Welcome
WELCOME to SCS Members Chat
We haven't seen each other as a choir for many weeks now, and, sadly, it might well be some time before we can resume activities.So this blog is a forum for Southwell Choral society Members to connect, chat, share lock-down stories.
Let us know how you're getting on, what you're singing, where you've traveled, how your garden is doing. Feel free to post photos, videos and links to illustrate your escapades.
Be sure to keep watching out for Nick's Notes From the Podium, where he will endeavour to keep us all in tip-top singing voice as well as introducing fun things to sing.
Great to have this blog for us all to keep in touch with one another. I have been doing much of my singing in the car to and from work, thankfully no one can hear me. I have been avoiding anything too operatic as I have tendency to waive my hands around, which is not good when you are driving.
ReplyDeletemuch of my "serious" singing has been working with Riverside Church band on occasions as we have shared out the task of putting together the music for services which go out on YouTube. Otherwise I'll be singing along with anything whilst cooking, ironing, hoovering etc - and loudest when there's no-one else in the house!
ReplyDeletePenny, thanks for setting this up. Great, but I just wonder if the first paragraph of text should be above the picture on the welcome screen, or the picture smaller. The picture seems to dominate and you have to make an extra click to see the whole text.
ReplyDeleteIn spite of good intentions during Lockdown, my singing has been fairly lightweight - singing around the house to all kinds of music - from jazz, to rock, to country, to opera, to thumri (Indian semi-classical style). My husband isn't too keen on the sound that comes out, especially when I practise my Indian raga scales!
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DeleteA first time for me. It's good to have blog and since we are unable to sing together or even meet friends now, it is really important to me to be active.
ReplyDeleteWhen at home I bury myself in the "shed" where I create things in wood. As with most sheds there is little or no space but I know where every little thing is. I am an amateur wood turner.
Otherwise I spend a good deal of time outdoors. I cycle and walk regularly, usually ending up at Skylarks, a local site managed by Notts Wildlife Trust (of which I am a member). I am a keen birdwatcher and there is an enormous variety of species which can be viewed from a hide. I meet my pal there, even in lockdown, being very careful to socially distance. Often spending an hour getting there, another hour there and a further hour to get home. This keeps me fit and active. If you would like to hear more about these activities, I will very happily do further blogs.
I am always happy to hear more about birdwatching and especially from a fellow tenor ��. I don't know Skylarks, I will look it up. We are RSPB members but not Notts Wildlife Trust.
ReplyDeleteSome of you know I am having psychotherapy following a return of anxiety problems. Through the summer I have had the sessions in the car (by video call) in a quiet spot, not telling where! A bit of birdwatching on a short walk afterwards helps recover. Yesterday's best spot was a pair of yellow wagtails.
I am working from home 3 days a week so that gives a bit of structure to the week. I have a couple pals I walk with, separately, every couple of weeks or so and Sylvia and I try to get out a couple of times a week. You might find us sitting on a bench around town or elsewhere with a flask of coffee.
I too am a member of the RSPB and up to the start of Covid could be found with my pal on site at Fairburn Ings, Blacktoft Sands, and our favourite, Old Moor between Doncaster and Barnsley. We also visit Poteric Carr near Doncaster, part of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.
ReplyDeleteI hope to get back to visiting these sites in the new year once the much lauded vaccine has had the required effect and seen off Covid.
At a time when movement and interaction are so difficult, I find great solace in nature. I enjoy being amongst plant and animal life. I don't make a habit of enjoying this with crowds of others but do come across characters who have similar interests and derive the same sort of pleasure. Because of the restrictions I walk and cycle, often circuitously to a nature reserve at Holme Pierrpoint, which is close to home. It is a wetland habitat managed by Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, of which I am a member. Wildlife abounds, not least birdlife.
ReplyDeleteMy interest in birdwatching began long ago as a child - I come from a family of nature lovers. It peaked when, in 2000, I accepted a job in the Algarve in Portugal. I lived in a rented property on the outskirts of Almancil quite close to Faro. The wetlands close by are well known for birding and I was able to spend much time cycling and observing there.
Having organised the performance of Elijah where we employed Willard White in the title role, I found myself unable to take part. Instead I bought a recording of the work he had made and listened to it on the evening you were all performing. I missed singing with the choir very badly despite my "idyllic" surroundings.
I then got a message from fellow tenor, Brian Dunn, who suggested we meet up, he being on holiday with his wife, Joan. You can imagine the joy of that meeting. His first question was, do I know where the Purple Gallinules are? He then described them as huge moorhens - descriptions had to be pretty basic for me at that time - and it just so happened that I had been watching them for some time without knowing what they were. A short walk over a bridge which passed over mud flats was punctuated to watch curlew, whimbrel, stilts and all manner of other waders brought us to the hide.
The salt marshes are home to to a huge variety of birdlife, some migratory such as Avocet - it is a European hotspot for those migrating to Africa. It is also home to exotics like flamingo - there is even a nesting colony of them. After Brian's visit, I bought the Collins book of European birds and spent most of my spare time watching and identifying species. I have a lot to thank Brian for!
If this is of interest to you, please let me know and I will let you know of more of my adventures and include pictures to illustrate. I don't know how to include those at present.