29 January 2026

 A slightly damp choir met in the church hall ready to sing again. Good evening, said Ed. There were two new songs to enjoy. We warmed up. A lot. 

WEATHER WITH YOU was our first song. Memories of being at uni one million years ago. We sang it with the backing track, then it was time to check out the harmonies which Crowded House were very good at. Lovely said Ed.

THE RIDDLE next, rather a low key so Ed said to sing it up the octave. Eeek. Some will some didn’t of course. We didn’t spend too long on this because is was time for the bunnies. 

BRIGHT EYES tinkled dreamily from the speaker. Most of our ts are very soft in this number. Cotton tails and bunny ears optional, but it will be at Easter … 

KISS ME makes me happy. It’s been 17 years since I sang it solo at DFS’ first ever concert. We worked on the harmonies again, because Ed wants lots and they are very lovely. 

I KNOW HIM SO WELL means splitting the room into 1s and 2s and Ed was pleased with our sing through. 

Wasn’t it good, comes in sooner thank you think it does. And Con - stantly NOT cons-taint-lyyyyyy. Ok? We had the option of standing to sing. Possibly almost concert ready.

We had a taste of SEASONS OF LOVE before finishing with HOLD ME CLOSE as our final song  

Fantastic, super smashing DFS! No really! Now go find all the bunny ears you can on EBAY etc  xxx 

22 January 2026

 My first session back this year, I slipped all the lovely new songs into my folder and felt a bit chilly. Ed pretended the microphone was broken and storm Ingrid was on the way. 

Easter concerts fall during the Easter break, 2nd April in the main Church here. 1st April for DFS Dorchester. We return to choir on the 23rd April. A show of hands confirmed that most members can make this. 

We warmed up then looked at KISS ME. We sang it through once then Ed demonstrated the harmony and then we went over that three times, which was helpful. We sang it with the backing track and Ed said, Beautiful.

On to I KNOW HIM SO WELL with the vocal guides on. Then with Ed at the piano we broke the song down into parts, the descant parts being the hardest and the least known. 

Back on went the backing track, and we gave it our best. Ed said, well done. 

We sang HOLD ME CLOSE apart from me who was mostly listening thinking I may vaguely knew it … 

Time for all the little bunnies to run for their lives, BRIGHT EYES was sung with the backing track then Ed sat at the piano and went through the lyrics of THE PRAYER before we dived in. 

We will be braking it down further next time, and finished by belting out WE BUILT THIS CITY … boom. 

Well done DFS keep singing, that’s not why I love you x 

4 December 2025

 We talked about what might happen at Upwey Wishing well on 19 December at 2.30pm. Please arrive by parachute to avoid parking issues. Ed said we could use the extra songs as warm up. Lyrics will be provided on the day. 

WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS - sang the first verse. 

SILENT NIGHT 

WINTER WONDERFUL 

DECK THE HALLS

DING DONG 

HARK THE HERALD 

ONCE IN ROYAL

GOOD KING WENCESLAS 

AWAY IN MANGER 

GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLEMEN 

Then we ran through the running order for next Wednesday and Thursday as follows - 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY

CAROL OF THE BELLS 

A WINTERS TALE 

IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER 

DING DONG MERRILY ON HIGH 

MARY DID YOU KNOW 

solos etc … 

HARK THE HERALD

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE 

DECK THE HALLS

WHITE CHRISTMAS 

O HOLY NIGHT

Seven o’clock start next Wednesday and eight ish finish, retiring collection for Weldmar. 

Doors open here next Thursday at 7pm, bring your own food and drink, teas and coffees for donations, and collection for Chesil Sail-ability. 

Festive dress code for both concerts and warm coats for the wishing well. 

Ed gave lots of feedback on our efforts this evening, and went over the harmony of a winters tale and that of bleak midwinter. 

We finalised our time together with MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE and everyone in good festive spirits! 

See you in Dorch next week DFS X 

27 November 2025

 Almost Christmas… nearly December … some Christmas trees are up and there were lots of birthday anniversaries and more to sing including a happy 30th birthday to Harry tomorrow! We sang. 

Please bring a raffle prize next week if you didn’t bring one tonight. The running order is sorted out, and is provided for you below. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY 

More rough, more rough! Loads and loads of energy.

CAROL OF THE BELLS 

A WINTERS TALE 

IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER 

DING DONG MERRILY ON HIGH 

MARY DID YOU KNOW 

solos etc … 

HARK THE HERALD

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE 

DECK THE HALLS

WHITE CHRISTMAS 

O HOLY NIGHT 

O little town is no more. We warmed up with an accompanied CAROL OF THE BELLS. More precisely said Ed. Over annunciation please! Cut off your Dings and dongs as quickly as you can, and enter the nasal zone. We ran through the songs in the running order above. 

And after the run through we did some topping and tailing! 

Good good see you next week xxx 

20 November 2025

 Good evening and welcome to Thursday, a day that lacked snow. There were three new songs for us on one bright shiny sheet of A4. 

Two more rehearsals and then concerts begin. 10th dec for united church in Dorchester. Solos etc required. 11th is our informal evening and you can sing a solo there too. Raffle prizes appreciated. 19th dec for Xmas Carols at the upwey wishing well at 2.30pm. 

We did a quick warm up to be swiftly followed by MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY and CAROL OF THE BELLS. 

DUM DUM DIDDLE!

Loud rough rock voices for MERRY CHRISTMAS but not shouting of course. After singing the chorus with the piano we whipped out of he backing track. 

It was lovely and rough. The lovely that wasn’t lovely. 

Ones and twos given reminders then we sang CAROL OF THE BELLS. No long songs please. Doooong is wrong. Donnnnnnnnng is right. Ok? Good. I don’t want to have to type all those nnnns again. 

Onwards and a capela. Well not bad. Just stop staring at sheet. We went again for the second time.  Please practice while shopping in Asda etc. 

Next a new song, well perhaps an old familiar song but with a fresh new backing track DECK THE HALLS. 

The Bing Crosby version of WHITE CHRISTMAS filled the room. This one’s perfect for audience participation. We did listen to another version but no. 

And Shaky is in the room, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE. Look out for the key change. 

Ooooh IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER. Make like a big organ. No being a big diva  and sliding notes all over the place. 

DING DONG! MERRILY ON HIGH  phew. Breathe when you can, and don’t forget your pelvic floor. 

A WINTERS TALE, over the page - this one is in a gentleman’s key. 

MARY DID YOU KNOW? Coming along nicely.

HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SING and we called for Andy to come and close the air vents as we were all cold. Lovely said Ed and Andy said don’t put the chairs away and we performed O HOLY NIGHT. 

Whoop whoop well done, keep singing xxx

13 November 2025

 Good evening everyone, we do love Peter! Don’t forget to say DONGLE to Ed at the end. I popped up to the front to say sorry for mislabelling last weeks blog, sorry I won’t be around to blog next week and thank you (again) for supporting NOT LOST - Susie the Dorchester Cat (book). I’ve been invited to the AGM of PEOPLE FIRST DORSET to find out just how much money was raised. And eat pizza. 

Anyway. Back to choir. We did a lot of breathing work. Bob had been practicing all the tricks. Ed thinks it’s in your buttocks but it’s really your pelvic floor. But we won’t mention it again. 

It’s to help with CAROL OF THE BELLS. We sang with the piano and then a capela. Some people are still going Doooong when they should be going donnnnng. Don’t. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY blasted from the speaker. It was sung very nicely, and Ed wants a bit more festive aggressive! More Divas! More loud! Leave Aled Jones at home. 

A WINTERS TALE is a little low but Ed said we could zip up an octave in the second verse. 

 We sang IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER. Everyone was happy. Ed didn’t even announce DING DONG MERRILY ON HIGH probably because it’s on the same sheet. Please roll your rrrrrrrs if you can. And mind the gap. Use your pelvic floors for the big Gloria at the end  

Cliff Richard’s O LITTLE TOWN next. What a treat it was … to sing the trad version afterwards with Ed at the piano. We voted for the best version to perform.

Ed played so we could sing MARY DID YOU KNOW?  Bob dropped off it was so soothing and Ed said he will play this live at the concert. 

We stood to perform O HOLY NIGHT. 

Well done DFS KEEP singing xxx 

6th November 2025

 Hello and happy Friday to you, 

Sadly no live blogging occurred yesterday. While I remembered to bring my daughter, who wanted to join us for the festive segment, I left my phone at home on charge so that was very helpful. Mary texted me all the songs in order to help me recap, today. To think 17 years ago I had three children under three and blogged at home the day after! Say nothing. 

The speaker blasted out HARK THE HERALD and I started singing. By the end of the song Ed was ready at the front and everyone was singing. Then we warmed up. 

We started with CAROL OF THE BELLS which is fun as we get our starting notes and then that’s it. Some of us remembered it quite well. Ed went over the harmony parts. Don’t worry, he said …. the good news is, it’s still November. 

We went back to sing HARK THE HERALDS and some super clever people sang the descant. 

Now for fun and intrigue Ed whipped out the Dolly Parton version of MARY DID YOU KNOW which was challenging but also a bit of a giggle, especially the spoken parts. Did you know? I think she did. 

DING DONG MERRILY ON HIGH is the one we have to fit in all the words that don’t fit. Good job dfs. 

We do love a bit of IN THE BLEAK MID WINTER and that was quicky followed by A WINTERS TALE which may need a pic transpose or two. My Mary didn’t know this one. She texted the next title as MERRY CHRISTMAS and now for the life of me I can’t recall the real title. We hung our stockings on the wall. 

At some point we sang Cliff Richard’s version of O LITTLE TOWN but it was rather sung in the boots and a few people didn’t know it. I remember Cliff of top-of-the-pops twirling around. 

Finally we stood to perform O HOLY NIGHT which we all love and adore, and sing out. 

Well done DFS, stay festive xxx

9 October 2025

 Two new song sheets to collect on arrival this week before taking our seats as Ed played the theme to The Muppet Show. 

Stage right was a little light. Friday 19th December high tea at the Upwey Wishing Well at 2.30pm with Carols possibly performed by us. Christmas concert here on the 11th, informal and fun. 

Our chosen charity is chesil sail ability :-) 

We DUM DUM DIDDLED and otherwise warmed up. 

The backing track filled the hall and we sang ONE DAY IN YOUR LIFE. We started at the beginning to deal with our snakes. Place and Face are longer than you think. We went again. 

New song time with DONT LEAVE ME THIS WAY and there was such a lot going on in this song. Ed tried to explain where we went wrong and I really concentrated hard. From the top. Ed came out from behind the music stand a few times. Much better said Ed. 

YOU NEEDED ME was our second new one. We shuffled papers and sang. It’s very nice but also a good exercise sort of song, on account of all the octave-jumps. Ed sat at the piano to go through it with us. It was sang in 1978 by Canadian Anne Murray. 

Next JERSEY BOYS MEDLEY rocked the hall. It was much better than last week, and we kept going as requested  

Aha, TAKE ON ME. A few discrepancies in there, but all ok. I think Ed was happy. 

Calming things down a bit, WITH OR WITHOUT YOU was coming on very nicely with lovely harmonies. 

For our final song, A LITTLE RESPECT won the show-of-hands vote. Yipppeeeee! 

Super Singing DFS see you next week hopefully xxx