12 November 2026

 I was missing last week so I picked up all the lovely new Christmas lyrics and took my seat. There were 1000 songs to get through including 2 new song sheets that were not available last week. 

Skipping the warm-up we began with KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE. This song needs people to remember when to go up and when to go down at the end of a line. It all depends on whether you sing ‘The game’ next or not. He tested us without any backing track. 

We sang SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW first without the lead and then with because we are supposed to me Lilly Allen not Keane! 

A change of pace we flipped to WOMBLING MERRY CHRISTMAS and all the feet were tapping in the hall. 

Time to flex our pelvic floors for O HOLY NIGHT. We need a lot of support and all the ends of the words need to be present. Don’t peek too soon, said Ed. 

Into the booklets we dived to begin with WINTER WONDERLAND. It has that tricky ending, where we need to slow down and dramatically change key. 

Next LET IT SNOW … extra lyrics to scribble in at the end there … 

IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR so we sang about that too. 

Ed ran around handing out missing song sheets and we galloped into MARY’S BOY CHILD! There was barely time to chat. It was the extended version which I don’t think we have sang outside of a medley or a bit of a Segway. 

Sticking with Mary, Ed slipped behind the piano forte to play MARY DID YOU KNOW? Ed taught us a sweet little fancy ending. 

Whooo hooo ROCKIN’ AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE filled the hall. I wasn’t sure if I knew THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL. Listening to the backing track I was sure  that I indeed I did not. But Ed said some of it was sung by dear Dolly. 

We stood to perform HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SING and then swirled out into the night like happy Christmas snowflakes. 

Eds Microphone died before the end of the evening but no matter. Keep singing and keep smiling xxx 

15 October 2026

 Back after a week off, I discovered two shiny new songs to sing and a brand new charity for this year … Read Easy, the local branch of course. 

In notices, there will be road closures next week. Such fun. We have had to say no to Wyke Christmas fayre. Our Xmas concerts are the 9th and 10th of December, 7pm. The one in St Aldhelms church hall is our party do as well. Sat 12th at the black dog in Broadmayne. 18th December 3pm Friday at the wishing well. Two short sets with refreshments in between then and then we meet again next year! 

We moved quickly through a warm up. Big breaths and long scales. 

We began with SOMETHING STUPID … after a run through with ‘Nancy’ on the backing track, we sang with only Ed’s clicking fingers for a line or two before we went a bit flat. Oops. 

We like to finish with HOPELESSLY DEVOTED TO YOU but we flipped the page to work on it some more, and we had a lesson on singing in a relaxed and sexy fashion. Well we are 18 now! 

A bit of Karen next, ONLY YESTERDAY. Be careful with word endings, some Ts were missing. And no one, not one person can sing and octave higher. Not one. Also no gap in line one of verse 1. 

Ed said sing what you like to R. But he really meant a proper note like F G A or B … R is a note found among pirates and those of us from Dorset. Of course. 

COME WHAT MAY backing track filled the room and we filled our lungs. This song exhausted our choir master.

ONLY LOVE means time to warble. And sound those Ts at the end of THAT! 

School assembly time with I’LL NEVER FIND ANOTHER YOU just quickly as Ed wanted to fit in our two new songs, starting with YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE. Ed said that was beautiful, and we stood to sing FROM THIS MOMENT…  

Well done Choir, keep smiling and keep singing! Xxx

1 October 2026

 Yay! It’s October! It’s sing-song night! With almost enough lyrics … there’s also a website for choir again (dorsetforsinging.co.uk) and a reminder that NEXT WEEK for charity nominations. 

Christmas concert will be in the hall again this year on the 10th December and 18 Dec for The Wishing Well, Upwey, time to be confirmed.

We warmed up. Some of that was the diaphragm work which is quite loud and makes everyone cough! 

We flipped to ONLY LOVE and Ed redistributed copies so all could see the words. Our singing was a little off-kilter Resulting in some hilarity and shame when we tried to sing a Capella … luckily we have such a good choir master to put us right. 

Oooohs and Aaaaahs may have been missing from that song this week but they were fully present in I’LL NEVER FIND ANOTHER YOU. There are melody oohs and harmony ooohs, with a little aaaaaah or three at the end. Gosh. 

We sang it again. And Ed said it was beautiful. We flipped over to ONLY YESTERDAY while Ed talked about the possibility of starting choir 30 minutes earlier from January … 

Low voices only at the start please. Scowling at anyone singing an octave higher is actively encouraged! Better. 

COME WHAT MAY isn’t very familiar to a lot of us so we concentrated on the melody and sang it through with the backing vocals on. Then Ed sat at the piano to have a closer look at the ending. Yes, including harmony parts! 

Onto SOMETHING STUPID. You can be Frank, Nancy or something stupid. But Ed rather wanted more Nancies for a good balance. 

For a fabulous finish we sang HOPEFULLY DEVOTED TO YOU and stood for it .. 

well done DFS stay awesome xxx 

24 September 2026

 Welcome to … our 19th year! With a patched up Ed (was poorly during the ABBA trip) and an eager choir we listened to possible fun things to do this year. Charity nominations will be welcomed next week, so bring your suggestions… 

We sang happy birthday to DFS, Annie and Jenny with the most memorable harmonies everrrrr … then warmed up! Just a quick one before diving into our songs beginning with COME WHAT MAY. Massive intro … 

We had a sing through with the backing track then Ed sat at the piano to demonstrate the Capriol Suite which might be sung after half term. (Peter Warlock). Listening to that is our homework! 

18 Dec we are due at The Wishing Well and 11 weeks today we shall have a Xmas concert too. 

And ONLY YESTERDAY filled the room, with low voices first, of course. Dear old Karen had I think 4 octaves. We probably have more between us. Ed demonstrated why you really can’t start an octave higher and how we all laughed. 

Ed is a bake off fan … sumptuous! 

We flipped to I’LL NEVER FIND ANOTHER YOU and sang along. We have done this song before, but don’t ask me when! 

Next an old one we have also done but a long time ago, ONLY LOVE by Banana Mouskouri … we sang it again with Ed at the piano. He said it was lovely. 

We turned to SOMETHING STUPID and Ed showed us a harmony part for the female voices in the room to enjoy. We worked on this a Capella for a while before adding in the backing track with a hint of vocal. 

We stood to sing HOPELESSLY DEVOTED TO YOU with all the feels. 

Well done DFS, you have come of age and sang your hearts out. Xxx 

2 July 2026

 The final blog … the end of term. It was time to vote songs IN or OUT of any future line ups …. 

Ed has to mention the C word - we have been asked to sing with the Ukedelics again at the Wyke Christmas much, much later this year! 

A quick warm up was to be followed by GLORY OF LOVE, standing to perform it after getting some top tips and a lot more repetition of the word CHRISTMAS for some reason… 

This song gets the MAYBE vote. 

On the promise of a hot new joke we sang THE RHYTHM OF LIFE. We be had to do some of it sans piano to satisfy our choir master! Then it was sing-it-proper time full speed ahead. I can’t get get used to this but it did live in my brain most of the week. 

Then we had the joke about the duck. Very funny. 

Voted maybe and yes … 

On to TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART. This time Ed threw hand grenades in the instrumental. Joy. But Meridy said the start was flat. Eeewww. We had to do it again and then vote. 

Voted possibly yes! 

So MACARTHUR PARK … marmite park said Ed. 

Voted maybe … optimism on the behalf of Ed me think? Haha. 

And IMMORTALITY. Voted yes …

We stood to perform S.O.S and MAMMA MIA a smashing double finale, and the end to our seventeenth year… well done choir! 

Don’t come back until the 24th of September. I will still love you, Cat xxx 

24 June 2026

 The one were we went to Dorchester…we were given a very warm welcome by the Dorch regulars. 

It’s confirmed that our social 9th July for eating, drinking taking and progressing to singing. It’s at the Sun Ray, Osmington. 

Ed sat in the naughty corner behind the Clavinova and leaned gratefully against the cold church walls before leading us in a warm up. It was more of hot-up really … 

BeeGee voices ready we started with IMMORTALITY after some pointers from Ed. After a sing-through we looked at a few more areas of the song more closely. 

Ed sat himself back behind the keyboard and we sang THE RHYTHM OF LIFE. Hotly. We broke the back of the overlapping part in the middle and pulled apart the layers of the doobi doo section. The third overlapping section proved challenging too, but we nearly know what we are doing. Ed put on the backing track. 

Juggling copies of SOS went DFS and Ed put on the backing track. Lovely, said Ed. 

MACARTHUR PARK filled the speaker and barely moved the hot air around the church. But still we sang, mindful of the fact that we might well be stuck to our chairs like children in the back of a 1970s car in shorts… we sounded quite good. Ed also reccomend we go and listen to the original version, it’s only seven sweet minutes long and has a lovely middle bit not included in our version here. 

ABBA again, MAMMA MIA thumped from the speaker followed by YOU MAKE MY DREAMS and GLORY OF LOVE! 

We stood to perform TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART with added joyful thunder claps thrown in too! 

Well done for coming out, traversing all the eggs frying on the paths and cobbles and coming to sing! Xxx

18 June 2026

 We had two new songs and a choir master with man flu who was too tired to print out enough lyrics. We also had rather reduced numbers of choir members. Perhaps they thought it was next week. Don’t come then, choir is cancelled. Road works again.

After the summer, choir starts on the 24th September 2026. 

We began singing with MAMMA MIA! and flipped the shiny new page to S.O.S … these two have different singing styles. Some choir members remembered and sang the backing tracks. 

Ed wanted to break the back of THE RHYTHM OF LIFE, so he broke it down, breaking the room into many parts. Well three, typically. We did sing it slower to help us poor brains. 

Then on came the backing track and the speed. Oh my golly gosh! Breathing is surely optional at this point. 

Ed went to find batteries for his mic while we sang along and listened to IMMORTALITY. Lesley conducted. Then Ed sat at the piano and we sang it together. Lovely. 

Cake next or rather MACARTHUR PARK with the backing track, and no vocals.

Ed reminded us of our parts and we sang TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART. 

GLORY OF LOVE saw us relaxing into that 80s power ballad vibe and then we finished by singing MAMMA MIA and we stood to perform. 

Super singing DFS see you in two weeks back here or perhaps in Dorchester if you fancy it xxx 

PS DONT COME ON THURSDAY NEXT WEEK… 

11 June 2026

 Cold choir members gathered to sing once again. Summer starts soon apparently. Ed warned us that in 2 weeks time spa road will be closed again so we will cancel that weeks rehearsal. Next week is fine, the 25th June, no choir at all that week unless you pop to Dorchester! 

I’ll remind you next week. We sang happy birthday to Sonia and Karen in place of a warm up. 

We dug out the lyrics for IMMORTALITY and sang along with Celine Dion … roughly … then Ed slipped behind the keyboard for some thrashing things out. 

Immor - MASSIVE GAP- tality also comes with two harmonies. We did very well with those so we sang with the backing track again. 

Choir all finds YOU MAKE MY DREAMS tricky so we sang along with the lead vocal. Those of us that felt able to. The great big OOOOOWW def took me by surprise. 

Pick a part for THE RHYTHM OF LIFE? Ed said he might split the room but he wasn’t sure yes. We sang along with the recording and tried not to fall out with our neighbours singing different things to us. Eeek. 

It gave me hiccups. 

With Ed at the keys, and playing it a little slower we split the hall in two and then added in the sweet and low Go Go Go part. 

We continued onwards … doobi doobi etc … 

Cool down time now with GLORY OF LOVE best power ballad of all time haha. Ed even did his best 80s power ballad impression and we were impressed. 

Cake time now with MACARTHUR PARK which is another challenge. Well it sounded better than last week. 

We finished with TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART and stood to perform. Well done everyone - have a nice rest everyone! 

Xxx