It was the first Sunday in May - a bright sunny Indian summer day when the Wollongong Harmony Chorus descended on Kiama to introduce local residents as well as the family and friends of the February 2010 intake to the wonders of 4-part harmony – barbershop-style singing.
From around the suburbs of Wollongong a steady stream of cars made their way to Kiama’s newly refurbished Showground Pavilion. Weeks of preparation were coming to an exciting climax as our new Chorus members assembled in the dressing rooms to apply stage makeup – some for the very first time. Our seasoned performers dispensed friendly advice and helpful hints, in between traipsing up the stairs for sound checks and riser allocations with the Lamplighters’ Mens Choir.
Kathy McDonald, our newly appointed Ways & Means manager , was set up at the Pavilion entrance together with one of the ladies from the Kiama Uniting Church to sell tickets for the concert, raffles and afternoon tea. Our hard-working Chorus “groupies” set up the risers, organised the sound equipment and decorated the stage.
The Men’s Choir began the concert with some Gilbert & Sullivan pieces. For some numbers they were accompanied by local soprano, Hannah Rodwell.
Our first song, Footloose,was one designed to get the audience tapping their feet. With the Chorus dressed in black and silver outfits the other numbers for the first half included I Got Rhythm, Once Upon a Time, Good old A Cappella, Steppin’ Out and Summertime.
After a short interval the Chorus went “below stairs” to change while the Lamplighters entertained the audience once more. Then, with an entirely different persona the ladies of the Chorus returned to deliver our Aussie package dressed as menfolk from Australia’s early days. These songs were accompanied by a backdrop of slides depicting Australian icons and scenery. The men joined us onstage for the final number - “I still call Australia Home”.
The Pavilion was packed – we had to bring in extra seating. Among the audience were some of our founding members – Betty Parsons, Betty Nichol and Jan McNeil. Some other retired members were also there to support us. These stalwarts of the Chorus were full of praise at the conclusion of the performance and stated that there was a noticeable increase in the richness of sound when the newbies joined us for some of the songs.
One of our newest members, Gillian Deller was celebrating her birthday together with her Dad and her sister. At the end of the concert the Chorus sang Happy Birthday to Mr Deller who was 80 that day.
Altogether it was a successful concert and much enjoyed by Chorus members new and “old” and by the enthusiastic audience.
We are REAL WOMEN ... one of our number, Cheryl sang with us in the concert just two days prior to facing surgery for suspected bowel cancer! She had previously told our Director Jan that she wouldn’t be there, after getting the diagnosis in the week leading up to the concert. After initially deciding not to participate, she changed her mind, phoned Jan on the Sunday morning and said “I'll be there!” None of the ordinary members knew (or suspected) anything about her ordeal until Jan told us on the Wednesday night AFTER the surgery! That’s dedication for you. Cheryl came through the surgery well and was back on the risers a week later! GO GIRL
Robyn writes ..... As a newbie of the Class of 2010 the up and coming concert was a very exciting happening. There was so much hype about it - we had songs to learn, costumes to get right, makeup to perfect and "sparkles" to find. On top of all that I wondered if we would get a good audience. I just decided to go with the flow and see what happened - this wasn't the first concert the Chorus had been in and hey, they had won National medals!
I thoroughly enjoyed performing in the concert even though I was only in three songs. That was enough to concentrate on and next time I will do the lot! It was wonderful to see how it all came together and it made all the hard work of practising worth while. It was so inspiring to see how well the "old hands" sang especially the quartets
The Lamplighters wear many hats as does their Director Doreen.
Here are a few shots of them in performance along with Hannah Rodwell,who is the granddaughter of Mary Matthews a former Chorus member.
Thank you to Chris Dunn for taking the photo's.
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