Celebrating 40 years of harmony

Transcription

1 Ladies Associatio of British Barbershop Sigers Celebratig 40 years of harmoy With bubbly ad cake, our History Room promises to be a Covetio highlight No Big Birthday is complete without fizz ad cake ad LABBS 40th aiversary is o exceptio. Our year-log party reaches its climax at Harrogate i October ad oe room i particular is sure to be a favourite with Covetio goers. No, we re ot talkig about the auditorium. The History Room is boud to be a big draw for LABBS members ad visitors alike. It will be the place where you have a glass of fizz or cup of tea ad a cake to celebrate LABBS birthday ad there will be a photographer o had, so you ca get your frieds together to have your picture take ad the buy a copy as a memeto of this very special occasio. The History Room is a celebratio of LABBS past ad will showcase our clubs ad their histories as well as beig THE place to go to celebrate your Associatio s 40th birthday. Clubs have bee ivited to have a stad i the room ad we are lookig forward to seeig some great displays icludig old costumes which are sure to garer lots of iterest. If you re showig off outfits, please remember to brig alog a maequi so that it ca be see i all its fiery! There will be old LABBS footage playig ad etries for The Pitchpipers history book competitio will be o show so there is lots to look at while you re ejoyig your birthday cake. Tokes will be give out whe you register i Harrogate ad these ca be redeemed i the room over Friday or Saturday at your leisure. Aliso Harbord, Special Projects Director said: The History Room at our 40th aiversary covetio has bee created to eable a special place for all our members to visit ad have the opportuity to celebrate our past ad view club memetoes ad displays from years goe by. LABBS ad its member clubs have grow ad chaged sigificatly sice 1976 ad it s equally as importat to look back ad celebrate this as it is to look forward to the future ad our cotiued growth ad developmet. We hope it will be a place for clubs to display their ow historical items ad be able to reflect o the fu that we have had ad cotiue to have together. With a glass of fizz ad birthday cake i had, it s a great chace to take a look at how thigs have chaged i the past 40 years. Summer 2016 INSIDE: Former LABBS Chairme recall the 1980s ad 90s OF BRITISH BARBERSHOP LADIES ASSOCIATION SINGERS

2 2 Chairma s Notes with Breda Rothwell Quee s hit crowig glory of a fabulous Harmoy College At the time of writig, I have just retured from the most fabulous weeked at our LABBS Harmoy College, held at the Jubilee Campus, Nottigham Uiversity. Nearly 300 of our members gathered for a absorbig, stimulatig weeked of educatio ad participatio. There were lots of optios to choose from ad I opted for the chorus stream which was immesely ejoyable, as we set about makig a impressive job of sigig our ew polecat, Bohemia Rhapsody. This polecat was specifically chose for our 40th Aiversary because it was top of the pop charts 40 years ago. The grad fiale was the collective sigig of Bohemia Rhapsody which was filmed ad used by our LABBS Social Media Team. Such was its popularity that the recordig was widely viewed ad shared. It wet global ad to date has bee viewed over 88,000 times! The success of the weeked was testamet to the hard work ad commitmet of our Educatio ad Judgig Committee ad Evets team. Oe of our guest educators commeted there is a lot of talet withi LABBS ad this was very evidet throughout the weeked. The LABBS 40th Aiversary Beaco of Harmoy is still steadily makig its way alog the route from club to club. Oe of the worries we had whe we Directory amedmets Co-Ordiator, Music Services, Copyright Advice ad Traspositios Marily Peketh, 212 Havat Road, Haylig Islad, Hats PO11 0LN E: marily.peketh@gmail.com T: Loa Service Videos, Books plaed this activity was that the Beaco might go missig. I m pleased to say it is still itact ad (figers crossed) o schedule. It is woderful to see all the photos at each stage of its jourey. There is a theme developig though you all love to celebrate with cake! There have bee some magificet cakes photographed at your Beaco evets. Cupcakes, large cakes, 40th logo cakes ad some very impressive, itricate desigs. What a taleted buch you are! If your club is yet to receive the Beaco, I wish you good luck for your evet ad please keep the photos (icludig cakes) comig. Please also take a look at the separate members otice i this editio of Voice Box. As part of our Coucil meetigs i Lodo, we frequetly hold a discussio topic. At our September meetig, the subject will be Covetio ad this will be your chace to have your say about differet aspects of the weeked. Please take time via your club represetatives to cotribute to the discussio with your views ad ideas. We welcome your iput ad a otice with details will be set to clubs earer to the date to remid everyoe to gather feedback. Pat Darby, 16 Thetis Road, Cowes, Isle of Wight PO31 7DJ E: iowpatdarby@aol.com T: Liverpool (Mersey Harmoy) Chage of Veue Eterprise South Liverpool Academy, 51 Horrocks Aveue, Liverpool L19 5NY Our ext big evet is our Quartet Prelims i Jue with 39 quartets eterig the competitio. It is fair to say that quartet sigig is thrivig withi LABBS ad I wish everyoe eterig Prelims the best of luck. Keep learig your 40th Aiversary polecat, Bohemia Rhapsody over the summer moths so that we are all ready to sig together at Covetio. The teach tracks are available for members via the LABBS website. Fially, best wishes to you all for a fabulous summer of barbershop sigig. Breda Rothwell LABBS Chairma See page ie for more from the Harmoy College weeked LABBS raffle 2016 Despite addig a label to the Raffle pack haded out at AGM i March, requestig the cotets should be checked ad a ame give to me for cotact purposes, at the time of writig I have oly heard from 16 choruses. Thak you to the ladies who respoded so quickly ad I look forward to hearig from ayoe who may have forgotte to sed me details of the perso resposible for their chorus tickets. Ae Withall LABBS Raffle Orgaiser

3 Celebrate i style You ca show your love of LABBS with a selectio of specially desiged clothig created for our aiversary year! They are available to order ow, usig the order form which has bee set out to all clubs. Please ote that these items will NOT be available for sale at Covetio. T-shirts come i both wome s ad me s cuts ad are 6.50, hoodies 14 (adult sizes), 12 (childre s sizes). The fial desig is a little differet from our photos as the writig that appears o these sample clothig items will ot be there it will oly be the logo that is prited. To make the process for orderig items as smooth as possible, please gather orders ad moey from your club members. If you require delivery to a club member, specify this o the form the other optio is collectio at Covetio i Harrogate. Club at Large members oly ca order direct from Aliso Harbord, LABBS Special Projects Director everyoe else must use the official form. For more iformatio, you ca Aliso at specialprojects@labbs.org.uk Uique was thrilled ad delighted to be chose as the LABBS quartet to receive this year s Dorothy Bosley Award. We ited to sped it wisely. Oe of our aims for the year is to help our chorus Mai Street Soud to achieve their goal of havig every member sigig i quartet, be it just for fu or more seriously i competitio. They curretly have 28 of their 45 members sigig i quartet, with Who eeds Naomi Campbell whe you ca get Breda Rothwell, Viv Garer ad Holly Parker to do the modellig hoours? A Uique approach to quartet perfomace Uique, Delekatè, Diversio, Just a Miim ad Norther Lights competig i music festivals ad LABBS ad BiH evets. They also have Classique ad a brad ew quartet (as yet uamed). The quartets ad the chorus recetly travelled to Spai to compete i the SABS Iteratioal Covetio, where a great time was had by all ad Uique wo the SABS Iteratioal Silver medal! Mai Street Soud thik they could be the oly LABBS chorus to have over half of their members sigig i quartet. Please let us kow if this is ot the case. Members of Uique pla to assist i holdig a i-house quartet day where all quartets ad iterested quartettists from the chorus ca sig ad perform for each other. There will be advice, tips ad of course cake... lots ad lots of cake, which we all kow is essetial i ay quartet. We hope to have a guest coach to give expert guidace, paid for from the moey awarded to Uique. Look out for a update (o Facebook) about our quartet day later i the year. The chorus has also set up a quartet member loa system. Several established quartets get together before chorus rehearsal but if someoe ca t make it, a member of the chorus ca fill i for the missig quartet member so the rehearsal ca still go ahead. This also allows a iterested quartettist the chace to have a go. Lastly we would like to say a big thak you to LABBS for the award. Kare, Lye, Grace ad Kare Uique 3

4 Ladies Associatio of British Barbershop Sigers OF BRITISH BARBERSHOP LADIES ASSOCIATION At our LABBS Coucil meetig i Lodo i September, we will be holdig a discussio o the subject of our Aual Covetio. We are lookig to gather ideas ad feedback from our membership o differet aspects of the weeked. This is a opportuity to cotribute your ideas ad commets to help shape future Covetios. More iformatio will be set out to clubs i advace of the meetig ad feedback will be gathered via your Club Coucil delegates. If you are a member of Club at Large, you will be able to feed your commets through the CAL Coordiator. Specifically, we would like to kow your thoughts o the format, timig ad cotet of the weeked. Please look out for the otice circulated i advace to clubs, as we would like as much iput as possible from our members. SINGERS MEMBERS NOTICE For further equiries please chairma@labbs.org.uk leadig the way i harmoy Ladies Associatio of British Barbershop Sigers OF BRITISH BARBERSHOP LADIES ASSOCIATION SINGERS HELP TO SHAPE THE FUTURE AS A LABBS BOARD DIRECTOR The LABBS Board is lookig to fill the followig positio from March LABBS VICE CHAIRMAN This is a chace for you to be ivolved at the highest level to esure the cotiued smooth ruig of our Associatio ad help to move the Associatio forward. The LABBS Board is lookig to appoit a ew Vice Chairma at the AGM i March Specifically, we are lookig for a ethusiastic perso to support the strategic aims ad visio of LABBS ad work as part of a progressive team. As Vice Chairma you would be a active member of the LABBS Board, deputisig for the Chairma whe required ad play a active part i the decisio-makig process. The term of office is for two years with the expectatio that you would progress to be Chairma after this period. The above positio is volutary, as are all Board positios, although expeses icurred will be reimbursed i lie with the LABBS expeses policy. There is a requiremet for the cadidate to become a Director of LABBS ad a Charity Trustee For more iformatio or to apply for this positio please cotact Gill Clare, LABBS Secretary by at secretary@labbs.org.uk leadig the way i harmoy 4

5 Radio 4 date for LABBS Vice Chairma Deborah Lamble s cacer jourey will be the subject of a BBC radio programme to be aired i Jue Deborah It all started with a , which cotaied the followig: The remit of the series is that I follow a iterestig ad eloquet idividual through a key momet of their lives. This meas that the story has to be more tha just about the competitio it must be a potetially life-chagig momet, somethig must be at stake or they have a very compellig back-story which is playig out at the momet. The request from Sarah Bowe at Radio 4 was received by LABBS ad forwarded to me at the begiig of October. It sigalled the start of a lot of recordig ad the results ca be heard o Moday, Jue 6 at 11am o Radio 4 i the series, The Utold, arrated by Grace Det After meetig Sarah, I started to liste to her shows o Radio 4. I had just started chemotherapy for breast cacer. We had already had experiece of cacer with my mother ad my daughter. After a couple of phoe calls lastig at least a half hour each, Sarah decided to come ad visit me ad to follow me to my secod pre-chemo appoitmet. I m ot sure the hospital kew what was happeig, there were lots of sideways glaces ad the poor urse who took my blood pressure had to rip the cuff several times to get the right effect. The doctor was very calm ad iformative ad made all the right oises for Sarah! We retured home ad the whole family was iterviewed, I have o idea what they said ad it will be iterestig to fid out. Sarah came to chorus that eveig ad recorded a bit of us sigig ad the left us i peace. I was told to record ay momets that were sigificat ad forward them to her. So kowig how she loves oises we had a recordig of the toaster poppig as the oly thig I facied eatig was jam o toast. The there was a recordig of hair clippers as Dyrck shaved my head; I was lucky he did t use the dog clippers as he thought they might be oisier! Losig my hair was probably the lowest poit for me as it has always the thig that defies me ad literally makes me stad out. So ow it was wig time ad I was quite worried about wearig it o stage for covetio, as I had o idea how robust it would be with all the choreo etc. Sarah s so was tryig out for the Eglad Rugby Squad ad so she set her secod i commad, Georgia, to follow me at covetio. Georgia was a budle of eergy ad must have iterviewed half the members of LABBS throughout the day. She followed me through the dressig room ad there were lots of coversatios about false eyelashes ad eyebrows! Whe you have o eyelashes the eye makeup just falls ito your eyes ad the everythig seems to make your eyes water. Of course there were real tears whe we sag The Climb i the warm up room. By the time I came off stage I was absolutely shattered ad wet back to the hotel to sleep for a couple of hours. Not sure how I maaged to make through the weeked, probably just sheer determiatio. I did go to bed at 9pm o Suday though! Sarah stayed i touch ad I kept sedig recordigs of the highs (ot may) ad the lows (quite a few). It somehow helped to tell the story, eve though with all the hours of recordigs the evetual programme will oly be 30 miutes log. She decided to visit oe of the radiotherapy sessios ad agai she just walked right i ad thrust the microphoe at ayoe she could fid. I lay there half aked waitig for the radiotherapy ad thikig this is very surreal. She did say it remided her of the Starship Eterprise! Sarah asked me if I had a goal to work for after covetio ad I told her that my quartet, Souther Comfort, was competig i the Portsmouth Music Festival. I had ot missed ay chorus rehearsals although some were spet sittig all eveig ad had missed hardly ay quartet rehearsals. My quartet was woderful ad came to my house whe I was too tired to eve stad. We have a ew lie up ad so Portsmouth was our first outig with my daughter as our lead. We were delighted to wi, despite tough oppositio. A defiite highlight to the past year. So ow it s owards ad upwards ad may thaks must go to Wessex Harmoy for ecouragig me throughout treatmet, Souther Comfort, the LABBS Board (for beig so patiet with me) all the members of LABBS who have set messages of ecouragemet ad most of all my family, who have bee there throughout ad I could ot have maaged ay of this without them. Deborah Lamble LABBS Vice Chairma Wavelegth A Cappella 5

6 World silver success for Haah ad Hurricaes After our success i 2015 at the BiH Mixed Quartet Competitio, Haah ad the Hurricaes were lucky eough to be ivited to represet the UK alogside Jigsaw ad Way Out West at the Barbershop i Germay World Mixed Cotest. Adrea ad Haah had bee to the BiG! covetio i 2014 with Cheshire Chord Compay, where we were ispired by the wiers. Double Date left us i awe ad it was from the that we decided to aspire to their level ad form a mixed quartet. After our ivite, we spet most of the festive seaso dreamig about the real Germa markets that we would visit i March ad rehearsig our cotest sogs day i day out. Off we wet to the beautiful city of Muich, which we explored i our first three days there. Tim ad Haah eve wet to the top of St Peter s Church to look over the city. We wet to the real Germa market, where we may have tested out a stei or two Friday ad Saturday at the covetio were great days. The UK was very well represeted by The White Rosettes ad Hot Note, who were both pheomeal ambassadors for our orgaisatio. We were also graced with the presece of Ambassadors of Harmoy, Crossroads, Double Date ad GQ, all of whom were just breathtakig. A early start o Suday morig (6am!) ad lots of bubblig ad steamig led us to the Suday afteroo, where we were first o i the World Mixed Quartet Fials. Our excitemet was through the roof ad walkig oto that stage was the best feelig ever. The support from the audiece was amazig ad really made us feel welcome. We sag our set ad received two stadig ovatios! We came off feelig woderful ad wet to watch the rest of the cotest. We saw some amazig competitors the likes of Double Date, Potetial Scadal, Pastor Haes Kör ad of course Jigsaw ad Way Out West. It was a tight cotest. We were seeded i 4th place so were aimig for the top three. So it came to the results. We sat with bated breath, holdig hads very tightly as they read from 11th place to 1st. As Pastor Haes Kör were aouced 4th, we were ecstatic as we realised we d wo a medal! So we prepared to go dow to the stage. With a score of 999 poits ad 83.3% Potetial Scadal! You should ve heard us screamig! We could t believe that we were i the top two quartets i the world. We heard our score (1003 poits ad 83.6%) ad ra dow to the stage. We were the World Silver Medallists! Noe of us have ever felt happier. We were so pleased with our score ad extremely proud to be from the UK. Aother very special momet of our trip was becomig very good frieds with Double Date who wo the gold, ad sigig Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? with them. Haah ad the Hurricaes are over the moo to be your World Mixed Silver Medallists BiG! 2016 was somethig udeiably special for us ad defiitely a trip that we will ever forget. Haah, Tim, Adrea ad Duca Haah ad the Hurricaes hello@haahadthehurricaes.co.uk Spirit of the South s day is a big hit The pla was to Sig-A-Sog-I-A- Day ad sig they did. Although there was aother Sig Day i the area, seve ladies came to ours o April 2, at the Purbrook Cetre, Waterlooville. Everythig wet like clockwork, startig with tea ad coffee ad gettig to kow each other. We had fu with the physical warm ups as usual, the had a break to give a bit of backgroud iformatio ad hear some feedback from them. Movig o to the vocal warm-up, I thik everyoe really ejoyed the short, fu exercises. Nothig complicated. Uder the Boardwalk, by the Drifters was the sog we had chose to teach as we were sure most people would have heard it before. We worked together, the i sectios, before comig together agai to sig the sog through. It's just dawed o me that I am preachig to the coverted, as you kow all this stuff, you kow how these days go. It was good to hear that they were impressed with how friedly ad easygoig we were. That's sigers for you! Ufortuately we were so busy beig friedly ad busy, that there did't seem to be a appropriate time to take photos, so you probably have see this oe before. So, we will wait ad see who will stay with us. As for our chorus, we had a brilliat day ad just ejoyed the extra time sigig together. Sadra Straw PRO, Spirit-of-The-South 6

7 A barstormig performace Not oly is LABBS 40 this year but as a foudig Chorus, so are the Barberettes ad we ve had quite a start to our celebratios! O a cold, dark eveig i early March we competed at the Hexago Theatre i Readig at the Mayor of Readig s Let s Sig 2016 competitio. We submitted a video of oe of our performaces ad were lucky to be oe of 15 choirs selected to take part the fials. Competitors raged from 80 strog male voice choir to classical octets ad the Military Wives Choir. With a umber of ew members who had t performed i public before ad armed with two ew sogs that we d oly bee learig sice Jauary, the Barbs set out have fu ad give it our best shot with a meaigful performace. Despite some backstage erves while we waited i the wigs, we did ladies barbershop proud. Our first sog was a atmospheric performace of the James Bod tue Skyfall. We kew that we d doe good at the ed of the performace whe there was a momet of silece before the audiece ad other Mr & Mrs Hayde Williams treasurer ad trustee of NWBB acceptig the cheques from Red Rosettes Chairma Margaret Wolsteholme ad Marketig Coordiator Sadra Hale competitors erupted ito applause. We had a agoisig wait before beig selected to sig i the fial three ad what a differet sog! The Barbs strutted their stuff to Happy/All about that Bass. Ethusiastic sigig ad physical iterpretatio, particularly from the Bass sectio, obviously delighted both the judges (sice the result was uaimous) ad the audiece who wet wild whe the Barberettes were aouced as the wiers. So, ow we are a award-wiig choir ad will be represetig Readig at a ope air evet i Jue (hope it stays dry!). Needless to say a amazig experiece, which led to a very suy Saturday i April, where the Barberettes foud themselves o a farm i Wokigham! Together with a eclectic mix of other musicias (rock ad opera) ad dacers, we d bee asked to record the female choral vocals for a amazig arragemet of Status Quo s Whatever You Wat which icluded a Bhagra dacig sectio! Also o set were salsa ad jive dacers as well hip hop dacers ad a full rock bad. LEFT: Barberettes receive their award from the Mayor of Readig ABOVE: Preparig for their momet o video The music video was cetred aroud a character who meets all of these performers as he waders alog the road. The Barberettes were directed to come out of a bar sigig ad dacig up the farm track ad pick up a opera siger e-route! With so may performers, it took a lot of takes to achieve what the director wated but despite spedig three-ad-a-half hours i a bar, the Barbs did t stop smilig. We had a great time o locatio ad we are lookig forward to the film comig out so we ca remiisce about our adveture ad see what evolved with the filmig. ( com). Oe thig is for sure we ll ever be able to hear Whatever You Wat agai without a flashback to a bar ad a track. I woder if it s cotestable? That s just the start of the year. Thoughts are ow turig to our big birthday celebratio i July with may old Barbs joiig us ad a 40th Birthday cocert i October, plus a few evets i betwee. Will we make it to 41? Emma Lelliott MD, Barberettes Blood Red Rosettes Red Rosettes were hooured to preset cheques totallig 705 to our local heroes ad omiated charity NW Blood Bikers. These amazig voluteers esure that urget blood supplies are trasported swiftly ad safely to hospitals i Lacashire ad beyod o their ow motorbikes ad our doatio will help to esure that their bikes are ready at a momet s otice. Most of the moey was raised at sigig evets across Lacashire ad 250 came as a result of the group eterig The Furess Buildig Society Charity Stars Competitio at Lacaster Grad Theatre. Durig the presetatio, members performed sogs from our repertoire ad a reditio of our tribute to the NW Blood Bikers, Holdig Out for a Hero. Sadra Hale, Marketig Coordiator, Red Rosettes 7

8 Makig the most of membership Barbara Eifler (Pic: Damie McFadde) I our 2014 membership survey, 89 per cet of members wated services olie, so our ew website is a step o that jourey. The secod step is to develop more resources, so that soo you will be able to fid whatever you eed to ru your group o the website which, ulike Makig Music staff, is available 24/7! What ca you do to make the best of this resource for your group? First of all: register ad ecourage everybody from your group to register it s free ad differet roles i your group, e.g. publicity officer or treasurer or chairma, will be iterested i differet guidace, templates or advice. It is as importat to esure your group details are correct ad complete o the website, so that the geeral public, tryig to joi a group, ca fid you o our map, so iclude your web address or Facebook page. To register: Oce you ve created a accout, go to My Dashboard ad ask to lik yourself to your group. To update group details: go to My Dashboard ad select the group. There s a Dashboard user guide here: uk/resource/how-guides-usig-website, ad website FAQs here: makigmusic.org.uk/website-faqs. Do also feel free to get i touch with us: ifo@makigmusic.org.uk or Barbara Eifler, Executive Director, Makig Music Fasciatig warm ups We re so pleased that warmer weather is o the horizo. We shuffle up to rehearsals durig the dark moths swathed i woollies, coats, hats, ad scarves. At 7.30pm sharp we re all o the risers shufflig ad sufflig. The MD Jo Dea thuders ito our weekly half hour vocal warm up ad withi miutes (literally) the back rails ad the floor to the side of the risers look like offerigs from a local charity shop. Such is the lot of a group of wome, most of whom have more tha a oddig acquaitace with the meopause. FR have started to do tur ad tur-about with the Medip Male Voice Choir, supportig each other s chose charity. I March MMVC gave their services to support our local Ridig for the Disabled Associatio group, helpig us to raise well over 800. We re lookig forward to returig the favour i 2017, their ceteary year. Best weeked of the year so far? Fast-paced vocal warm up burs the calories ad sheds the layers! Two days glorious coachig with Sally McLea i mid-april that have goe some way to stoppig our kees kockig as we ve etered two classes at the prestigious Chelteham Music Festival. We re relieved that at least five barbershop choruses have etered amid all the choral societies ad chamber choirs. Our aim is to flabber the judges gast ad thoroughly etertai the audiece. Fasciatig Rhythm Mersey Harmoy Is Callig You To Be Our Musical Director! Mersey Harmoy (Liverpool Ladies Barbershop Sigers) is seekig a ew MD with eergy, drive ad commitmet. The Chorus comprises 40+ members of varyig ages. We compete at LABBS Covetios, music festivals ad etertai at local fuctios / charity evets. There are iterim arragemets i place with the backig of a full Music Team. We eed a Musical Director who ca provide leadership, ispiratio, creativity ad imagiatio to eable us to realise our potetial. Reasoable expeses will be paid. As fouder members of LABBS the barbershop style is our priority. We are lookig forward to celebratig our 40th Aiversary this year. If you are iterested i becomig our ew MD please cotact our Chairma, Mo Rushto mauree.rushto@btiteret.com Registered Charity No:

9 Delegate Aliso Crutchley s Harmoy College memories A thak you from the heart FROM LEFT: Aliso Crutchley, LABBS Chairma Breda Rothwell ad Isabel Matos I m fairly ew to barbershop I joied the White Rosettes last year but it s pretty much take over my life. (I ca sese Voice Box readers oddig i recogitio, here). It s excitig ad exhilaratig ad by golly, there s a lot to lear. A girly swot by ature, I ve bee stadig i rehearsals tryig ot to blik i case I miss ay of Sally s wisdom, porig over the BHS Arragers Maual ad practisig sigig overtoes i the shower. So a weeked of talkig ad thikig about barbershop at Harmoy College was right up my street. I had a go at tag-writig with Delyth Kight, leared about music category judgig with Heather Lae, visualised my mouth as a ave ad as a pipig bag i Uderstadig Resoace with Aliso Thompso ad tried my had at judgig sigig. I was excited about LABBS Voices i Harmoy Foudatio (ViH) was lauched i Jauary 2016 ad has bee put i place to offer grats to help people develop their skills i harmoy sigig. ViH is fuded by LABBS ad the proceeds from the LABBS raffle. It also accepts doatios from idividuals or member clubs (iformatio o this ca be foud o the ViH page o the LABBS website). The first idividual educatio grats were awarded for Harmoy College with the recipiets beig: Holly Parker (Mai Street Soud) Lesley Harris (Moor Harmoy) Aliso Crutchley (The White Rosettes) classes o arragig, util I realised that, so far, I ve oly show my arragemets to people I trust ot to say, Crikey! Well, that s er iterestig. I spet a week feelig sick with erves, but Heather was warm ad supportive ad created a atmosphere i which it was oly mildly terrifyig to stad up ad say I wrote this. I got some very useful feedback ad made some aspirig-arrager buddies, too. I the pleary sessios we cheered o the quartets puttig ito practice what they d leared over the weeked, sat ope-mouthed as The Mix quartet seamlessly icorporated coachig tips from Doug Harrigto ad Sadi Wright ito their performace, leared a fiedish tag with Doug ( Your goal is to lear your lie o the first hearig, ), sag Bohemia Rhapsody e masse, ad watched our beloved Sally McLea FROM LEFT: Holly Parker, Lesley Harris, LABBS Chairma Breda Rothwell ad Fracesca Simmos brig a houseful of delegates to tears with her sessio o platformig. We sag i the bar ad i the stairwells, made ew chums over luch ad tried to work out how we could go to all the pic mix sessios at oce. I m hooured to have bee awarded a Voices I Harmoy Foudatio grat to atted Harmoy College. Huge gratitude to ViH ad to the orgaisers ad educators who made it such a fu, educatioal ad elighteig couple of days. The emergig theme of the weeked was how barbershop eeds to be from the heart. It s easy to put all your heart ito what you do whe you re supported ad ispired by such terrific people. Thak you all! Aliso Crutchley The White Rosettes First Voices i Harmoy grat recipiets Fracesca Simmos (Belles of Three Spires) Isabel Matos (Bella A Cappella, Portugal) I additio to idividual grats, ViH will also admiister the LABBS chorus ad LABBS registered quartet grats, for 2016 these are 75; the Lear to Sig Grats for LABBS Choruses up to 200 for extra expeses icurred while ruig a course; ad the Dorothy Bosley award (Quartet) which was awarded this year to Uique. The Katy Phillips Award ad Bursary also come uder the ViH umbrella ad omiatios for this year s award will be ope i the comig weeks keep a eye o the LABBS website ad social media for details. 9

10 Everythig is possible for these sigers! Ae Beasley our Actig MD has bee fatastic, esurig that there has bee time to cover the repertoire sogs, work o fudametal skills ad ejoy sharig riser time with other a cappella sigers. We have recetly ejoyed a joit workshop day sigig alogside Just Voices, a ladies barbershop chorus from earby Bromley. Hele Lappert puts the ladies through their paces i a reditio of Michael Bublé s Everythig Lots of fu i the Spaish sushie At the ed of March, 32 members of Mai Street Soud, together with a few parters, set off for Calpe i Spai ad the 2016 Spaish Associatio of Barbershop Sigers Covetio. Some of us arrived early but by Thursday the hotel was buzzig with barbershop sigers! Two groups from our chorus took part i the fu show o Thursday ight but the rest of the chorus was delayed ad did t arrive i time to see it. Friday was the day of the quartet competitio ad we had four quartets takig part i the iteratioal competitio which followed the Spaish Natioal Competitio. We were absolutely delighted that oe of our quartets, Uique, wo the silver medal, with Delekaté comig i 4th place. The chorus competitio was held o the Saturday ad after a leisurely stroll up the hill to the Casa de Cultura we 10 Our MDs picked Everythig by Michael Bublé (arr. Caroly Healey) as the target sog to lear for the day ad booked the amazig Hele Lappert to coach the combied throg. There are two very tricky aspects to Everythig. The first is the overall cofusio caused by sedig a message out that, you eed to prepare everythig for ext week eough to create paic for most of us but cosider the ew girls alarm at beig told, you eed to have everythig off the page by Tuesday! We tried usig the first lie of the sog, You re My Everythig but this eded up as You re ME which souds like a lie from a bad joke. The secod problem is that Everythig is o a push beat ad has some diabolical pick ups ad does relaxed outside i the sushie while waitig to chage ad warm up. It was a stiff competitio ad we were draw to sig secod i the iteratioal evet, followig the amazig Stockholm City Voices. We were delighted to achieve a score which was two per cet higher tha at covetio 2015! It was fu to share the stage with choruses from Swede, the Netherlads ad Irelad as well as three BABS choruses. The rest of the weeked icluded the scratch quartet competitio ad fatastic shows featurig both atioal ad iteratioal wiers as well as the fatastic Musical Islad Boys ad Love Notes. Who would have thought we would be havig breakfast o the ext table to them? Some of our ladies were more tha everythig possible to trip you up. Who would have thought that the cute Mr Bublé would devise somethig so tricksy? Fortuately, Everythig is Nothig to Hele Lappert isofar as she had ideas aplety to help us through the sog. We really hope she d wated a challegig Suday! The last phase of the day was to split the joit chorus (who had bee shotgu stacked) ito three groups ad give them 10 miutes to devise some choreography. We the re-stacked ad sag the sog for a fial time with all three sectios doig their ow moves. It was a total blast ad a great way to keep the day s eergy ruig o full throttle to the ed of the workshop. Thak you Mrs B, the visitig Just Voices ad most of all Hele Lappert for a woderful shared time. Lucy Bull PRO, Gree Street Blues a little bit giddy! The weeked also icluded lots of walkig ad explorig ad eatig ice cream...the hotel eve ra out of white wie but that was t all our fault! It was a woderful weeked ad oe which we hope to repeat. Jey Whitehouse Chairma, Mai Street Soud

11 OF BRITISH BARBERSHOP SINGERS Maggie Hobday shares her 40 years i barbershop Day that chaged LADIES ASSOCIATION my life for good... I 1976, I was a 27 year old Mum of two with a Saturday job at C&A, workig i the village pub a few ights a week to pay for drivig lessos ad a sewig machie. The my life chaged. A fried asked if I wated to see a ew choir just lauched the Sheriffs Ladies. I heard the harmoies ad I was hooked! I voice tested as a teor ad a short time later, I was a Sheriff s Lady. Most of the members were wives of me i the Gateway chorus, coducted by Joh Grat. Ted, our MD, was a perfect getlema, helpig us off stage ad it became our traditio to have a sherry before goig o stage. Before I could catch my breath, I was o the dress committee, workig with aother member who was a dress maker, to create our first stage outfit a gree waistcoat ad log skirt. My first covetio was at De Motford Hall (Leicester) i 1977, cheerig o the Gateway Chorus. The followig year, the Sheriff s Ladies competed for the first time at a joit covetio at Caister holiday camp. I also competed i a quartet called Nottigham Fair. We came last but at least we had a go! By ow, I was chorus treasurer ad LABBS delegate, resultig i a ew adveture a trip to Lodo by trai I led a sheltered life before Barbershop. Our secod covetio at the Derbyshire Miers holiday camp i Skegess, was where I was itroduced to Afterglow, a highpoit beig whe Liverpool Ladies performed Swig Low Sweet Chariot. I still have my badges ad shoe bag from that time. So followed several years of covetio ad sog. There are may memories. Oe year at Stockport we had a iterestig costume chage betwee the ballad ad upbeat. With the help of the secod row ad a carefully placed loop, our frot row were to twirl ad shed their skirts i favour of trousers for Yakie Doodle Dady but oe poor lady got her skirt caught i her trouser zip ad bravely carried o, ot missig a beat. The judges recogised her efforts ot a poit was deducted! The Sheriff s Ladies smile for the camera i Stockport Sigig dow a mie was a amazig experiece Aother year, LABBS challeged members to sig i uusual places. Beig from a miig area, we got permissio to sig dow a mie. We were beate by the quartet called Cocord who sag i frot of you guessed it Cocorde. After seve years with Sheriff s Ladies ad ow holdig the positio of Chairma, it was time for a chage. I tried my luck with Amber Valley Chorus a very ethusiastic ad welcomig chorus. I joied the lead sectio ad we were soo 30 strog, wiig the Novice trophy at our first covetio. I was with Amber Valley for 14 years ad I also joied Coast to Coast Barbershop was expadig my horizos with joureys to Hollad, Germay, Italy ad twice to America. It has also allowed me to make lifelog frieds. Maggie receives her LABBS 35-year pi I 1998, Amber Valley split up it felt like losig family. However, 23 of us stayed together ad relauched as GEM Coectio ad what a jourey we ve had! We will be 18 years old this May ad we re proud recipiets of a silver ad broze medal. We have travelled the world with our harmoies, icludig Hollad (competig), Germay, USA ad most recetly, Tuscay i Italy, where our tour guide called us the Martii chorus because we would sig Aytime, ayplace, aywhere. If I were to sum up my 40 years of Barbershoppig with LABBS i three words it would be what a adveture! A big thak you to LABBS for givig their time ad dedicatio to keep us sigig i harmoy for 40 woderful years. 11

12 OF BRITISH BARBERSHOP LADIES ASSOCIATION SINGERS LABBS 40 YEA Who better to relate the history of the Ladies Associa at the helm? As our four-part series cotiues, Voi The LABBS Executive Committee i 1981 The Harmoy College Faculty at Scraptoft Campus, Leicester Harmoy Icorporated Covetio, From left: Margaret, Sheila, Barbara-A MacItosh (HI hostess) Sadra, Marily, HI Chapter Pres A lifetime Marily Peketh was LABBS Chairma hav from but has held a B umber of positios withi the Associatio. resp Here. she shares a few of her memories. ligh I was a fouder member of Havat Del LBHC (The Pitchpipers) i February 1976 both the same time as LABBS started ad have ad bee with the chorus ever sice, servig as the Musical Director for most of that time. C I was ivited to joi the Music Committee by Rhiao Whittle (ow Owes-Hall) tive YW i 1977 ad I joied the LABBS Judgig mee Programme as a traiee Arragemet Judge. wer I became a Coucil Delegate ad voluteered to ru the LABBS shop, a job which I atte YW did for the followig five years. T I have bee resposible for ruig the ad LABBS Music Library sice Durig hall my time o the Executive Committee I D served as Treasurer (Coucil & Music & ship Judgig Committee) ad Vice Chairma take before beig hooured to represet LABBS I as Chairma after 10 years service. Adv I also served as PRO for LABBS ad Cat Lee Westlake is from Teigmouth but bor i Newcastle upo Tye. She was Chairma from A fouder member of The Chordettes, Teigmouth Ladies Barbershop Chorus which bega i 1974, Lee was a member of the foudig committee ad is a fouder member of LABBS. Past posts i LABBS are Treasurer, PRO, Vice Chairma, Chairma, Membership Secretary ad Regioal Rep. Editor of The Rechorder Magazie, she was a Coucil Delegate for the Chordettes ad has achieved two Broze, a Silver ad a Gold medal with her Chorus. Lee recalls: It was a tremedous hoour ad resposibility to be LABBS Chairma. This eabled me to help progress LABBS to what it is ow ad meat I was able to visit all the clubs ad meet their members, ejoy their friedliess ad sigig ad lear first had how the members were ejoyig their lovely hobby ad how they felt about the associatio. Happiest memories from her time as Chairma? I have two very happy memories from my Chairmaship. The first was goig to New Orleas with The White Rosettes to represet LABBS, hear the Chorus sig at the SPEBSQSA 1992 Covetio ad also to have LABBS welcomed ito the World Harmoy Associatio after three years of egotiatios. It had bee a male stroghold util that time. A time of iteratioal recog The secod was stadig o the stage for the 1992 Covetio ad hearig MC Ia Taylor aoucig that my ow chorus, The Chordettes, with whom I had competed that afteroo had wo the Gold Medal! This eabled us to go to The Heiz Hall, Pittsburgh, Pesylvaia to perform at the World Harmoy Jamboree Cocert. Lee added: LABBS moved forward i may aspects, both i umber of choruses ad membership. We became iteratioally recogised i the barbershop world. It was always the vote of the Coucil that couted before aythig was carried out LABBS is formed by the membership ad each club s two delegates Committe Coucil s help esu Coveti were very Lee s l to this da filled my iitial cho hooked a Wha hobby thi ad how part of it to still be The Chor 40th A cotiue! 12

13 RS IN HARMONY tio of British Barbershop Sigers tha the wome ce Box looks back at the secod decade of LABBS OF BRITISH BARBERSHOP LADIES ASSOCIATION SINGERS s work ad pure pleasure e bee a Regioal Rep sice eig Chairma was a tremedous osibility ad oe which was ot take tly. LABBS was govered by the Coucil egates. The Chairma s job was to put sides of the argumet for discussio ot their persoal view. Coucil made decisios by majority vote. oucil meetigs were held i the CA i Gt Russell Street ad the Execu- Committee would have a pre-coucil tig i a café o the corer. AGMs e held i the Quee Mary Hall i the CA as we always had a large umber of dees. he AGM would last most of the day there was a tea ur at the back of the so everyoe could help themselves. urig my time I itroduced membercards ad persoal isurace was o board Sheila Rice (Educatio iser), Sadra Ladey (Stage Presece egory Specialist), Margaret de Wolf (Iterpretatio Category Specialist ) ad myself (Arragemet Category Specialist) visited Providece, Rhode Islad for Harmoy Icorporated s Covetio ad 25th birthday at which we doated a silver tray as a gift from the LABBS Music & Judgig Committee. This tray is awarded every year at covetio to the highest placed o-medallist chorus scorig i Presetatio ad I ve had the hoour of beig there most years to preset it. I 1987, the LABBS Music & Judgig Committee set a delegatio to Harmoy Ic. HIT (Harmoy Itesive Traiig) school. It was my first year as LABBS Chairma ad I was hooured to accept Associate Membership. The Music & Judgig Committee were schemig to hold our ow Harmoy College. We ejoyed a woderful weeked with Harmoy Ic. ad came away coviced that we could do it ad we did. I was ivolved i teachig at Harmoy College for the first 10 years. Durig this time, Hollad Harmoy siged the affiliatio with us ad Dutch words to Do Lord were writte by yours truly to welcome them aboard. Liz Doehrig, oe of my Pitchpipers retured to Germay ad started her ow ladies barbershop chorus. Thus BiG! was bor, a fact of which I am extremely proud. We had iput o the WHCE (World Harmoy Coucil Europe) ad my elder daughter Toi-A was chose as the LABBS represetative as she is fluet i Germa & Frech. My proudest momets so far have bee wiig the Novice Chorus & Novice Quartet awards at covetio 1983 i Exeter with The Pitchpipers ad The Coectio. As Chairma of the Music & Judgig Committee i 1997 my proudest momet was aoucig that Jamboree! quartet with my daughters sigig bass ad bari had wo the gold medal. Woderful memories, woderful times. This is ot just a hobby it s a lifetime s work ad pure pleasure. itio formed Coucil. The Exec e was there to carry out the wishes ad the Chairma to re this happeed. We had os at Uiversities ad these happy times. ove of barbershop cotiues y: For me Barbershop has life sice I wet to our rus meetig whe I became d still am. t a fulfillig, sesatioal s has bee i so may ways lucky I am to have bee right from its iceptio ad part of it with my chorus dettes who celebrated our iversary i 2014, log may it Lee ow ad (below) i her time as LABBS Chairma ABOVE: The Chordettes wiig their gold medal i Lee is o the left had side of the back row The Riviera Soud Quartet. From right: Teor Weda, Bass Hazel, Lead Lee ad Bari Jae 13

14 OF BRITISH BARBERSHOP LADIES ASSOCIATION SINGERS LABBS members recout their 40 Tales I our series of articles featurig special 40 momets i 2016, Norwich barbershopper Hele Bloomfield shares her love story 40 years of marital harmoy husbad ad I will celebrate our 40th weddig M aiversary i September this year. I met Steve i the lad of Barbershop but little did I kow what that would mea to me ow. I 1972, both Steve ad I, quite idepedetly, joied a group from Essex to travel aroud America o a Greyhoud bus. The group had a great time, the disbaded to various parts of Essex. Imagie my surprise whe I met Steve agai i Italy the followig summer. We discovered we oly lived sixty miles from each other i Essex ad were both about to study i the south west of Eglad, so we kept i touch. After completig our studies ad realisig we were soul mates, Steve proposed ad we married i 1976, startig our married life at a very similar time to the birth of LABBS, though i those days I had t heard of the orgaisatio! So where did my barbershop jourey begi? I ve always loved the soud of the Kig s Sigers ad about ie years ago I was persuaded by a eighbour to atted a Sig for Pleasure day ru by Bob Chilcroft from the origial Kig s Sigers. At the ed of the day I was ecouraged to put my ame forward to sig i a barbershop chorus. The lovely MD telephoed me ad after askig me a few questios told me she would sed a chorus member to collect me for the ext meetig, A good idea, because otherwise I might ot have come I was VERY ervous! I had o musical 14 Hele ad Steve Bloomfield prepare to celebrate their Ruby Weddig Aiversary RIGHT: The couple o their weddig day i I feel Barbershop has fulfilled a full circle ad was just waitig to happe for me, says Hele experiece save learig the recorder at primary school. Eight years later, I am amazed to say, I have trasformed from a reticet participat to performig choreo o the frot row ad love the ew-foud cofidece this hobby has brought me. Whe asked to emote to a sog, I ofte fid myself thikig back to those trips to America ad Italy. I feel Barbershop has fulfilled a full circle ad was just waitig to happe for me while I was busy brigig up five childre ad workig as a childre s cousellor. Little did we kow the what that meetig i America would mea to us today. Hele Bloomfield Norwich Harmoy

15 The Pitchpipers OF BRITISH BARBERSHOP SINGERS LADIES ASSOCIATION BELOW: Rigig the chages i 1989 ABOVE: 1986 America Football LABBS 10th birthday i Blackpool BELOW: Back to the 1920s i 1986 ABOVE: Cuttig the 40th cake It do t seem a day too much The opeig lie of the celebratory tag which our ivited guests leared ad sag at our birthday party i February this year... We ve bee i harmoy for 40 years We were delighted to welcome Cascade, Aru Souds ad Wight Sati who sag for us ~ i all 100 guests as well as four fouder members ad our Regioal Represetative, Lee Westlake who helped cut the cake. Our Chairma, Sue Harriso desiged ad commissioed the 40th birthday badge which was give to our guests. Rolls of Hoour were preseted to Kare ad Marily Peketh, celebratig their log-term commitmet to the chorus. Thaks to everyoe who came alog for makig our tea party such a special occasio. Thaks too for the cogratulatory messages from our sister choruses Barbershop Bled i Sosbeck, Germay ad Souther Comfort Barber Gals i Eidhove, Hollad! The Havat Pitchpipers did t eter the cotest area util 1983 but quickly became syoymous with costumed, musically themed performaces which we had loads of fu desigig. I 1986, havig qualified at Prelims with 17 members o stage, a ripple of shock wet roud the audiece whe 64 America footballers, cheerleaders ad spectators etered the Blackpool stage ad sag All America Girl ad Mr. Touchdow USA saw our 20s themed package with all the characters featured i At The Movig Picture Ball. I 1989 we sag the Bad Medley together with There ll Be Some Chages Made which ivolved five chages to our costumes durig the secod sog. Some of the chorus members still do t kow how the MD s costume chaged from beig a soldier s ito a log dress! The most fu we ve had desigig our choreo package was also the easiest ad the cheapest as far as costume was cocered. We ormally make our ow but this oe cost 6 to buy! This was, of course our Pirates package at Harrogate i We had way too much fu with this oe.prisoers o stage, swabbig the decks, a sword fight ad the flag which tured to reveal the skull ad crossboes. We have cotiued sice with our Sailor package i 1993 whe we held covetio i Portsmouth, the home of the Royal Navy. I m ot sure that the judges oticed that we formed a achor ad also the word avy with our choreography but oce agai we had loads of fu especially with our mermaids ad sailors swimmig as well as sigig o stage. Whe we sag our witches package i Chelteham, o Hallowe e aturally, we could t idetify ay of our Witchpipers oce they had their make up o. It was early the same with the Elvis package ad defiitely the same with our ghouls/skeletos package i 2014! Huge thaks go to everyoe who has helped The Pitchpipers alog our barbershop highway but most of all to our members who afford me the hoour ad privilege of stadig i frot of them every week. Marily Peketh Fouder Member & Musical Director, The Pitchpipers 15

16 OF BRITISH BARBERSHOP LADIES ASSOCIATION SINGERS Mersey Harmoy Liverpool s ow Fab Four Blue Chords! Mersey Harmoy pictured ostage at LABBS Covetio i Bouremouth last year BELOW: Their Fouder Members Plate, ow i the Museum of Liverpool The origial members of Liverpool barbershop choruses came from the local Betley Operatic society, who sag maily Gilbert ad Sulliva ad the Liverpool Male Voice Choir. I 1974 Music teacher Bob Kay, motivated by a televisio documetary about barbershop sigig i America, atteded a Covetio i Newcastle which was oe of the first areas to sig barbershop i the UK. Bob brought back to Liverpool the music to My Wild Irish Rose the first sog which Bob, Rhiao Owes-Hall ad some other frieds attempted to sig i the barbershop style. Bob the asked Rhiao, a graduate of the Lodo Royal Academy of Music, to help him to set up the Liverpool me s barbershop chorus. This she did ad, disguised uder a straw hat ad wearig a false moustache, sag teor with them! I 1975 Rhiao attempted to start a ladies chorus. I May 1976 their first quartet, the Blue Chords Rhiao, Margaret, Judith ad Jea wo the Charlie Chester BBC sigig competitio, much to their delight ad 16 surprise. I 1976 there were te chorus members which by 1979 had icreased to 45. I 1977 the quartet wo Liverpool s first gold at Covetio. The Blue Chords the preseted their trophy to LABBS to be awarded to the wiig ovice quartet at Covetio each year. I December 1975 at BABS Covetio i Brighto, the ladies also held a cotest ad Rhiao ad Margaret de Wolf alog with several ladies from other parts of the coutry held a meetig which prepared the groud for the establishmet of the Ladies Associatio of British Barbershop Sigers. Rhiao ad Margaret atteded all subsequet ad relevat meetigs. From 1978 to 1988, Liverpool Ladies were amog the top choruses ad quartets i the coutry. Our quartets: Blue Chords, Old Routie, Accord, Pey Lae, Soud Etertaimet, Pastiche, Jigsaw, City Limits wo three gold medals, five silver, two broze ad four Stage Presece trophies betwee them. The chorus wo three gold medals, oe silver, two broze ad three Stage Presece trophies. After Rhiao left i 1988 the chorus moved o with various musical directors ad moderate success. It was Lesley Crawford who took Liverpool Ladies back ito competitio at LABBS Covetio. At the start of the 21st cetury the stage ame of Mersey Harmoy was adopted. Through the laughter ad tears, the hopes ad the fears, the ups ad the dows, Liverpool celebrated 40 years of barbershop sigig o May 14, at the Isla Gladstoe Coservatory set i the lovely gardes of Staley Park. Etertaimet was provided by 2015 gold medal quartet Pzazz (which icluded Julie who sag with Liverpool from the age of 12); Three Easy, Lady Ba Ba ad our very ow chorus, Mersey Harmoy. Thelma Grat Mersey Harmoy

17 Cheshire Chord Compay pictured i performace at Gorto Moastery (above ad above right) Jack Pito popped i to give a coachig sessio o his way to Russia! Time flies whe you re havig fu! How quickly the year is flyig by developmet with Director Jo ad ad it s bee all go i the Cheshire our fried ad coach, Peter Keedy. Chord camp, where visits from three The feedback from members has bee coaches, plus a Educatio Day, extremely positive ad we are lookig as well as a special show at Gorto forward to cotiuig targeted idividual educatio as the year progresses. Moastery have kept us very busy. We love coachig sessios at Sprig always sees us take part i Cheshire Chord Compay, so we were a umber of sig-outs ad April was pleased to welcome Dale Kyasto, Liz o exceptio. O April 17, the Chorus Garett ad Jack Pito (who popped i joied the Greater Machester Police o his way from the USA to Russia), to Bad for a Jubilatio Show orgaised Warrigto earlier this year, to work o by the charity, HCPT Machester at our ew sogs with us. Gorto Moastery i Machester. A Each Coach brigs somethig differet for us to work o ad it is always a veue added to the joyous occasio. lovely suy eveig i a very beautiful exhilaratig ad ispirig experiece to Oe of our ewest members, Vicky have them with us for the eveig. We Sape, shared her experiece, Watig look forward to workig with Dale ad to give it my all, ot oly because we Jack agai later i the year whe they were performig i a stuigly beautiful buildig but also because we were will be back at future rehearsals I March we also held our first Educatio Day for members, our ow mii most eveigs leadig up to the show. I sigig for a good cause, I practised Harmoy College. Group sessios o will admit to beig quite ervous o the Performace, Breathig Techique ad way there but as soo as I chaged ito Judgig took up the mai part of the day my dress ad put o my make up, I was while members also had the opportuity ready to sig my heart out with the most to work idividually o their ow vocal amazig group of ladies. I ca t wait for Chorus director Jo Braham with Liz Garett, who came to coach CCC recetly our ext cocert whe I get to sped aother fu eveig sigig ad makig more great memories. For aother oe of our members, Carolie Rushto, this was her first sigout, I had t plaed to do somethig ew at 42 but followig a fried to joi CCC has bee a joy. I was expectig to feel more ervous tha I did for my first cocert but surrouded by the warmth ad support of the chorus ad with such a glorious backdrop I do t thik I could have had a better first outig. At the ed of the eveig we were delighted to hear that, through ticket sales, a raffle ad doatios, the show had raised over 4000 for the charity. As I write this we are lookig forward to takig part i a Gala show at St George s Hall i Liverpool for the Rotary Club o April 30, as well as a cocert for the Chester Missio Forum at Eato Hall, the home of the Duke of Westmister, o May 3. Jaie Gilbert PRO, Cheshire Chord Compay 17

18 Takig the applause at the ed of a fu-filled show Amersham A Cappella ad their special guests Vocal Six rock the house at the Wycombe Swa Cuig disguise The A Cappella Fellas Amersham i the groove WOW! What a ight! Amersham A Cappella trod the boards at the Wycombe Swa o February 27 ad shared the stage with the award wiig Vocal Six from Swede for A Cappella Groove ad, boy, did we groove. We were still buzzig with excitemet from the ight before, whe we had bee privileged to ejoy a coachig sessio with our mega-taleted Swedish guests. We worked particularly o the sogs we would be sigig with them i the show, I Gotta Feelig, Let s Groove/ September ad Higher ad Higher a amazig experiece ad great fu. For the show, the chorus wet back to that very special year of 1976 to see what ELSE was happeig i the woderful world of a cappella sigig. What did they fid? a ladies chorus deied the chace to eter a choral competitio just because they were female! A charismatic, youg male vocal group were poised to wi, with the help of Toy Toupeé, the devious competitio MC ad male chauviist of the first degree. Icesed, the ladies decided to eter dressed as me, callig themselves A Cappella Fellas. Of course, all was revealed later i the story ad the ladies were triumphat, havig bee ecouraged ad supported by Toy Toupeé s assistat MC Babs, (Barbara Slough), a Barbara Widsor lookalike complete with beehive wig, played beautifully by professioal actress Rachel Clarke (who has appeared i Coroatio Street). We must also metio ad thak Be Hooker for his performace as the dastardly Toy Toupeé (we forgive you, Be!) The theatre was buzzig, with over 800 people i the audiece, icludig the Chairma ad Secretary of LABBS ad our Regioal Rep Jea Olma. We were delighted with the way they all respoded ad participated. The differet styles of music wove their way well through the storylie, from baroque to beatbox to barbershop. Noe of this would have bee possible, of course, without the woderful rhymig script by our ow Justie Nye which worked so well for the story. AAC would like to thak Vocal Six for their superb performaces, ethusiasm ad sese of fu ad for agreeig to be part of it all. Also the woderful audiece of family, frieds ad supporters who helped make it such a memorable eveig, with a atmosphere that was so electric it was almost palpable. For me The Swa was the very best place to be last Saturday ight! said Sadra Carter, of the Bucks Examier was obviously a very excitig year. Happy Aiversary LABBS! Mario Morley Amersham A Cappella New Musical Director Wated Guildford Harmoy is a lively club of committed ad well orgaised wome which has bee ruig for over 30 years. We are curretly lookig for a ew MD to take the chorus forward ito We have a wide-ragig play list of a cappella ad Barbershop sogs ad were the proud wiers of three awards at Godalmig Music Festival i We are ow hopig to exted our repertoire ad achievemets. Please visit our website: or come to hear us sig o Thursday eveigs i Oslow Village Hall, Guildford GU2 7QR (Or other try-out ights by arragemet) If you are creative, well-motivated, fu but above all a taleted musicia, we would love to hear from you. Please cotact our Chairma, Katharie, o: chairma@guildfordharmoy.org.uk 18

19 Fab Feb for Crystal Chords ABOVE: The Love to Sig graduates receive their certificates LEFT: A Sally McLea coachig sessio is always a movig experiece! At the ed of Jauary, Crystal Chords started our first Love to Sig course ad we were overwhelmed by the respose. Over 35 ew ladies joied us o the risers for a free five-week course as we leared Shie. By the ed of the course we were all lookig forward to showig just how much everyoe had leared ad o February 25 we ivited family ad frieds i for the eveig ad had a absolute blast. With performaces from our gold medal quartet champios Pzazz, as well as Crystal Chords ad our exteded chorus, we had a ball for the eveig, celebratig with lots of cake too. The ew sigers were preseted with a certificate by our MD Moica Fuell ad Chairma Nacy Philbi to recogise the hard work they had put i. After the cocert early half the ladies have retured to the chorus ad it s a pleasure cotiuig to show people the joy that we have i what we do. Just three days after our frieds ad family show, Crystal Chords competed at the Machester Amateur Choral Competitio held at the RNCM i Machester. It s always a woderful competitio to be part of featurig may differet groups ad styles. With over 16 choirs competig icludig our local barbershop eighbours Affiity Show Chorus we were thrilled to place joit secod. As Sprig has progressed we have bee keepig very busy with coachig from Theresa Weatherbee from the US as well as Sally McLea ad we are gearig up for a busy summer at festivals ad local evets as well as supportig our charity, Beechwood Cacer Care at their aual Butterfly Ball at the Palace Hotel i Machester. Despite the busy sigig schedule, we are always supportive whe members of Crystal Chords are ivolved i other LABBS activities ad we were very proud to see Aliso Harbord, awarded Hoorary Membership of LABBS at the AGM i March this year as she completed her year as past Chairma of the Associatio. Here s to a great Summer for everyoe ad hopefully some su to help us alog! Crystal Chords PRO Spreadig the love of a cappella Silver Liig members have bee busy with LABBS 40th Aiversary celebratio evets held i Covetry with the Belles of Three Spires, Gem Coectio ad Juctio 14 as the Beaco Scroll was passed o its way by the choruses. We had a great get together at Covetry Cetral Hall with cake of course ad lots of sigig. After the scroll was siged, Silver Liig ad the Belles wet ito Covetry Precict to sig a few sogs flash mob style for a ethusiastic audiece. We hope to do somethig else together later i the year. There was a fatastic opportuity to spread the a cappella word with a ivitatio to teach udergraduate studets at Warwick Uiversity how to harmoise. The studets were takig part i a Warwick Busiess School (WBS) module as part of their degree ad Silver Liig were quick off the mark thaks to Joaa Lea, who ivolved may of our members icludig those who are o the staff there. We wet through a quick warmup sessio with Madam Zig, Catherie Gordo, ad the studets wodered if they had got it right exercise sessio or sigig? Our MD Sara Jackso the took up the challege as we built up the harmoies gradually with some exercises ad tags. Oce the studets had decided which part they were comfortable sigig, the sectio leaders took us off to teach Happy Birthday. Needless to say we had a very good bass sectio but the others did well too ad a very acceptable Happy Birthday was sug to a excited Ashley who was their tutor o this course. Everyoe thoroughly ejoyed the eveig ad there was a great Q&A sessio to fiish before Silver Liig demostrated a few examples of our sigig ad style of sogs we cover. We are promised a retur visit ad look forward to aother ejoyable eveig! Judith Medlock, Media & Comms, Silver Liig Chorus 19

20 Youth chorus workig hard February saw the first rehearsal of our ewly lauched LABBS Youth Choruses. We were thrilled to welcome twety-oe girls to a rehearsal i Bristol, where we worked o two sogs for our package at LABBS Covetio We re really lookig forward to the ext rehearsal i Jue which, due to popular demad, will be a little loger ad will also sped more time o the covetio package. I m also excited to aouce that the joit LABBS ad BABS pack for music educators has bee completed ad is available to all Clubs who have registered their Youth Developmet Officer with Widsor Rackham from BABS (ypih@ sigbarbershop.com). The pack icludes tags, warm-ups ad several full sogs that have bee kidly doated. We have already heard of some Clubs ruig sessios with Browie packs to ear their Musicia badge ad Guide uits to complete their Music Zoe badges. Hopefully the resource pack will help this to cotiue. We would love to share your success stories. Please share them at youth@labbs.org.uk Boo de Brui, LABBS Youth Co-ordiator FOR SALE 60 beautiful turquoise dresses by MayQuee Couture USA Ragig i size from USA 4 to USA 24 We are askig 4,500 o..o. for all of them For further details please cotact Sue Coulso of Chorus Icei by at rwscoulso@btiteret.com 20

21 Quartet i seveth heave Well, the competitio bug iformatio desk i the hotel has well ad truly bitte lobby, to all the behid-thescees crew at the competitio this particular quartet! After reachig the top 10 i our first veue, our trasitio through the LABBS Covetio last October, system was faultless. the Aca-Holics had the opportuity to compete at the the orgaisatio, it made our We were so impressed by SABS (Spaish Associatio of erves easier to hadle whe Barbershop Sigers) Covetio we evetually made it o stage o April 1 o really! ad we were thrilled with our We were so excited, the 7th positio i the Iteratioal realised that half of the quartet competitio. did t have passports ad oe Huge cogratulatios to all of us spoke Spaish but hey, why the other competitors, both quartets ad choruses ad especially should that stop us? After orgaisig passports, to the iteratioal gold medal buyig Spaish phrase books, wiers, ANIMA ladies quartet Euros, suscree ad ew swimmig costumes (well, you ever Voices chorus from Swede. We from Russia ad Stockholm City kow), we headed to Gatwick for leared so much just watchig our flight to Alicate, which was you perform. slightly delayed good job too, Next stop, LABBS prelims as we early missed it. oly weeks away ow! See you Oce i Spai we eed t i Stafford. have worried, as everythig ra Sue, Laura, Katy & Czarmé x like clockwork. From the SABS Aca-Holics Fasciatig Rhythm have for sale 45 deep purple Kaleidoscope dresses, i a rage of sizes. Fully beaded ad lied, mid-calf legth with side zip. 100% polyester. Purple stoe pierced earrigs icluded if desired. Dresses 25 each to iclude earrigs. Sizes as follows: size 10 (x7), size 12 (x4), size 14 (x12), size 16 (x4), size 18 (x8), size 20 (x5), size 22 (x4) Cotact adrea.tyrrell@btiteret.com For Sale 21

22 The 9 to 5 ladies have foud their daytime sigouts to be hugely popular Sigig 9 to 5 i Bristol Fashio Towards the ed of 2014 Bristol Fashio became aware of a couple of problems, oe of which tured out, luckily, to be the solutio to the other! 2017 will see the 40th aiversary of the Bristol Fashio Ladies Barbershop Club ad some of the fouder members, as well as other older members, were reachig a age whe physical disabilities were makig attedace at chorus less ejoyable. They did t wat to leave, they kew how much they would miss the chorus but there seemed o other solutio. At the same time the chorus was occasioally beig asked to sig i daytime durig the week. For most chorus members ad for both our MD ad Assistat MD this just was t possible. You may be devoted to barbershop, but you have to fud your hobby, to say othig of payig the ret or mortgage ad puttig food o the table, so work always has to come first. The solutio was to start a group of ladies of leisure who could rehearse ad perform durig the daytime. With the full approval of Bristol Fashio s MD ad Maagemet Committee, a ivitatio wet out to curret chorus members ad retirig or recetly retired Bristol Fashio sigers. After some debate, the experimet started at the begiig of About a doze of us met over tea ad coffee oe morig ad laid dow a few groud rules. We were icredibly lucky that oe of our early members was able to offer us a large hall free of charge as a rehearsal veue. Thaks to this, we have bee self-fiacig from the start. Our oly real problem was that there is t all that much leisure i our icredibly busy lives: gradchildre, elderly relatives, other regular commitmets ad hobbies all make their demads. We foud it so difficult to agree o a regular rehearsal time that we started by meetig every other week o alterate Tuesdays ad Wedesdays. Thak heaves for ! The most frequetly asked questio was: Whe s the ext rehearsal? Soo we eve had a ame: we sig durig (other people s) workig hours, so we re 9 to 5! We had origially plaed our first sigout for April 2015, but quickly realised that that might be a bit optimistic. Although we were sigig sogs from both the curret ad older chorus repertoire, as well as polecats, it still took time to get the group soud up to a acceptable stadard. It was also importat to get a reasoable balace of voices, so some switchig of parts wet o. It all eeded practice. The suddely, come November, we were facig ot just our first sigout but aother two booked for the same moth. Fortuately our debut performace was i a local church with helpful acoustics, which gave us cofidece. We sag to the Mothers Uio, who listeed attetively to the explaatio of the barbershop soud ad joied i the challege of sigig rouds with us! We have sice had a sigout early every moth, to sheltered-housig associatios, residetial homes ad a Friedly Club. We have kept the same programme throughout ad are gradually learig ew sogs, so that whe we get ivited back (as we have bee), we have a ew programme to sig. Sice ot all of us were still members of LABBS through full chorus membership, our retirees have ow become Club at Large members. We eed to stay o the right side of copyright law whe sigig polecats i public. O our first aiversary we decided that we really eeded a weekly rehearsal, so with oe or two people willig to rearrage their diaries, we were fially able to agree that Tuesday morig was 9 to 5 time ad that if we started half a hour earlier, at rather tha am, we d have more time to chat! The chat is a absolutely essetial part of the whole thig: after all, the members have kow each other for 20, 30 ad eve 40 years. The social beefits are immese ad several members have said that after retirig from the mai chorus, they do t kow what they would have doe without this group. We ve divided up the admi tasks ad three of us share the musical leadership. We have fu etertaiig people ad sharig their ejoymet what more ca you ask? Jey Wood Bristol Fashio ad 9 to 5 22

23 Su, sagria ad sog I April, Capital Coectio took part at SABS (Spaish Associatio of Barbershop Sigers) held i Calpe, Spai. Competig agaist choruses from across Europe we had a fatastic time, comig 4th i the Iteratioal Chorus category. Here, we reflect o a great weeked away Calpe is a idyllic settig, a lovely tow by the sea, with the oldest part beig situated o a hill ad havig oodles of rustic charm. Beig right by the beach, there are may bars ad restaurats to choose from ad we took full advatage of them, especially the ice cream parlours servig every flavour uder the su. Capital Coectio leared so much from this trip. Some of the highlights of the weeked were meetig ad stayig i the same hotel with all the participats; this provided great opportuities to coect with may fellow barbershoppers ad share other choruses joureys to this evet, their excitemet ad expectatios. We took part i two great masterclasses: the first with top Swedish chorus, the fatastic Stockholm City Voices, who highlighted how every voice couts (they also stressed the importace of regular rehearsal attedace!); ad the secod with top show quartets, Love Notes, Sweet Adelies iteratioal female quartet champios (who were awe-ispirig i their dedicatio ad talet) ad Musical Islad Boys (all the girls had their favourite!). The quartets demostrated their sigig ad presetatio techiques, icludig hilarious lack of cofidece body laguage stage itros. Whe they sag together, they created a completely differet ad excitig dimesio, which was so impressive. SABS was a great experiece ad although we were a little disappoited to come so close to gettig a medal, we made up for it with a reditio of our complete repertoire i the hotel bar late ito the ight! We retured a worldlier chorus, thirstier tha ever for sagria sorry, success ad more determied tha ever that the directio our chorus is takig is the right oe for us ad for ladies British barbershop. It was a great trip ad oe that chorus members will remember for a log time. From oe competitio to aother, we re sigig i the BBC Choir of the Year this moth ad of course are lookig forward to takig to the LABBS covetio stage i Harrogate i late October. Have a great summer of sog everybody! Jo Hemmigs ad Vicky Sutto PROs, Capital Coectio Secod City Soud showcase Secod City Soud marked the fial week of our sigig course with a showcase cocert at Grove Vale School i Birmigham i March. This friedly cocert was ot oly a showcase for ew sigers but also a itroductio to a ew audiece too. The cocert featured the talet of Secod City Soud s sigers, i particular the ew members performig two sogs leart durig the course That s What Frieds Are For writte by Burt Bacharach ad Carole Bayer Sager ad Now Is the Hour, writte by Clemet Scott ad ofte described as a traditioal Maori sog but sag i harmoy style it souded lovely. The little esemble highlighted the uique music of barbershop harmoy sigig, showig off the amazig ewly foud talet of the ew sigers ad their ethusiasm for Secod City Soud's great hobby. The cocert was put together ad directed by Rod Butcher, icludig vocal tuitio ad coachig throughout the six weeks. All the ew sigers worked icredibly hard over the weeks to produce a absolutely great eveig of sigig that we hope will be remembered for a log time to come. GayeAe Lae PRO, Secod City Soud 23

24 Belles settle ito ew home The Belles had a great coachig sessio with Cidy Hase The Belles of Three Spires have had may fabulous years at Nettle Hill i Asty with fabulous traiig days, ope days ad shows overlookig the Warwickshire coutryside. It was our home for four years but we have grow i size ad our requiremets have chaged. The time had come to fid a ew home. At the begiig of Feburary we moved to Covetry Cetral Hall, right i the city cetre. It is estled right ext door to oe of the famous three spires! We had our first great experiece Big Girl s Blouse #StadByYourTras was a memorable sigout there i Jauary, whe we joied Silver Liig as part of the Beaco of Harmoy to celebrate 40 years of LABBS. We had a day of sigig, laughter ad of course cake, as well as a flash mob i the city cetre. We have ow settled ito life at Cetral Hall, ejoyig the space we have for our rehearsals ad the welcomig atmosphere from all the staff ad frieds of the veue. Sice Jauary, we have welcomed over 10 ew ladies for whom Cetral Hall is their first home for barbershop ad we hope they will ejoy it with us. We have already welcomed some guests ad coaches icludig the fatastic Cidy Hase ad have take part i some memorable sigouts icludig Big Girl s Blouse #StadByYourTras, which was somethig very fu ad differet. We are lookig forward to may more great experieces i our ew home ad ivite you to visit us there. Emer Scott-Baird PRO, The Belles of Three Spires Deadlie for ext issue Friday July 29, 2016 Please supply photographs i the highest resolutio possible, i colour, as separate Jpeg files ot i a Word documet to Editor Sadra Maga at voicebox@labbs.org.uk. Expect the file to be probably more tha 1Mb. If it s ot, the it s probably low resolutio ad wo t prit well. Dates for your Diary Ju 11 LABBS Board meetig Ju 11 LABBS Youth Chorus Rehearsal, Stockport Ju 19 Covetio Team meetig Ju LABBS Quartet Prelims & Coachig Day, Stafford Jul 3-Jul 10 BHS Iteratioal Covetio, Nashville Jul BHS Judges Category School Jul 31 LABBS E&J Committee meetig For more dates ad ifo see our website