the air. We warmed up; we did some last-minute rehearsals, including practising the iconic stomp, stomp, clap to start Queen’s We Will Rock You; and we finally got to do a sound check and get on stage for the first time. Things were definitely getting real and I’m sure I’m not the only one who felt equal parts nervous and excited!
A quick dinner break, a chance for everyone to get changed into their beautiful red and black outfits and it was finally here: show time! Standing up on stage was an amazing experience. I somehow ended up on the raised platform of the stage, so had a perfect view of the audience who had given up their nights (during England’s last match in the World Cup no less!) to come and see us! The support from family and friends was just amazing and really helped to lift us all. The audience really gave it their all, even getting to join in with a very enthusiastic rendition of The 12 Days of Christmas – dance moves and all!
We sang a great mixture of Christmas and non-festive songs. Hearing all the different sections of the choir come together, along with the fantastic soloists, superb band and wonderful cabaret acts was a real highlight for me. My personal favourites included Hallelujah, Holding Out for a Hero (complete with onstage costume change!) and Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree with Jingle Bell Rock. We repeated the final song as our encore – thanks to Andy for his amazing conducting, especially the Christmas jacket and fairy lights!
Singing together with around 80 other people was an experience I will never forget. I am so thankful to everyone at Sing! for being so inviting and helping me to recapture my love of singing. I’m already looking forward to the Summer concert! ❤️
Huge thanks to our lovely 10th anniversary Christmas Concert audience, who together helped us to raise more than £1,100 in support of Cambridge Acorn Project
You can recapture the magic of all our concert videos on our YouTube channel here
Look out for more news about our Summer concert coming soon!