We regularly hold social events so that choir members can let their hair down and get to know each other better.
After the lack of “live” socials for well over a year, we held an end of season summer picnic on Wednesday 14th July from 12:30PM at West Molesey riverside (opposite Garrick’s Ait).
Members brought their own picnic (including a glass for a special treat!) and a chair or rug. The weather stayed dry, even if not fabulously sunny. An added bonus was the arrival of the ice cream van at the end of lunch!
We hope to hold our 2021 Christmas party “live” at the Vera Fletcher hall in Thames Ditton on Friday, December 1oth.
Our most recent social event was held in March 2021. It was a Zoom quiz evening that was enjoyed by those who “attended”. Members of the committee chose a subject to set 10 questions on and Valerie cleverly edited them together via a Powerpoint slide show presentation, for example the history round. Altogether there were 7 rounds of interesting questions.
Using screen sharing, the slide shows enabled everyone to see the questions as well as hear them being read out by the question setters. Likewise with the answers. We found out who had won each round and eventually, the overall winner, Sonia, was declared. All in all, a successful evening!
We’re still in lockdown but that won’t stop us having our next social on Friday, 5th March 2021 at 7:30pm, via Zoom. We will be having a quiz evening. Friends and family are also invited. Make sure to have drinks, snacks, pen and paper to hand, plus, of course, your brain switched on.
Sadly, our annual Christmas Party on Friday, 11th December 2020 at the Vera Fletcher Hall had to be cancelled with the continuing COVID-19 restrictions. However, to make up for this, our final rehearsal of this term on 2nd December on Zoom had a seasonal slant with some fun and surprises! We started off with a welcome from Santa and then sang some of our favourite carols, conducted by Joel.
We then had a surprise guest – mind reader and magician extra-ordinaire, Edward Crawford, who kept us fully entertained us for 20 minutes, involving the participation of some of the choir members. ( If you wish to book Edward for an event (live or via Zoom) his website is https://www.edwardcrawford.co.uk/)
Next, we took part in a quick-fire Xmas quiz organised by Linda!
Rumours that Joel did actually play a trumpet were confirmed when he played two lovely pieces for us.
Our president, Jen Sutton, who joined us from her home with John via the magic of Zoom, then took to the “stage” for John’s always funny anecdotes and a duet – a COVID-updated version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
We, of course, had to do some more singing, so we sang our final carol, “We wish you a Merry Christmas”, resplendent in our Christmas outfits. There was quite a variety of themed jumpers, flashing lights, hats, antlers, tinsel, comedy glasses and one beautifully hand-knitted jumper. Our VP, Roger, was asked to decide which was the best outfit and he declared Joy the winner.
We then all held up a drink by way of a “Happy Christmas ” toast to end what was a very enjoyable evening.
Whilst the country has been in lockdown during the Coronavirus outbreak, there were no further social events last season (2019/2020).
The last one before the Coronavirus lockdown was our Spring Social on held 28th February, 2020 at the Vera Fletcher Hall. This was a murder mystery evening, featuring the acting talents of some of our members!
We held our annual Christmas Party on Friday, 6th December 2019 at St Nicholas’ Church Hall.
In the summer of 2019 there was a Tea Party on 2nd June at Roger Oldcorn’s house. The weather stayed kind to us and a lovely afternoon was had by those who attended.
Previously, we held a Supper Concert on 9 February, 2019 at the Vera Fletcher Hall, with a performance of ” Trial by Jury”, followed by a fish and chip supper. Several members opted to take on the solo parts and dress up for the performance as evidenced below.
We held our Christmas Party on Friday, 14 December 2018 at St Nicholas’ Hall, Thames Ditton. It featured an elf, hampers, ugly sisters and other evidence of jollity!
On Friday, June 8th 2018 we arranged to visit Vaughan Williams’ house as our “summer outing”. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/leith-hill-place.
Leaving the Rhododendron Wood car park (National Trust) on Tanhurst Lane, near Leith Hill, members walked through the woods for about 10 minutes (¼ mile) to the house. There are 2001 species of rhododendrons, which we believe were provided by and planted by Charles Darwin’s sister plus giant redwoods, etc.
The house is not extensively furnished, but there are artists working in the house, two pianos you can play (obviously not R V-W’s!) and also portable guides to give you all the information on the house.
After a scenic drive through the Surrey Hills to Brockham we had an enjoyable lunch from the snack menu at The Grumpy Mole. www.thegrumpymole.co.uk/brockham/brockham-snack.pdf
Our “Spring term” social was on Fri 9 February 2018 at the Vera Fletcher Hall in Thames Ditton. This featured a supper concert and quiz. The choir entertained the non-singers with Bob Chilcott’s ” Little Jazz Mass”. Other members provided entertainment in the form of songs, poetry and instrumental numbers. And our very own “Swingle singers” made an appearance……
Our social event on Sun 4 June 2017 was rather special! We celebrated our 60th Anniversary with a party (including a lamb roast!) at the Old Cranleighans Club in Thames Ditton from 1 pm onwards. It was an ideal venue with both indoor and outdoor space, and plenty of seating and parking. The food was fabulous!
We also put together a display of photos, programmes, memorabilia, etc covering the choir’s history.
Photos courtesy Valerie Thompson and Pauline Terry.
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