Chairman’s
Report 2008/9
It gives
me great pleasure to write my first report as Chairman of Ember Choral
Society. As with most jobs, the first
year has been a steep learning curve, and I thank Roger Oldcorn for staying on
the Committee for an extra year to help me along.
The
Music Director’s and Treasurer’s reports detail the concerts over the past year
so I will only comment briefly on these.
The choir has produced some excellent singing this year and it was good
to have a strong male section; Hodie
was quite a challenge and it grew on us; it was fun to sing carols old and new;
Creation was a great sing - what a wonderful work – and was ably
supported by the two-keyboard ‘orchestra’!
Lastly, how lovely it was to sing in the Menuhin Hall again and
Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle was the perfect work for the hall; the
choir sang really well and the whole evening was enjoyed by all.
I
must comment on an issue which has caused us concern this year – not to do with
the quality of the singing, I might add!
This arose from the difficulty of finding a suitable venue for our
bigger concerts. In November and
February we performed our concerts in the sports hall at Hinchley Wood School
partly as an experiment to see how it worked, and partly in the hope that we
might gain members by re-establishing the link with the school. I think it’s fair to say that we didn’t
enjoy the experience much, although the singing and playing were splendid, and
there was little support from the school; furthermore, in this day and age
audiences expect a certain standard of comfort and amenities, which were lacking. In view of this, the committee has decided
to book other venues for the next few concerts – Holy Trinity, Claygate
(already nearly fully booked around Nov/Dec 2010/2011), and the Menuhin Hall
for the June 2011 concert.
This
doesn’t solve the problem of where to put on larger scale works. I have been reliably informed that the
refurbishment of St Andrew’s in Surbiton should be finished by early next year,
and this would be a suitable venue, as in the past. However, if we perform outside Elmbridge we are not eligible for financial support
from the R C Sherriff Trust – something else to think about. If anyone has any new ideas on this subject,
please let me know.
On
the social front we had a wine tasting evening in November and in March an
Italian evening organised by Roger and Dorothy Oldcorn – a good time with food,
drink, music and quizzes. In June, Anne
Crockford kindly hosted a BBQ (cooked indoors!) for a couple of dozen members. Thanks to the social committee, headed up by
Margaret Godwin, for their hard work in arranging these events.
The
year has been successful financially, as you can see from the accounts, and
this healthy position enables the choir to plan ahead with confidence. Our thanks to Bob Cotterill, our treasurer,
for his professional handling of the accounts and his astute financial
planning. We need, as individuals, to
remember that in order to maintain this position we must be active in selling
tickets, promoting the choir and helping out where necessary – everyone has an
important part to play.
Many
people contribute in lots of ways to the smooth running of the choir and its
success; of course, the excellent committee members who work hard and make
everything happen with little fuss – and here I make special mention of our
secretary, Pam - but also others not in post, who willingly (I think!) work on
our behalf for each concert. I thank
Steve Midson for his meticulous stage managing, Jill Midson for being our
librarian (and chasing up those missing scores!), Jackie Allen for compiling
the programme, Peter Robson for photocopying and putting it together, Sheila
Bailey, the membership secretary, and the voice reps.
In
the coming year there is much to look forward to. The November concert when we
will sing Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit and Jenkins’ The Armed Man
will, I think, be very popular largely because the Jenkins work is ‘top of the
pops’ at the moment. Then in June we
sing Bach’s B Minor Mass – what a contrast! It would be good to add a regular extra concert in the early
spring, and in fact I have been pondering this subject in recent weeks. Most choirs do three concerts a year and
some do four. We do two major concerts
and sometimes an extra one for charity or similar. I really think we should always aim to do three, with the middle
one happening in Feb/March, perhaps with organ/keyboard accompaniment to cut
down on costs. Alternatively, early
November is a popular time for the first concert of the choir year, allowing for
a Christmas concert in December. I would
be interested in choir members’ opinions on this so please speak to me!
Socially
we have a Jazz Evening on Saturday 7 November with John Sutton’s jazz group;
this was really popular last time so get your tickets early. Also there will be the usual carol singing
at Garson’s on Sunday 29 November in aid of the Princess Alice Hospice.
Several
people are standing down from the committee after many years of service –
Margaret Godwin, Marjorie Duff and Sonia Powell – and we thank them for the
huge amount of work they have done.
They assure me they are not leaving the choir, just the committee, and
will still help out! Our treasurer, Bob
Cotterill, is standing down after three years in office and Idris Thomas, our
Independent Examiner for many years, has also said he would like to stand down
- we thank them both for their work on our behalf. If anyone would like to join us on the committee we would
welcome them. The committee is always
on the lookout for new ideas in any form; we would like to develop the areas of
marketing, advertising, website design and recruitment, so if you have skills
in any of these subjects and would be willing to help or advise, please speak
to a committee member. It is very
important that we try to recruit new members and we are a bit behind the times
in the above areas!
I
would like to thank our Music Director, John Sutton, for his skilled leadership
and (mostly!) good-humoured approach to rehearsals and concerts, and Pam Kent
for her brilliant accompanying skills.
Lastly,
remember it is your choir and we, the committee, want to truly represent your
views and wishes so that we all have an enjoyable time where we can learn and
have a real sense of achievement. If
you have a problem, let us know so that we can try to sort it out.
I
hope to see as many as possible at the AGM.
Linda
Bridges