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News & EventsForthcoming events: 2010
November 2009, Selston Music Festival
October/November 2009, Cheltenham – Convention See and hear our best performance ever and see action photos of our performance and party afterwards! in the Gallery.
September 2009 May
2009 Derby Arts Festival March
2009 Holland, European Convention
November 2008 GEM Connection win Silver medal at national competition Listen to our performance Gem Connection also shared the Phoenix prize for the best small chorus, together with two other choruses – Silver Lining and the Abbey Belles. Three choruses joined together for this photos.
May 2008,
Gem Connection Celebrate 10 years of Singing, Harmony and Friendship Many of the small group of original members are still in the chorus and the founder Chair of the chorus, Trish Hanson, joined us in the celebrations and looked back on our development and achievements over the years in a heart warming address to the chorus. She also presented gifts to our two directors. Later, the original members sang their first ever song, My Foolish Heart, to applause from the remaining chorus members. The beautiful iced celebration cake was made by one of our very talented members and the decorative feature atop it was made up with 10 sparkling stars, one for each year, and a tiny crystal bead to represent each member. Thanks to Jan Jones for this lovely and loving gesture. This was duly washed down with champagne while tributes were made to our hard working Musical and Chorus Directors and many others who work to make the chorus such a success. Needless to say there was also lots of singing and speechifying and a great evening was had by us all, leaving us feeling fortunate to belong to such a wonderfully friendly and supportive group of women. Roll on the next 10 years! More photos can be found in the Gallery.
May 2008,
Gem Connection Get Involved In the Race for Life The number of supporters for all the race runners was truly amazing and members were moved by the various messages of dedication printed on the runners’ tee shirts and on the memorial wall which was where the race both started and finished. Before the race started a warm up session was conducted with an instructor on the stage helping every body to’ loosen and limber up.’ The chorus gathered at the start and appropriately opened with the song ‘Happy Feet’ before setting forth. Our local radio station featured this on their broadcast of the event. The distance of five kilometres was just right, with the chorus stopping to sing Love Eyes Medley half way through. It was decided that a walking pace was the best for the majority, so that they would have enough air to sing. Although the fittest members ran the last kilometre, all other chorus members crossed the finishing line together, again singing ‘Happy Feet’ and were each awarded with a medal and a goody bag containing ‘girly stuff’- nail varnish, body lotion, tanning cream and an energy drink. Afterwards the chorus picnicked in the sun, joined by family and friends. Iola, one of the lead singers, also celebrated her birthday. The fabulous sum of around £2500 pounds was raised by the chorus, in what was a truly worthwhile venture. More photos can be found in the Gallery.
February
2008, Annual Chorus Dinner As we had taken over the whole of the downstairs dining room the applause came from the diners upstairs, some coming down to see us. One lady was celebrating her 70th birthday with her sons and was thrilled when we sang Happy Birthday to her, followed by more songs. She said it was the best birthday she had ever had and couldn’t get over it! The octet and a quartet then sang to complete the entertainment and we all went home in great spirits, happy to have spent an evening full of fun, friendship and song. There’s nothing so uplifting to the spirits! More photos can be found in the Gallery. Convention 2007 This was our highest placing ever and with positive and encouraging comments from the judging panel we are determined to work hard during the coming year to try to improve our scores in 2008. We have two weekends of coaching booked for the start of the year and plans for more to follow. Listen to
our performance More convention photos can be found in the Gallery. May 2007, Derby Arts
Festival In the Barbershop class we were awarded
the Watkins Harmony Cup and given a distinction by the judge, Julia Dewhurst,
who was impressed by our “impact in energy and the smooth roundness of our
velvety sound”, She commented that “not only did our vocal performance
glitter but the stunning costumes too.” We were awarded the Miriam Harding Memorial Rose Bowl for our Concert class performance, where we gained 88 marks, putting us once again in the Distinction category. And finally, the Joyce Wardle Memorial Trophy was awarded to us for our ‘outstanding’ category mark of 90, the highest of the day. The judge, who had a good understanding of Barbershop performance, said that we demonstrated “visually and orally impeccable work…and an infectious sense of communication.” Two of our newest members performed with
us for the first time at the festival and were awarded their sparkling GEM
brooches, as is our custom. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding day
for us all. see
more pictures For details or enquiries about any of the above please contact a member of the committee. 2006
During 2006 we also:
2005 Gem Connection
sweep the board at Selston music festival Gem
come fifth at LABBS convention
2004 Triple triumph
at Derby arts festival for second consecutive year! |
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