Royston Choral SocietyRoyston Choral SocietyA warm welcome to my first newsletter as chair and especially to all our new members, who we are delighted to have with us. I’d like to thank everyone for their support in my new role over the past term and especially to Caroline and Val and to the other committee members. The next two terms are going to be hard work but great fun and very enjoyable and hopefully it will be a fantastic concert in May so make sure you tell all your family and friends so that we have a big audience to sing to. Tickets will be on sale soon!! (£12 and £10 for concessions) If anyone fancies a drink after rehearsals on a Tuesdays, there is often a small group who retire to The Old Bull in Royston so please feel free to join them.
Dates for your diaries
16th Feb Half term – no rehearsal
20th March Concert at Meridian School in Royston. Programme to include the music from West Side Story
6th and 13th April Easter – no rehearsals
18th April (Sunday) Verdi workshop at Greneway School in Royston (2-6pm)
8th May (Saturday) Verdi workshop at Water Lane in Bishops Stortford (10am – 4.30pm)
15th May Verdi Requiem concert in Thaxted
27th June Concert in Chrishall
Choir Policies
We now have both a Reserves Policy and a Discrimination Policy in place, which the committee have approved. If anyone is interested to read these, there are copies available at the back of church at rehearsals. We have to have these policies in order to comply with Hertfordshire Community Foundation requirements and these policies will be reviewed every two years or when there is a change in the law.
March Concert (20th)
The concert in March will be at Meridian School in Royston and is to include the music from West Side Story. We will also be performing either Zadok the Priest or the Hallelujah Chorus and also a few lighter pieces. We will also have East Herts Youth choir and East Herts Youth Orchestra playing their part in the concert as well. Ticket prices will be £8, £6 for concessions and £1 for children still at school.
Verdi Requiem Workshops (18th April and 8th May)
We appreciate that we cannot ‘demand’ that people attend these workshops however they are very important and anyone who misses one will be at a great disadvantage when it comes to knowing what/how/why etc. (David Boarder)
At the first workshop in April we will be doing a seating plan for the concert, so if you are not going to be attending this, please make sure your part rep is aware that you will be singing but won’t be at the workshop so that we can allocate you a seat. Each person will have a numbered ticket, which relates to a numbered seat and it will be the responsibility of the part reps to ensure everyone has a seat and is in the right seat. BS are going to be running the same system. We will not be providing refreshments at these workshops so please feel free to bring a flask or whatever refreshments you require.
As you all know, we have received a grant from Grassroots which we are very grateful for and in order to make the concert a success, it would be great if we as a choral society could sell lots of tickets – I think 150 is the figure we have come up with so that roughly means each choir member needs to sell 3 tickets which is not a lot really. Tickets will also be sold in Bishops Stortford, Hertford and Thaxted and will hopefully be going on sale very soon.
I think that’s all you need to know for now but if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.
Subscriptions
We have a number of new singers this term, so I thought it would be a good idea to set out how we collect subscriptions.
We will leave you alone for your first three rehearsals with us. We reckon by the end of the third week you will have worked out whether you’d like to give us a try, at least for a term and, we hope, longer, so we ask you to join us properly. Subs are payable three times a year, coinciding with the school terms. The rates are £30 per term full rate, £22 concession, or, if you pay for the year in advance, it’s a bargain at £85. There’s no discount, I’m afraid, for paying the year at once if you are on the concessionary rate.
The subscriptions cover our week to week expenses of running rehearsals and hiring music, and also contribute a bit to our concert costs, which, of course, are our biggest expenditure.
Cheques should be made payable to 'Royston Choral Society' (or cash is fine). We have standing order forms, so if you don’t normally carry a cheque book and that would make it easier for you, please speak to Caroline.
Borrowing music
We always provide library copies of any music we sing, and we don’t charge you to borrow those copies. We do ask for a deposit cheque, undated, for £40, and then you can take your music home to practice between rehearsals. We don’t ever bank that cheque; we hold it just in case you move away and forget to bring back your copies. If we have to replace library copies, there’s an administration fee on top of the cost of the music, and £40 pretty much covers the cost of the music for any one term.
Buying music
Some of our members like to own their own copies, and we usually arrange to buy music in bulk at the beginning of the rehearsal period for those who would like them. Members pay the list price, and the bulk discount we negotiate goes into choir funds. We still have a couple of copies of the Verdi (at £13) and one West Side Story medley (at £4) available to buy.
Returning music
It’s important that you return music promptly. If you aren’t able to sing in a concert, please let us have it back before the concert. If you do sing, there are always boxes at the concert in which to put your music after you’ve sung it.
Much of what we sing comes from the Central Resources Library in Hatfield, and often it goes back on the Monday after a Saturday concert. Any copies coming in late necessitate a second journey (40 miles round trip and the best part of an hour for Caroline). For this reason, if you return your music late and we haven’t been able to delay going to the library, we may charge you a late return fee.
If you think you’re going to have a problem returning your music, please contact someone – there may be someone who lives near you and who can bring it back for you.
Hundred Club
As a fundraiser, we operate a hundred club – or, as it is at the moment, a 42 club! Anyone is welcome to join; you don’t need to be a choir member. Each member of the 100 club pays £20 for a year’s subscription and there’s a draw for two prizes, £25 and £10, each month except July and August. You can join at any time of year, and your subscription will run for 12 months from that date. If we ever did manage to get to 100 members, the club would generate more than £1,000 a year for RCS.
If you have a query, please contact your part rep:
Soprano: Jenny Leitch 01763 837073
Alto: Sue Pegram 01763 838185
Tenor: Nick Keep 01763 246073
Bass: Peter Murray 01763 245682
Point of contact: Heather Howard 01763 249058 heather@lemonyellow.org