Easter Concerts 2026

 Here’s what Ed said about both of our concerts - 

“Huge thanks to those who sang and supported last night at our Dorchester Easter Concert. You sang so well and sounded superb raising a lovely £389.83 for Weldmar Hospicecare. Tonight we're doing it all again at St. Aldhelm's Church, Spa Road, Weymouth in aid of Chesil Sailability. The concert starts at 7pm and lasts approximately one hour, it's free with a retiring collection, please come along!”

So we all went along of course … then Ed shared this on Facebook -

“ Another great concert with massive thanks to Dorset for Singing and their supporters. I'm delighted to announce that we raised £390.46 which will go straight to Chesil Sailability to help fund the fantastic work that they do.  See you next term x”

Mike G said it was one of the best sets we have ever done, and the harmonies were brilliant. 

Well done DFS XXX

26 March 2026

 It was to Monica’s birthday so of course we sang. Well we are a choir. Just one week until our concerts so check you have all the words and fire up your printers to plug the gap maybe. 

Please come along on to the Wednesday concert 7pm united church, numbers are a little low and we are raising money for Weldmar. Our Thursday concert is in the church not the hall. Wear choir tops or pastel-ish tops and dark bottoms please. Ears? Maybe. 

And then we return on the 23rd April ready for Summer!

The running order was shared in last weeks blog. But here it is again … 

Kiss Me

Bright Eyes 

Hold Me Close  

Seven Tears 

Shine 

((( Cabaret Singers )))

The Riddle 

Weather With You 

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

The Prayer 

I Know Him So Well

We warmed up. Then ran thru the concert with a few helpful hints. Hintze. Have a happy Easter x 

19 March 2026

 Provisional Running Order, Easter Concerts 2026, with  notes by Ed after our run through. 

Kiss Me

No staring down at lyrics like they are a crutch. More melody please. Yippeee that’s my part. 

Bright Eyes 

Look ahead and keep your eyes on Ed so you hold the notes for the right length. Enjoy your selves in your bright eyes and bunny ears. 

Hold Me Close  

More confidence in the second verse. Not bad so far, said Ed  

Seven Tears

Ed will probably miss out the spoken parts but you never know. 

Shine 

The ending is a free for all so go for it. 

((( Cabaret Singers ))) - not a song folks! 

The Riddle 

The middle of The Riddle needed looking at. 

Weather With You 

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Backing tracks are great, we need a strong, strong melody! 

The Prayer 

Isn’t that far of! 

I Know Him So Well

Needs a few little GAPS so we talked through the song to see how the words get chopped up. 

I copied this off of the facebook group and Ed ran through it before we started. I had forgotten my lyrics so I had to borrow some. 

It was that time again, just before the concert where we sing our running order in … er running order. Ed even gave us a short break where there would be a cabaret. 

We stood to sing I KNOW HIM SO WELL 

super smashing it’s ok it’s not the concert yet love you x 

5 March 2026

 Good evening wailed Ed as he fumbled for his microphone. He gave away 2 hot copies of THE PRAYER but in dots. Get a copy from https://pdfcoffee.com/andrea-bocelli-the-prayer-pdf-free.html

We warmed up after agreeing we should include a Neil Sedaka song follow the recent sad news of his death this week. 

Ed stayed behind piano to sing SEASONS OF LOVE with us. Who remembers singing this when choir was still quite young. We will look at that again in the summer, it won’t be in the Easter concert.

WE BUILD THIS CITY rang out from the speaker as we all tried to come in at the right time. This version was shorted too. 

And with harmonies, we sang KISS ME. We sang it a capela a couple of times before Ed asked for more life and expression. Smile. Then Ed said we would leave it as it was nearly perfect. 

Also needing animation is BRIGHT EYES and Ed said LOVELY and we moved on to THE PRAYER with him at the piano. He said it could have been worse. We worked hard on the middle bit. 

Mumbles as we found the lyrics to THE RIDDLE and Ed loaded up the backing track. There’s a cross over part where the chorus repeats which makes us sound very clever. Oh yes it does. 

Light entertainment from HOLD ME CLOSE next and our new old song BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO and what fun that is. 

We stood to perform I KNOW HIM SO WELL …

Well done yipppeeeeee etc  xxxx 

26 February 2026

Ed welcomed us back after our half term break and hoped we had a lovely time off. We have 5 rehearsals and then our Easter concert (in the Easter holidays) when we hope to be able to raise lots for our chosen charity. 

23rd May we have been asked to sing and Brewers Quay Fayre in the Square again this year. It’s at 11am if you want to pop it in your diary just now. 

Please do not look at the new lights in the hall the dimmers are on order apparently. Dots before the eyes make it hard to read your lyrics. We warmed up before Ed asked for feedback for each song by making appropriate noises or grumbles after each one. Should be fun, we all said while flipping in our folders to HOLD ME CLOSE. Probably pile.

I KNOW HIM SO WELL  splitting the room into two again. Ed went over what we were supposed to be doing before our first run through. Ed hoped the piano would not fall over. Positive noises for that baby. 

KISS ME we ran through with the backing track and then Ed had us sing it again with only the clapping of his hands, phew. A little more harmony was required and mixed noises followed.

Bunny time BRIGHT EYES backing track filled the hall and we sang. 

Ed had forgotten to print some dots for THE PRAYER but at least we had our coloured print-outs. We didn’t sing rise. Honest. Just a few winges but it’s honestly coming along nicely.

We flipped to SEVEN TEARS and got ready to oooh and sing. Mixed sounds, possibly football crowd. 

Gary time and time to SHINE! 

To finish WEATHER WITH YOU and some stood to preform. 

Well done DFS wooop hooooo yeah etc … x 

12 February 2025

 Back after a week off I eagerly picked up the new songs sheets and wafted into the hall. One of them was a phonic version of THE PRAYER in three colours too. Ed promised we would break the back of that one today.

A quick warm up ensued. 

The air was giddy. We Oooooooohed THE PRAYER. Aiiiiirrrrr’d and Aaaaaaaaahed. Then we left that and sang KISS ME. Don’t forget the bonus kiss at the end. We really need to bring this to life. Animation. And er romance. So we did and Ed was very happy. 

Bunny time BRIGHT EYES requires drivers over passengers. Sing it like it’s the audition of your life. 

We looked at THE RIDDLE which is complete nonsense. It doesn’t matter. What’s matters is our passion and conviction. Remember the cross over choruses at the end and the weird key at the middle eight. Hmmmm. I think I’m going to look up the video on YouTube. We practiced all the endy bits. 

Then ten minutes of solid hard work lay ahead. We sang THE PRAYER with Ed at the piano. We sort of spit the song in two halves as well as the room, and worked harder on the first half. 

Some people are looking forward to the dots, next week. HOLD ME CLOSE provided a little light relief. We really needed it after that. 

Another blast from the past, SEVEN TEARS and it starts with humming.

And WE KNOW HIM SO WELL began with the chorus and Ed at the piano before standing to performs! Eeek! 

Phew. Have a happy happy half term, lots of love. Xxx

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