Feel The Spirit – a concert to raise funds for FIND - Saturday 18th January 2025 at Woodbridge Community Hall
| Type of post: | Choir news item |
| Sub-type: | News |
| Posted By: | Tilly Farrands |
| Status: | Current |
| Date Posted: | Fri, 24 Jan 2025 |
Back again for the fourth successive year, Suffolk Singers delivered another spectacular concert helping to raise funds for Suffolk charity, FIND (Families in Need). “Feel The Spirit” the concert title encouraged, and the spirit of the evening was most definitely felt by the packed audience at the Woodbridge Community Hall.
Our host as always was Suffolk Singers Music Director, Claire Weston whose enthusiasm and energy set the mood, helped by a varied programme of spiritually uplifting music. We were delighted to be joined once again by The West Tones, an ensemble of talented young singers from Woodbridge School, who performed five pieces to the delight of the audience. Claire was ably assisted on the keyboard by accompanist Andrew Gosden.
To open the programme, the choir performed an a capella version of “The Continental”, made famous by Ginger Rogers and Fred Astair in the film The Gay Divorcee, and followed it with “The Lily and the Rose”, a beautiful song by Bob Chilcott.
The choir then split into two parts with the ladies performing “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by Eric Thiman, set to Wordsworth’s poem of the same name. The men followed this with a rendition of “Danny Boy” arranged by Julie Knowles.
Next, The West Tones took to the stage for the first of their two sets, beautifully performing “The Rose” sung by Bette Midler in the film of the same name, and “You Raise me Up” made famous by Irish group Westlife.
To complete the first half, Suffolk Singers returned to perform two pieces, “When Daisies Pied” and “Come Live With Me”, from John Rutter’s “Birthday Madrigals” with lyrics from 16th Century texts by Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare and Walter Raleigh.
After the interval, the wide-ranging programme continued with a blending by Philip Kern of two Paul Simon songs, “Scarborough Fair and The Sound of Silence”. This was followed by an arrangement of Gershwin’s “Love Walked In” and a stirring rendition of “Over The Rainbow” from the Wizard of Oz.
Time for The West Tones to return to the stage with a very different version of “Over the Rainbow”. This was followed by two further pieces, Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” by Rogers and Hammerstein, rounding off a beautifully sung and moving set.
Suffolk Singers completed the evening with Cole Porter’s “Let’s Do It”, and a version of the nursery rhyme “Sing a Song of Sixpence”, arranged into a tongue-twisting a capella piece by John Rutter.
For an encore, Suffolk Singers and The West Tones came together to sing “Hail Holy Queen”, originally performed by Whoopi Goldberg in the film Sister Act, bringing the evening to a rousing conclusion.
A wonderful concert that was enjoyed by an enthusiastic audience. But the real winners on the evening were FIND, the inspirational charity that does so much to help families in need in Suffolk. Maureen Reynel MBE, founder of FIND, gave a moving address setting out the work that the charity does and how it is working to further develop its services and the facilities at its headquarters in Ipswich. Suffolk Singers are delighted to have collaborated again with FIND to raise in the region of £1,850 from the concert to help support their vital work.
Our host as always was Suffolk Singers Music Director, Claire Weston whose enthusiasm and energy set the mood, helped by a varied programme of spiritually uplifting music. We were delighted to be joined once again by The West Tones, an ensemble of talented young singers from Woodbridge School, who performed five pieces to the delight of the audience. Claire was ably assisted on the keyboard by accompanist Andrew Gosden.
To open the programme, the choir performed an a capella version of “The Continental”, made famous by Ginger Rogers and Fred Astair in the film The Gay Divorcee, and followed it with “The Lily and the Rose”, a beautiful song by Bob Chilcott.
The choir then split into two parts with the ladies performing “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by Eric Thiman, set to Wordsworth’s poem of the same name. The men followed this with a rendition of “Danny Boy” arranged by Julie Knowles.
Next, The West Tones took to the stage for the first of their two sets, beautifully performing “The Rose” sung by Bette Midler in the film of the same name, and “You Raise me Up” made famous by Irish group Westlife.
To complete the first half, Suffolk Singers returned to perform two pieces, “When Daisies Pied” and “Come Live With Me”, from John Rutter’s “Birthday Madrigals” with lyrics from 16th Century texts by Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare and Walter Raleigh.
After the interval, the wide-ranging programme continued with a blending by Philip Kern of two Paul Simon songs, “Scarborough Fair and The Sound of Silence”. This was followed by an arrangement of Gershwin’s “Love Walked In” and a stirring rendition of “Over The Rainbow” from the Wizard of Oz.
Time for The West Tones to return to the stage with a very different version of “Over the Rainbow”. This was followed by two further pieces, Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” by Rogers and Hammerstein, rounding off a beautifully sung and moving set.
Suffolk Singers completed the evening with Cole Porter’s “Let’s Do It”, and a version of the nursery rhyme “Sing a Song of Sixpence”, arranged into a tongue-twisting a capella piece by John Rutter.
For an encore, Suffolk Singers and The West Tones came together to sing “Hail Holy Queen”, originally performed by Whoopi Goldberg in the film Sister Act, bringing the evening to a rousing conclusion.
A wonderful concert that was enjoyed by an enthusiastic audience. But the real winners on the evening were FIND, the inspirational charity that does so much to help families in need in Suffolk. Maureen Reynel MBE, founder of FIND, gave a moving address setting out the work that the charity does and how it is working to further develop its services and the facilities at its headquarters in Ipswich. Suffolk Singers are delighted to have collaborated again with FIND to raise in the region of £1,850 from the concert to help support their vital work.
