5 December 2024

It was the last day of term and festive lights hung in the hall. Don’t come until the 16th January. The eve of Bob and Ed’s birthday. 

Brewery square is cancelled, due to no gazebos or electricity. However, next Wednesday is our Christmas concert, yay! 

I’ve got my ticket for the Xmas party do, please get yours by next Thursday. Jenny went off to the shops to pick up the buffet and Ed turned on the lights for Lesley.

We dived into our running order for our next to appearances, give or take. We didn’t even warm up, just like on real concert days! 

CHRISTMAS MEDLEY 

Ed thanked everyone for the huge turnout for Wyke and its lovely weather, and our unexpected theatre in the round. Ed also knocked his own antlers fell off. 

Do mind your sssssssssssss please. 

SOLOS AND SUETS - come along next weds to see what me and Bob are singing … 

FIRST NOEL

MARY DID YOU KNOW 

Conviction. We attempted it A Capella. Hmmmmm. We broke it down. 

WHEN A CHILD IS BORN

HAPPY CHRISTMAS WAR IS OVER

More Oooh please. It is high. We get it. 

SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW

O HOLY NIGHT

Well done choir, we know it was hard. See you at the concert next week. Can someone pick me up? Ed wished everyone a happy holiday too x 

28 November 2024

This Sunday we sing in Wyke, all officially, performing about 12.55, and the running order will appear below.

SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW kicks off our flash mob of course. Sing loudly, and bounce your voice off the wall of the square. Dress warmly and maybe a teeny bit festively. 

We worked on the syncopation of the piece. 

WHEN A CHILD IS BORN we must avoid sliding notes at all costs. Some worried about the harmony parts but Ed said it’s only Christmas. 

HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) comes with advice to dip up and down the octaves. No snakes allowed. Nice balance said Ed, when we were done.

THE FIRST NOEL was ran thru. 

MARY DID YOU KNOW … perhaps we had forgotten the ending there. Not that it really makes sense or logic. 

Medley time. Phew. Bring your own jazz hands. 

O HOLY NIGHT will be held in reserve so that we don’t run over time. We sang it last. 

Happy Christmas everyone! Xxx 

21 November 2024

We had a treat this week. The Wyke Ukedelics were back to play with us. We warmed up, to entertain them! Not really. 

And with four chords of the ukuleles we were off singing SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW with Ed at the Piano too, and then a second time without the keyboard, before the flash mob trial. 

With the ukedelics leading again we sang WHEN A CHILD IS ROUND. Then followed a huge debate on whether we hummm, ooooh or aaaaarrrgh in the bridge, and a fight almost broke out at the front.

Luckily the next song was HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) followed by THE FIRST NOEL. 

It was Bobs birthday and wedding anniversary so we sang and the ukulele band filed out. 

Back to backing tracks we sang MARY DID YOU KNOW, twice. With a huge discussion in between about this and that. Ed clarified the last held notes for us. 

Medley time was upon us, deep breath everyone! 

Wyke square 12.50 on the first. Other performances are available. 

We finished with O HOLY NIGHT and shuffled off home for a nice mug of hot chocolate. Love you xxx

14 November 2024

Here are all the upcoming Christmas Dates for your Diary:

Sunday, 1st December, 12.50pm, Wyke Square - another flash mob opportunity, when we sing 3 songs with them. 

Wednesday, 11th December, 7pm, United Church, Dorchester, solo slots available. 

Sunday 15th December, Brewery Square, Dorchester, 3 til 4pm. 

Thursday, 19th December, 7pm, Centenary Club Weymouth Party Night! It’s gonna be HUGE Kareoke and a buffet. £10 per ticket and open to our friends and family too. 

Saturday, 21st December, 1pm, Island Garden Nursey 

I got these dates from our Facebook group and added a few juicy details. 

Everyone enjoyed their night out with Gareth and shared a little of the shenanigans. 

We plucked out THE FIRST NOËL. It’s got some tricky timings because some of the words needing to be stretched to fit. Ed vanished while we found the words for WHEN A CHILD BORN. 

We changed the hmmmmm to oooooooh and aaaaaaargh because they will carry better at our outdoor concerts. We revised the harmonies. 

In SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW we looked at the aaaaaaargghhhh section first, before singing the whole song. Lovely. We split into groups to try out our flashmob technique. Plinky plink … 

HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) needs careful consideration as to when to come in. Tricky. I think even Ed got it wrong. I think I’ll practice with my Alexa. We Segway into the MERRY MEGA MEDLEY, where typing all the titles takes as long as signing all the bits of song. 

Phew. The jumps between songs are a little hard pitch when you start singing. 

We stood to perform O HOLY NIGHT. 

Well done choir. Stay cooooool, love Cat xxx 

7 November 2024

Welcome back after half term, which promises to be busy. Only 5 weeks til our Xmas concert begins in earnest. We get to sing with the ukelele guys right at the start of December. Brewery square will accommodate us on the 14th December with the 21st for the Island Garden Nursery. 

Ann had a spare ticket for Gareth tomorrow. Jump up if you want it. 

We warmed up with WHEN A CHILD IS BORN. Ed sat at the piano, and after a run through demonstrated the gorgeous harmony which begins at verse two. It was a lot easier to get it when he played and sang the notes at the same time. 

Our epic Christmas medley contains a number of raucous songs. 

MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY

I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS EVERY DAY

do please leave an air gap between between WISH and IT. Think about it. 

JINGLE BELL ROCK 

ROCKING AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE

LET IT SNOW 

WINTER WONDERLAND 

I SAW MUMMY KISSING SANTA CLAUS 

SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN 

instrumental where we go doo dooo dooooo

MARY’S BOY CHILD

WHITE CHRISTMAS 

WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS 

We ran through the whole lot, to time it. It was 12 minutes long. 

With barely enough time to catch our breath, Ed pressed the backing track to MARY DID YOU KNOW. Ed counted the timings for us, 10 clicks.

Another backing track for HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) but it had a very strange ending. Not that it matters because we will be backed by ukeleles of course. Ed sat at the piano and we sang it again. 

Lilly Allen next, SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW with a very twinkly sounding backing track. 

OH HOLY NIGHT was our finale, and many stood. 

Good start back DFS, stay sparkly xxx 

24 October 2024

We warmed up to that Cannon thing, you know the old wool advert tune? That was nice. We sounded better than Weymouth Choral Society, Lesley said. 

We listened to Ed sing the first verse of MARY DID YOU KNOW and then it was our turn, with the piano then a very fancy backing track with harps and shaky eggs. Ed bashed out the melody for clarity, and that helped us get it right. 

Sandra requested that we count so that we know when to come in. That was also very helpful. We worked quite hard on that one. 

One of my favourites SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW was attempted in its original key. Sadly though, it wasn’t Keane, it was the Lilly Allen one. Oh well. The backing track sounded sweet. We can look forward to singing that with the ukelele band. 

Don’t come next week. I won’t come either with Susie books. We sang our Bee Gees mash up then BANNER MAN which was also pretty lively. 

Diva mode next, for LOVE LETTERS STRAIT FROM YOUR HEART. No big RRRRRs are allowed. 

Nuns we were for I WILL FOLLOW HIM. 

We stood to perfom TIL THERE WAS YOU / HERE COMES THE SUN. 

Another fabulously song filled Thursday evening. Well done DFS see you after half term, and thank you for buying my charity books, too xxx

17 October 2024

Poor Ed braved Big Man Flu to join us this evening! Everyone got their hankies out in a floaty salute. We warmed up. 

Hot news - we get to performing again with the Ukulele guys at Wyke Christmas early in December. ROCKING AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE, WAR IS OVER and SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW. 

Then I got lost trying to type the songs out and missed some notices but i am sure we will have updates and reminders. 

Then with Ed at the piano, we listened to him singing the lovely harmony parts and overlapping parts. He guided us through the music, we don’t often follow dots but I feel very clever when we do. 

And so we sang. Slightly under-sung but Ed blamed his claggy ears. Nice. 

Some more nice long notes not for LOVE LETTERS STRAIGHT FROM YOUR HEART. After a run through Ed said we needed to be Elaine Page and add loads of emotion. Channel those inner divas. And go! 

We nailed it. It sounded good, so good, then Ed blew his nose before pushing through BANNER-MAN. Smashed it. 

Ed asked for a B Gees sound …. Ok then. 

Come bras out for Madonna, LIKE A PRAYER. Bottom d. Remember the overlap at the end folks. But we didnt worry too much about that one. 

Time for ATOMIC which we muddled through after being lead astray. 

Beatles mash up next, the first part needed some looking at then we stood to perform’TIL THERE WAS YOU / HERE COMES THE SUN. 

Cool beans DFS and thank you for buying and ordering Susie books, that’s not why I love you x 

10 October 2024

Chatter fills the hall as we all wait to start, and we started our warm ups, to be warmed up before new dates were revealed. 

Our next concert is 11 dec at the UC. 7pm for our formal Christmas concert. Let’s have suggestions for xmassy songs please. 

19th Dec is our huge Xmas party also raising money for Alzheimer’s. Yay. 

Christmas song along 21st December at the Island Garden Nursery. 

Onto singing with LOVE LETTERS STRAIGHT FROM YOUR HEART. T in the tinkle, said Ed, meaning its important to finish of the end of the words. It’s also good if we pay strict attention to the melody too. I’m having to be careful as I remembered it differently! Please practice at home. And don’t tinkle in the T. 

Next, deep breaths for BANNER-MAN! Ed was allowing two breaths per verse. I think we finished a little light headed, and with a few errant notes. Ed treated us to a few trombone impressions because we need to, too. 

The last choruses are different and must be leaned, even tho we are also overlapping, left versus right. As well as notes like trombones we need a super loud BANG like the drum, and to sing quite percussively to drive the song. 

LIKE A PRAYER produced a few groans. Ed sat at the piano. We get to have a free for all at the end, said Ed, when we were at the end. It’s ok considering we were winging it. 

Mash up time with FIRST OF MAY / I STARTED A JOKE yay Bee Gees! We did a good job of that. 

Staying with the mash up ‘TIL THERE WAS YOU / HERE COMES THE SUN and Ed at the piano giving us a few nudges. 

Lastly whipping through out dots to sing I WILL FOLLOW HIM. Phew. 

Super job DFS, you deserve a kebab now, keep smiling xxx 

3 October 2024

Bob wasn’t telling us which charity Dorchester chose to support last night, so we got on with our warm up. Up and Down, so we could get on with nominating this years charity ourselves. 

Lesley wanted to help Alzheimer’s and i nominated People First Dorset. Then Ed started to talk about Christmas, and our concerts will be 11th and 19th. 

Our first song I WILL FOLLOW HIM needs to be sung reverently. But it is very complicated with words, dots layers and singing and blogging at the same time. Ed popped on a backing track and waved his arms about a proper conductor and that made things easier.

We sang BANNER MAN with the sound track and Ed said no body come in early with Glory Glory Glory but some people did. One of them might have been me. There are a few different versions of the chorus. 

A bit of blonde next, as Ed put on ATOMIC and we ran through it. Lesley said it’s rude. Oh well. 

LOVE LETTERS STRAIGHT FROM YOUR HEART filled the hall. We also sang it a capela and discussed yodelling … 

With our choir master at the piano for LIKE A PRAYER and FIRST OF MAY / I STARTED A JOKE.

We stood to sing HERE COMES THE SUN before voting for our preferred charity and skipping out into the chilly night air! 

Well done DFS, that was hard work. Xxx

26 September 2024

Such excitement as we gathered together again, grabbing words and making sure we had registered our details incase of musical emergencies. 

We have 9 new songs and then cast them aside for Christmas and parties and food and kareoke, at the centenary club, Thursday 19th December. 

It was time to warm up, but we did it at superspeed because we have so many things to sing. Ed reminded us to choose a charity for nominations next week. 

We looked through all the new things and settled on BANNER-MAN. I sorta kinda knew it when we listened to it. There are a few traps to be aware of like gaps, and 6 beats at the start. And a tiny wee note, to help you to be in tune. The chorus in the middle is different to the overlapping ones at the end. 

Phew. Time for LOVE LETTERS STRAIGHT FROM YOUR HEART and we had a look at two versions. 

Our first mash up was TIL THERE WAS YOU / HERE COMES THE SUN but today we just sang it as two different songs. Ed played the latter on the piano, then later demonstrated the harmony parts. He told us he’d pondered for ages how to write doot-n-doo-doo but Jenny said we would know what to do.

Next ATOMIC was blasted from the mini speaker. A blast from the past. 

Then LIKE A PRAYER filled the hall, staying with the 80s theme. I rather like the spontaneous worship at the end, I don’t think I’ve ever listened to the whole thing, and we didn’t tonight either! 

On to FIRST OF MAY / STARTED A JOKE was mostly sung by Ed. 

We finished with I WILL FOLLOW HIM yippeeeeee. Some stood to sing and dance. 

Cool beans DFS. See you next week, Cat xxx 

4 July 2024

Ed started with a joke. To ease the blow of the last session. Please don’t come back until the 26th September, when we will sing new songs for 5 weeks before diving into Christmas. Pay as you go is going up £5 per session but there are discounts for yearly memberships including a polo shirt and music will be included in all fees too. No more cute piano money box. 

This Sunday please come and sing at Swing time at 1.15pm. Momouth 45 set. And again the following Saturday 13 3.30 at the village hall Osmington. Wear uniforms.

We warmed up. 

The big experiment - guess the note - and begin SECRET LOVE. After a verse we were allowed to start again with the back track. Hmmm. 

WALKING ON SUNSHINE now comes with options … to allow for breathing. Phew. Do look up and smile. 

TOGETHER IN ELECTRIC DREAMS A Capella - to discover which bits we hadn’t learned yet. Very telling. Then a treat. You guessed it. The backing track. Yippeeee. 

SUMMERTIME oh yeah. Baby. Choose a few notes at the end and do breath. Ed said it was alright 

And the timings in HALLELUJAH are very very important. 

RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE  - don’t for get to monkey around in that fabulous intro. 

Monkeying around again in I WANNA BE LIKE YOU. That last note tho. Oops. Ed also wants actions. He will be lucky. Rough. Please. 

Finally… ONE DAY LIKE THIS … welll anyway. It’s been a wonderful year. 

Will love and miss you choir, see you in September. Somewhere. Cat xxx

27 June 2014

I thanked everyone for helping to buy Susie post cards, and pointed out the new ones for sale at the back. 

Ed said how lovely the Flash Mob was even though we were all very nervous and worried. 

7 July Dorch borough gardens for our next appearance followed by 13 July Osmington village hall. Wear choir tops if you have them. Then it will be summer break

The running order 

SECRET LOVE 

We came in rather well with this we just looked at the first note. 

WALKING ON SUNSHINE 

It’s a marathon but stick with it. It’s such a crowd pleaser. 

TOGETHER IN ELECTRIC DREAMS

In this song we had to look at the ending, the harmonies and the overlapping. 

SUMMERTIME 

Ed gave us permission to breathe which was nice. 

HALLELUJAH

Timings were close …. 

RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE 

I WANNA BE LIKE YOU 

RUN 

then - finale - 

ONE DAY LIKE THIS 

Erm well timings right … 

For a treat we sang I WANNA BE LIKE YOU and my phone crashed mid blog. Such fun. 

We might be joining the Ukedelics at Wyke Christmas for another flash mob ssssshhhhh. After that exciting wee announcement we ran through the line up, then we went back and looked at specific areas, before having a treat of listening to the flash mob as recorded by my lovely hubby. 

Awesome sauce, choir, but that’s not why I love you x

20 June 2024

Wyke Ukedelics joined us for another practice of our songs together on Saturday. They filled the front of the hall and it looked like we had an orchestra. There was a lot of noise and energy. 

Jez runs the Ukedelics, and stood beside Ed ready to go. We flipped to ONE DAY LIKE THIS. I felt very nervous. If you think you should be singing … then sing! We don’t want any gaps. 

Right into UPTOWN GIRL and quickly into RUN, and another run through of ONE DAY LIKE THIS. 

As the Ukedelics left we sang I WANNA BE LIKE YOU and they danced out of the hall. We worked on the swing bit and also the bits were you make up your own boo boo babbly boo bits. 

Ed suddenly asked if we had 2 more rehearsals left, and we all confirmed we did. 

Next TOGETHER IN ELECTRIC DREAMS. Ed said it was beautiful. 

A lot of confidence needed for SECRET LOVE as it has a strong start. Ed said it was alright. 

WALKING ON SUNSHINE filled the hall. 

Relax into SUMMERTIME… and go for it! We did well. 

More energy now for RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE don’t forget that pause in verse three. 

And finally finishing with HALLELUJAH and leaving the chairs in place. 

Wow. Well done choir. See you next time! Xxx

13 June 2024

It was summertime, and our coats hung dripping in the main, outside the hall. Our jumpers were on again and there was one new song to collect from the table at the back.

The flash mob looms … veterans weekend too. See last week for date and time, because it’s a secret. The extra song was to build our 45 set for the swing time. Eeek that’s a long set. 

In super exciting news, some members would like to group together to see Gareth Malone at the pavilion. Hang left and get a discount in groups of 8 plus. It’s Friday 8h November.

We warmed up. 

The new song first, I WANNA BE LIKE YOU. No expectations. I didn’t really know it! The last note was a random choice to see how it worked, for a big finish YEAH. We had another run through. Not sure about that last note though… 

Back to my teenage years now TOGETHER IN ELECTRIC DREAMS. Prepared to be exposed at the end as the music fades and we don’t! 

SUMMERTIME slipped into the room despite the rain. Such fun. Sophisticated ending too. We sang it once then were invited to sing louder. Cue everyone going a bit shy and quiet. 

We swished our pages to SECRET LOVE. Then the ukulele version of ONE DAY LIKE THIS …. So different from our usual choir version. Much less call and response. 

And the ukulele version of UPTOWN GIRL also featured Ed at the piano. And Ed saw that it was good. HALLELUJAH! Please remember to drop all your Hs and not leave any gaps. 

For a fab finale … RUN! 

Well done DFS. Keep singing and always keep smiling  X 

6 June 2024

Welcome to T6 - the final half term. Thanks to all singers at Fayre in the square. And also thanks to all who came to sing in Dunelm with the Ukelele band, they were very impressed. Roll on 22 June 2pm at HSBC. 

Swingtime 7 July 1.15 

Hilary’s thing is afternoon tea 3.30pn for singing Osmingtin village hall.

Then relax. 

And we warmed up! Some of which was quite shouty to get us ready to sing SECRET LOVE. Oi! Ed would like more people on harmony/echo so do give it a go if you can. 

SUMMERTIME next, there’s a ‘to’ missing between the and sky. It’s a new one for choir but we sang it well. Possible free for all in the last verse! The instrumental is for filling with oooos etc. Swingtime ready. 

TOGETHER IN ELECTRIC DREAMS is an oldie and another new one for choir. Ed wants more harmonies. There’s a theme for T6 I fear. We sang a Capella. 

Way too many words in WALKING ON SUNSHINE but we will sing them anyways. After singing the previous song this is so obviously up tempo! Jogging on sunshine, more like! 

Ed decided to talk about singing techniques, in different ways for different songs. We have to shift gears and relax the throat to HALLELUJAH. The ending was really worked on to build it. 

RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE burst into life with lots of joyful noises and strong lungs. Whooooo ooooooooh. Etc. 

We finished off with ONE DAY LIKE THIS and stood to enjoy it all the more. 

Then we shifted gears to RUN. Watch those bum notes in the chorus. 

Smashing job DFS, keep it up! All night if you want to. Xxx

Message from Ed

Good morning!  Just a few reminders, Fayre in the Square today, 11.30am start in Hope Square, Weymouth. Running order:

1. Secret Love 

2. Walking on Sunshine 

3. Hallelujah 

4. Right By Your Side 

5. Run 

6. One Day Like This 

We also have our extraordinary rehearsal at 6.45pm on Wednesday, 29th May at Dunelm, Weymouth.

Normal rehearsals resume on Wednesday 5th and Thursday 6th June.

Happy Bank Holiday!

23 May 2024

So much excitement going on, and some extra sheets of music for the old flash mob. In housekeeping, it’s 11.30 at Fayre in the square. Parking is a bit of an issue round there. Wear bright tops and dark bottoms. The set will be 20 mins and Ed will follow with 20 minutes of his own. 

On Wednesday -breaking news - others of the choir may join after the elbow song, even if you can’t make the secret rehearsal. The Elbow song will be memorised. Haha. 

We warmed up, nice and fast. Because why not? And with lost of power, we did the HIIIIIII warm up, and then lead into the first note of SECRET LOVE because we have to start that all powerfully and confident of course. It’s one of those short intro songs. 

Then we sang it properly. And Ed said that it was good. 

Number two, enjoy enjoy enjoy singing WALKING ON SUNSHINE and smile. Yes you may feel there are too many words. There are. All there for your singing pleasure. You got this! 

Remember not to stare at the words we know and look up and smile at the lovely audience. 

So HALLELUJAH said Ed. Mind the gap. It’s in the wrong place if you ask me. We have to sing differently when we sing with ukuleles! Ed went over some of those timings. 

RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE has alternative lyrics that Ed invented. We may not sing those. But we might. We sang it twice. 

With a smashing new backing track, RUN.  It was pretty good. 

ONE DAY LIKE THIS was sang in two versions and followed by SOMEONE LIKE YOU just for fun. 

Have a great half term, and see you on Wednesday for the secret rehearsal for you-know-what! 

16 May 2024

Just incase you wanted it, here is our drop box 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/gi3i1wuxm7qvocui4d64l/AOJNlb9HHIlSOYg9YCC62hk?e=1&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0N8FmFlbNGlXqaRt3XbxtpfgTz5AIh7UdQGVRc0HJXTvE3VLMOw5IWS6I_aem_Aag7XKGCO11MPGpmv8ooB9ZJzEqDUgiVkHbpQ9zxb9xmWHso7IyhTkUM_SHatltuaZVn2XGXg8n07HE_RmHfOshS&rlkey=0p6utcadhkg47iref6xa8pa7j&st=zoaubmba&dl=0&mibextid=K35XfP

Dunelm Cafe is the venue for our flash mod rehearsal, in half term, Wednesday 6.45pm. Only come of you can make the flashmob… memorise one day like this. 

We had a Lidl warm up. Eventually though. After Lesley and Cat had stopped being disruptive. Shocking. 

Our running order for Fayre in the Square - 

Secret love 

Walking On Sunshine 

Hallelujah 

Right By Your Side 

Run

One Day Like This 

So we ran through them all, it’s a 22 minutes long.

Our flash mob version is going to be a different key. And will be missing the repeats due to the lower numbers. Harmony.

We also sang a little of uptown girl coz we will be singing that with ukuleles too. 

Then we had to revisit the Fayre in the Square set so work on all the bits Ed wanted to polish. We are all to make like little divas, and shine. So Bob is going to wear a kilt. Let’s hope it’s not stormy. 

Wow, didn’t we do well? No? Oh. Well I still love you x 

9 May 2024

Good evening, boombed Ed from a working microphone! It was time to talk dates - 

25 May - Fayre in the square 11.30am

A 20 minute set followed by some Ed for 20 minutes 

29 May - rehearsal for flash mob - possibly Wyke smugglers with the ukulele guys. 7pm

22 June - Flash mob. Three songs -  One day; uptown girl, run.  Time tbc

7 July - swing time - Dorchester 1.15pm 

13 July - headline - osminton village thingy. 3.30 to 4pm 

August is for sunbathing … 

With Ed at the piano we dived into SOMEONE LIKE YOU and it’s definitely a tough one for choir. Ed sang the harmonies for the chorus, and we sang that again. And then without the piano. Eeek. 

We flicked to RUN next, starting at chorus, the juicy harmonies belting out! We ran through the whole song then, no pun intended. Lovely lovely lovely.  

Loud and livey RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE filled the church hall. Don’t forget the delay. Half of us must sing DO and half must sing YEAH. We really looked closely at the top of column two, and I think that as really stating to pay off. 

Gently we sang HALLELUJAH and those smart among us have already crossed out all of the H from the titular word. Banish all gaps, and unlearn what’s been learned before. 

I love ONE DAY LIKE THIS and sang my little face off. Ok said Ed, we need a balance. Choose one of the three parts for the power ending. 

Boom, bang we launched into the bad grammar of WALKING ON SUNSHINE WHOOOOO. That’s not the full title that’s us making a joyful sound at the beginning. 

Finally SECRET LOVE, we stood to perform, then floated off into the night, singing songs and we drifted into our cars and up the road. 

Well done, yay! Love you loads xxx 

2 May 2024

Did you know choir will be sweet 16 in September? The baby I used to leave behind is 16 today! Golly gosh how time flies when you are busy singing! 

A warm up with a difference was on the cards today. But first, a sensible one. Time to play. Ed set out the rules of play. What could possibly go wrong? It was very successful. 

The secret flash mob is June 22nd. Don’t tell your friends. A rehearsal will be on 29th May, during half term. Time and venue tbc, for those who can flash mob. 

We flocked to the words for RUN. I still can’t really sing, one of those long term coughs. High cheek bones everyone. No slack faces DFS. So we worked on brightening the sound and then the very notes themselves, of all those delicious harmony parts. After another sing through Ed said well done. 

We were WALKING ON SUNSHINE after all that. Every gap in the song is filled with words, so perhaps we could say, there are none at all! And some of the Ohs were not being given enough beats. 

And HALLELUJAH we didn’t spend to long on it. This is actually a good song to play on a ukelele. We need to be careful not to put unwanted gaps in, or shorten some notes that should be longer. The second verse must be sang intensely, not all nice and lovely. Someone groaned with disappointment! 

Have fun making lots of funny and fun noises at the start of RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE. But no more Michael Jackson sounds. That’s me told. We sang with Annie first then with Ed at the piano. 

ONE DAY LIKE THIS is a lovely song. I love the overlaps. I think we did a good job of this. Ed said lovely stuff. 

No hesitation, straight in with SECRET LOVE, disco version. 

Keep singing DFS and don’t forget to vote if you haven’t yet today! Love, Cat x 

25 April 2024

Welcome to Summer term … bring on the heat wave … relax. We have five fun filled rehearsals before Fayre in the square … 25 May.

ONE DAY LIKE THIS will be sang as a flash mob outside The Range in Weymouth. We all muttered and shuffled our papers as Ed outlined this terms new songs. 

We began with RUN. After a RUN through we really looked at the harmonies. Ed wants lots more harmony this term. We did some listen-and-repeat. We made some huge steps forward. 

We sang along to WALKING ON SUNSHINE, then we were on our own. Well. Ed was still at the front trying to heard cats … or was it juggle ferrets? 

We threw ourselves into ONE DAY LIKE THIS when we were still out of breath. It’s beautiful. We worked on the ending bashing out the very notes. Ed sat at the piano and stamped his foot. We became a propper choir. Stay balanced every one. 

Next, SECRET LOVE. NOW! It was disco version. With over lapping parts and everything … and yes. Harmonies. We did that a capela … well. I say we. I listened. 

Out treat was listening to Annie RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE. I’ll dance round the kitchen to this one later. 

Then backing track time and we had a good try. 

And old friend HALLELUJAH popped up next. This is going be nice to sing with ukuleles. Big ending. Needs lots of ad lib so we had a second go at the ending. 

We had a go at SOMEONE LIKE YOU. It made me giggle. Probably just my mind. 

GOOD EFFORT DFS. Well done. Now go and have a lie down. I know I will … sponsored by Riccola patels! 

21 March 2024

Fresh from FaceBook is the Running order for next week's concerts:

Running order for next week's concerts:

All Night Long 

Pompeii 

Eagle 

Don't Stop 

Never Gonna Give You Up 

Pie Jesu 

*All Star Cabaret*

I Saw Her Standing There 

Young Hearts 

Livin' On a Prayer 

I've Been Waiting for You 

Blame It On the Boogie 

The Skye Boat Song 

Proud Mary

I can’t wait for the he All Star Cabaret! 

Ed slipped behind the piano while choir filled the room with the buzz of chatter. He told us not to come back until the 25th April, after next week! We have our flash mob to look forward to next term. 

Next weeks concert will hopefully be doors open at 7.20pm. Bring your last minute raffle prizes with you and wear your choir polo shirt. 

Then Ed said we had to sing alllll the songs tonight so we had better get cracking, and we didn’t mean Easter eggs. 

After singing very hard we had a treat, a cabaret act from Bob, with Ed at the Piano. We joined with the last chorus too. And how could we top that? 

Keep singing and I’ll see everyone In Dorchester next week too for a special debut. Love you xxx

14 March 2024

Good Evening said Ed, and he got a Whoo. Which was nice. 

Breaking news - a hush settled on the room - we have been invited by a ukulele group on 22 June to perform a flash mob to perform ONE DAY LIKE THIS and we will be given specific parts. How exciting. Please delete after reading so you don’t spoil the fun. Possibly new Bond Street. Time to be confirmed! 

Our running for our Easter order is exactly the same as was on the second of March. 

ALL NIGHT LONG 

 We didn’t crack the ‘play-on’s so we workshopped it. Then sang it again …

POMPEII

 May have a few bum notes so we just checked those. Listen to it at home folks. 

EAGLE

DONT STOP

NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP

PIE JESU

 Wasn’t half bad. Watch your tempo tho. Can’t be getting too excited. We sang it a capela. Was that an unintentional harmony in verse 3? Well it sounded pretty good. 

(Breaks for solos and actual pie)

I SAW HER STANDING THERE 

 Nod , chord, and away we go. Hopefully! We had to work on our ending because our beginning was much to perfect to need any work. 

YOING HEARTS

 Two ways to sing ‘oh’

LIVING ON A PRAYER

 Was our little treat. 

IVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU 

BLAME IT ON THE BOOGIE 

SKYE BOAT SONG 

 Was beautiful …

(More, shouts the audience) 

PROUD MARY 

 We stood to sing 

We warmed up with IVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU complete with false start, then I popped back in time to add notes under the running order. 

Whoo hooo keep singing, love Cat. Not Susie. The blogging one xxx 

7 March 2024

Ed thanked everyone for attending on Saturday night. There were some interesting acts, including a hairy moment involving a watering can and Ed’s organ. 

Ruth has said the Brain Tumour Charity will be expecting a gift of £700. Our Easter concerts will be in 2 and 2 weeks so please bring goodies and empty baskets next week. 

We warmed up with with DONA NOBIS PACEM  then split up into a the three parts. And at least a few people got it right. 

We turned to PIE JESU and after signing it through we had a listen to Sarah B going for it. Only she’s a lot higher than we are. Then we sang again. We practiced singing that super long note. 

Ed reminded us of the harmony part for THE SKYE BOAT SONG before it was our turn, and it was so very lovely that Ed gave us an Oooooo which was nice. The second verse was looked at or rather listened to! 

It took three goes to start I SAW HER STANDING THERE but you know. Practice makes perfect. But Ed had lowered the key last night and it was a little low, so we shifted it back up just a tad. Phew. 

Requests next, ooh what a treat for being good. Stage right chose EAGLE and stage left kept shouting things out because they couldn’t wait for their turn. 

I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU was probably also chosen by both sides of the room and it was good. 

Stage left chose LIVIN ON A PRAYER without any help from us. 

We ended with DON’T STOP! 

Love you DFS, stay awesome and keep singing x 

Concert information

St David's Day Concert, Upwey & Broadwey Memorial Hall, Weymouth DT3 5NG, 6pm, Saturday 2nd March.  

Choir will be performing from 8pm until 8.45pm.  Choir members who are not eating with us can arrive from 7pm.  The running order is:

All Night Long 

Pompeii

Eagle 

Don't Stop

Never Gonna Give You Up

Young Hearts 

Livin' On a Prayer 

I've Been Waiting for You 

Blame It on the Boogie 

Proud Mary 

Gadewch i ni gael parti!

8 February 2024

No puss-cards this week, and someone asked me for one! But thank you choir for buying 27 cards from me! 

With a marathon of songs to get through we dug into some of Septembers new songs, and started with DONA NOBIS PACEM and Ed said there were 14 songs to sing. Oodles. That went well anyway.

ALL OF ME might have been a little rusty.

Next we were Rick again singing NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP. I was tired already.. never mind we can all sleep next week. Ed identified an incorrect rhythm so we thrashed that one until it was cured. 

I SAW HER STANDING THERE has that one single short cord and off we go. Don’t forget! 

LIVING ON A PRAYER was alright. So said Ed. 

YOUNG HEARTS RUN FREE had a run through then we had a look at options one or two. I really can’t explain. They are singing the harmonies of the next song as I type this. It’s an action packed practice. 

THE SKYE BOAT SONG has harmony parts pop up from second chorus, DFS! It was proper choir. 

I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU. I love the big banana finish. 

Back to future with DONT STOP yipppeeeeee! (Fleetwood Mac fan). 

Whizzing into BLAME IT ON THE BOOGIE at top speed. Phew. 

We swooped into EAGLE … majestically… and swooped out again. 

Rolling into POMPEII went we. 

Slipped into PROUD MARY. Nice. And Easy …

We missed out a song so that we could sing PIE JESU. 

Super singing … time for some cake or something now? See you after half term. 

1 February 2024

We plunged into a quick warm up before some announcements. Tongues wagged. Not just Lesley’s. Then after we warmed up, we warmed up. If you know, you know. 

I must say thank you for buying Susie postcards. I’ve only 5 left of my original 100! 

See last post for a lot of very useful dates. 47 tickets left for the St David’s day dinner and music. £5 only though if you want to come and be entertained. See the last blog post to order. Also check out the pinned post on the DFS Facebook page. 

Next week bring your autumn 2023 so we can add 8 songs to our repertoire. 

We sang PROUD MARY to begin with. There can be no passengers on this song. We all need to be driving. Ed demonstrated how not to sing it. Good Job Meridy was away. Then we all did it right and proper a Capella, Ed dancing at the front. We ran through it again. 

I see a bird flying from far away, oh it’s an EAGLE. we sang. The beginning needed some work. Don’t forget that big gap before TELL will you? Apparently the official video to this song it gorgeous… 

BLAME IT ON THE BOOGIE comes with the opportunity to add in your Micheal Jackson impressions. I once did some on Wessex fm but that’s a story for another day. Ed threw some shapes. We broke it down a lot and sang a Capella before moving on … Ed wanted to leave it on a high note. Eeeeeee-heeeeee.

To PIE JESUS a proper choir song indeed. We need to make the sound of a choir organ. No sliding notes. Organs never ever slide. 

We sang POMPEII and ALL NIGHT LONG, standing for the latter. Oh yes everyone. Well done. Come back next week won’t you ? Cat xxx

Concert Venue info

From Ed - 

Good morning lovely singers.  Here's the poster relating to our forthcoming concert at Upwey Memorial Hall on Saturday, March 2nd.  If you have any supporters or would like to join in and eat with us, tickets are £12.50.  You can either contact Maureen on (01305) 812723 or bring a named envelope with cash to our next rehearsal.  Tickets are selling fast, so please buy early to avoid disappointment!

25 January 2024

Choir members scurried to dig out their copies of PIE JESU today, as it was new on the menu today. We even had Peter on the sound desk. And nine weeks until our Easter concert. Ed also said tickets for March 2nd March are selling really really well so grab some pronto for friends and family. There’s def a vegetarian option for those that want. 

In other news, Ed talked about the time Susie the Dorchester Cat came to choir, and Ed got a cuddle with her before putting her out. She’s a little fond of hiding in big organs. I plugged the postcards Susie is selling to raise money for Feral Cat Care. Clever Susie. 

Poor Jenny has ruptured her Achilles tendon and came to be entertained by our singing. I can’t spell that. First she had to listen to us warm up. We had fun making loud sounds and chords together and were encouraged to look up the work of Jacob Collier. 

PIE JESU time next. A rusty run through and we worked on it a Capella including all the harmony parts and how to sing the long slow bits at the end. 9 weeks to perfect this guys! We hit the backing track. 

Pages fluttered to EAGLE and Ed ran through the harmonies and reminded us that some notes were not held on. Very nice, said Ed. 

Butchness ready for POMPEII as we ran through with the backing track and then worked on the lovely overlapping bits. Nice. 

We BLAME IT ON THE BOOGIE with high energy! Ok? Ed remembered the instrumental bit this time. Yay. I’m feeling tired already. Phew. Or oooooooo-hooooo as it were. 

WE ALL FALL IN LOVE SOMETIMES just got a quick run through with Ed at the piano. 

And there was time to let the music play on ALL NIGHT LONG and PROUD MARY. 

Wow. Well done DFS who wants a Susie postcard? Xxx

18 January 2024

Yesterday Ed had a Birthday and so did Bob, the big eight oh! We sang of course, for both boys, and warmed up. 

6pm on 2nd March we will be singing at upwey memorial hall. Jenny had a notice too, we should listen in to radio Solent tomorrow at 8pm to catch The Haze, Jacks band. 

Our Easter concert is in approximately 10 weeks time at the centenary club. Fayre in the square is also confirmed, on Saturday 25 May 11am.

We began our singing with EAGLE, and after that Ed demonstrated the three possible parts. And off we went again. And Ed said jolly JOLLY well done! 

And still heavy on the guitars we sang BLAME IT THE BOOGIE. I seem to remember some dodgy actions from the discos of my youth … we had a good look at the harmonies here too. Moonlight doesn’t go up. So perhaps me and Carol needed to sort ourselves out. Oops. Then we sang it again. 

We ran through WE ALL FALL IN LOVE SOMETIMES with Ed at the piano. I don’t think he needs us to sing this. But we tried. Anyway Bob said we did well. 

After a discussion about ‘pane versus ‘tane we sang PROUD MARY.  Whooooo. Syncopation is key here. And don’t forget to do a long jooooooooob. 

POMPEII is in a man key. Nice. We even tried some overlapping with this one. Ed says we can have a lot of fun with this. 

We just had time to squeeze in ALL NIGHT LONG. 

Wow super well done. Keep singing xxx 

11 January 2024

Happy New Year DFS! Well done for raising over 1100 pounds last term. 

For potential concert is at upwey memorial hall on the 1st March. Pencil in only for now. 

Fayre in the square on Sat 25 May, with a morning slot for us. 

Easter concert dates will be in April. 

We rolled up with six new songs to sing an a few lovely new faces joining us. We warmed up. It was a good warm up, the start of a good year we hope. 

We tussled our way to our first song, ALL NIGHT LONG. Ed explained the first typo of the evening and we were off. After a run through we split up to sing the overlapping ‘play on’ parts. 

The little known Abba song EAGLE was next up. We sang along with Abba or just listened. Don’t sing A Neagle, will you? An (air gap) Eagle is what we require! We sang it through with a backing track, after Ed told us he sang this song as a little boy. We even tried a little harmony.

Ed told a story about choosing PROUD MARY for the new term. Apparently he and Jenny thought of it at the same time. We went off with the backing track. Whoooo. We won’t be doing the dance. 

Our choir master slipped behind the piano forte to play WE ALL FALL IN LOVE SOMETIMES which is an Elton John song (Cold Play covered it, did you know?) and most of us had a good listen. 

Then we listened to POMPEII and just a few people sang along too. A few more joined in when we hit the backing track. Eheu! 

Time to go oooooooooooo-hoooooooo and BLAME IT ON THE BOOGIE. Jenny also chose this song for choir too. 

For a finale we sang PROUD MARY again, standing to perform. Well done DFS a grand start to 2024. Now go home and practice! And keep smiling xxx