Spring 2014

‘Holding out for a Blood Bike Hero’

The Red Rosettes presented a cheque for £400 to North

West Blood Bikes. The money was raised singing over the Christmas period in Leyland, Preston Train Station, Sains-bury’s, Lancaster and Lancaster Castle.

North West Blood Bikes Charity provides a voluntary out of hours transport service to local hospitals by carrying urgent and emergency blood, blood derivatives, samples, donor breast milk for prema-ture babies, Doctors notes and theatre equipment, in fact anything that can be carried by motorcycle between hospitals. This service is provided through the night, at weekends and Bank Holidays enabling hospital fund-

ing to be better spent on patient care.The Red Rosettes were delighted to

raise funds for such a worthy cause.

Sandra HaleMarketing Co-ordinatorRed Rosettes

Rehearsals just get better at Red Rosettes

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Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singerswww.labbs.co.uk

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Notes from the ChairmanAnother 3 months have flown by and

once again, this Voice Box is filled with your news about the activities your choruses and quartets have been up to. The Board and E&J have continued to be busy too and I have enjoyed being able to visit more club rehearsals and shows and see first-hand the fun and harmony that we all experience every week with our hobby.

At our AGM in March, our Immediate Past Chairman Teresa Phillips stepped down from the Board. It’s hard to believe that over a year has passed since I became Chairman but during this time and indeed before it in my role as Vice Chairman, Teresa has been a constant source of support and guidance to me personally and to the Board as a whole. She will continue her role as a LABBS Regional Representative but I would like to thank her on behalf of the Association for all that she did during her time on the Board and to welcome her as an honorary member of LABBS.

I hope that many of you were able to attend one of the three Education Days that were arranged in April by the E&J team. I attended the Midlands day and it was incredibly fulfilling to hear our new polecat ‘Little Things Mean A Lot’ develop over the course of the day as we received coaching from the E&J members who

were there. Plans are forming for a LABBS Harmony College to take place next spring and I am sure this will be another excellent demonstration of the talent and expertise that is within LABBS and that is given freely by our members to each other.

At the end of May I will be attending BABS 40th anniversary convention in Harrogate and will present the new

‘LABBS Entertainment Award’ to the most entertaining chorus. This is a gift that LABBS have made to BABS to celebrate and commemorate their anniversary. Over the weekend we will also meet as a Barbershop in Harmony team to discuss the next stage in our plans to host the European Barbershop Convention (EBC) in 2017 which will take place in parallel to LABBS Convention that year. Some of our fellow barbershop organisations in Europe have formed a ‘European Harmony Alliance’ which will support shared education and resources in a similar way to our UK BinH collaboration and our UK team is looking forward to working with our friends in Europe as we all finalise plans for the EBC.

Closer to home, our own 40th anniversary will be celebrated in 2016 and the Board and Convention Team have been reviewing the many creative and inspirational ideas that were suggested by your council representatives at our January Council meeting. There is a huge amount to choose from and we will be discussing and announcing plans for this celebration year as soon as we can.

I will see many of you at quartet prelims in June and I wish you all a summer filled with singing in the sun. Alison HarbordLABBS Chairman

Milton Keynes Festival of the Arts for MusicJunction 14 Barbershop Chorus wins at

the MK Festival of the Arts for MusicJunction 14 has recently taken part

in The Milton Keynes Festival of the Arts for Music, Dance, and Speech & Drama, which is one of the largest amateur annual performing arts festivals within Milton Keynes. The Festival was founded in 1968 by a group of residents in Bletchley, and 46 years on, it is

as old as Milton Keynes itself and still at-tracting large numbers of performers – over 2,000 performers at the 2013. The event is run by a small team of dedicated volunteers to encourage the development and enjoy-

ment of the performing arts for adults and children of all ages and levels of ability, with each of the festivals offering oppor-tunities for solo or group performances. We where delighted to WIN and to be awarded a trophy, gold medal and a certificate. It was also a learning experience and we were

happy to receive constructive advice on our performance from the highly experienced professional adjudicator. We are all so pleased to have received so many positive comments – to be called “Outstanding” made our hearts sing too!Kamila Hrbacova - PRO Junction 14

What an exciting few months we have had at Wessex Harmony. Our first

Honours certificate at a music festival, a visit from Theresa Weatherbee and a six week learn to sing course.

This was our first visit to the Portsmouth Music Festival for a few years and I was hoping for an easy ride. My heart sank when I saw John Palmer and the Royal Harmonics in the car park, “there goes any chance of winning the classes where we come up against them”, thought I but it was not to be. The first class was

songs from the shows and we sang “It’s Raining

Men”

and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”. We sang well but listening to the Royal harmonics do their thing didn’t fill me with hope, except... we won! That put a huge smile on my face and the rest of the chorus. In the barbershop class the men and women compete in separate classes so we only had to beat a local SAI chorus and not the dreaded Harmonics, which we did, two big shiny cups and two distinctions and the day was shaping up nicely.

On to our third and final class ‘Own Choice’ where we sang The Climb and

Hallelujah, sadly we didn’t win but we did draw with our old adversary and gained an Honours certificate in the process—I think our first ever. We’ll let the Royal Harmonics get their hands on the huge cup later in the year.

A few weeks after the Portsmmouth Festival we had Theresa Weatherbee for a

day. Last time Theresa visited she had a bad case of the flu and still did a brilliant job but this time, in rude good health, she was awesome!

She worked us all really

hard and we ended up very much better than we started. See you next year, Theresa!

Dyrck Lamble Chorus Director Wessex Harmony

Our “Learn to Sing Course” over six weeks on rehearsal night was widely

advertised through the local paper, magazines distributed to households in the area, libraries with posters and flyers etc. Greatly encouraged by the response received, with

88 people registering for the

course. Some had sung before whilst for others, this was their first experience of ‘learning to sing’.

Musical Director, Dyrck Lamble and the Music Team planned each of the evenings so that attendees learned the important basics of good

singing practice and technique. Along with all Wessex Harmony members we learned a song to perform together. This was rehearsed each week and performed with moves, for an audience of relatives and friends on the final evening. Although probably not to feature

in the repertoire, it was an ideal choice, straightforward, not too many words and arranged in four parts. What was it you ask! Unfortunately being of a certain age, I remember it as a vinyl 45 rpm – ‘Lollipop’!!

We had three guest educators visit over the course of the six weeks, Paul Cousins, Peter Kennedy and Cathy Ball and thay all did a wonderful job.

We have had many favourable reports from the anonymous questionnaire and 30 ladies returned last week to audition. The required standard is purposely set

high, so that a permanent injection of new

voices

on the rises will be advantageous to the chorus.

It was a great 6 weeks for us all and the investment in advertising across the area certainly paid off.

One of the major attractions on both the first and final evenings was ‘cake’! It went down a storm, in particular cup cakes! It is now recognised that we have members who if they gave up their day jobs could easily go into the ’afternoon tea’ business! The final night of the course was also

our Directors birthday and one of our talented members, Tina Reyes, made him a birthday cake. She did however have to stalk his facebook page for a whole day in order to make the cake version of him.Sue BantonPRO Wessex Harmony

Wessex in Harmony

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Learn to singBeing small, we SoundwavesThought we’d run a learn to sing. With three or four more ladies It would make our sound just ring.

So off we went and had Those leaflets printed by the box.We really looked professionalStanding there in our blue frocks.

We went out on a Sunday, Starting from the pub So that when we had deliveredWe could get ourselves some grub.

The weather? Well, what can I say?It could have been much betterBecause, you see, most of us Came in cold and also wetter.

We spoke out on the radio,Made news in the Gazette, We placed an ad in Link MagAnd told everyone we met.

And then you started ringing, Sending emails, sending texts.Oh God, we thought. We’ve 50-plus!40 more than we’d expect.

You all turned up on that first nightFeeling tense and feeling shy. So we had you dance with Kylie, Or at least you had a try.

For us, it was just fabulous Oh, all those smiling faces!But most of you are singing leadwhat happened to the basses?

You know, we are a friendly lot We’ll have a laugh and joke. Here you can just be yourself Like the rest of us mad folk.

We’re really glad you came along, Guess it must have been a hunch,For we knew that we were goingTo get a really lovely bunch.

I know that you have all worked hard,And Lollipop drove you bonkers.But now you can stand proud, and sayI came! I saw! conquered!

Sue AndrewSoundwaves

‘Rock Around the Clock’

The Red Rosettes raised over £2000 for The North West Blood Bike charity in

March by holding a ‘Rock Around the Clock’ event at the Leyland Hotel. A hundred and

thirty people came to see TV Personality and Antiques Expert Paul Hayes sing with his band The Paul Hayes Collection. Paul also fronted the charity auction.

Our Club also boosted its funds from the evening by raising £1415.00 from the sale of tickets and raffle. The event was a great social evening and an opportunity for The Red Rosettes to entertain. As a result we have been asked to take part in a 2 day concert being organised by The Paul Hayes Collection’s Manager, Golly Goulding which will be raising funds for The St John’s Hos-pice in Lancaster.Sandra HaleDirector Red Rosettes

I was most honoured and touched to be offered honorary membership of Chorus Iceni, as reported in February’s Voice Box. There was a small factual error in that account, though, which inflated my barbershop CV more than I deserve. Although I served as a Music

Category judge from 2000 to 2013, I was only actually Category Director 2006-2009. Thereafter I handed over to Debi Cox, who has been followed by Delyth Knight - both hard-working and well-respected contributors to LABBS whose thunder I would not wish to steal! Liz Garnett

Letter to the Editor

Stand first: In 2013 Crystal Chords supported the

charity S.A.F.E. (Standards Against Female Exploita-tion), an innovative charity that engages with the sex industry in the UK promot-ing self-regulation and safer practices through The SAFE Network.

Article main body: SAFE challenges exploitation, hu-man trafficking and under-age working by encourag-ing potential abuses to be reported through their confidential RedlineUK hotline so investigations can be carried out and victims rescued.

Not your average charity which is why it was unanimously voted by the members of the chorus to be our charity of the year. Being a fairly new and unknown charity, we thought we would do our best to help raise awareness and more importantly funds.

We sang at fundraising events organ-ised by the charity, we sold cakes and hold raffles at the Didsbury Festival, we done bucket collection whilst we sang adorn-ing Victorian Clothing during the Cheadle Victoria Christmas Market, we sang Christ-mas Carols at The Printworks... you name it, we did it! But all our effort during the year paid off.

We are delighted to have helped the charity raised well over £6,500 with our

direct contribution being around £1,000! What a year!

We hope that the money raised will

help save more women from the terrible ordeal of exploitation and sex trafficking.

John from SAFE says: “In 2013 we were fortu-nate enough to be picked as the named charity for the Crystal Chords ladies barbershop chorus. In that last year their efforts led to the collection of a staggering £6,500 from a number and range of events. They sang for us, they sang for Manchester, they shone, they raised

awareness, they baked cakes but above all else they became friends of SAFE and helped us to continue our work to end hu-man trafficking and the sexual exploitation of those under age.

Crystal Chords have contributed more than 10% of our charities annual income in our first real year of operations. I doubt that any group of supporters will be able to have such an impact on our future again. Their efforts will not be forgotten either by ourselves or the women that have been helped.”Celine Macdonald-MattiPR Officer, Crystal Chords

For more information, visit www.safe.uk.net or www.redlineuk.org

Another excellent fundraising year for Crystal Chords!

Mersey Harmony (official name: Liverpool Ladies Bar-bershop Singers) are seeking a new MD who has energy, drive and commitment to seeing the potential in a cho-rus who have been established for over 30 years.The chorus are welcoming, willing to learn, have a su-perb sense of humour, full of laughter and hard working. All members are committed to getting the best from each other as a team and individually with the direction of the MD.

If you can inspire, have aspirations, are creative, im-aginative and open to all possibilities to lead this cho-rus, please send in your CV that lists your qualifications, experience/skills and what you feel you can bring to our chorus : Paula Hume (Chair of Mersey Harmony): paula-hume@hotmail.com

We are a registered charity and, therefore, are involved in many charitable performances throughout the city/Merseyside and events that encompass choruses across

Liverpool to support the city’s vibrancy. Our LABBS presence is also at the forefront of the

chorus so barbershop experience is essential and is our priority. We are the only ‘all female’ barbershop chorus in Liverpool.

Please feel free to view our website for a flavour of Mersey Harmony www.merseyharmony.co.uk

We are looking for an MD to take up the post from 1st January 2015 – reasonable expenses will be refunded

Are you looking for a new challenge and developing chorus to enhance your skills and abilities?

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Starting from ScratchIn March 2014, Donna Whitehouse proudly

led Cleeve Harmony, only 14 months old, to a Merit in their first competition at Worcester Music Festival.

The journey to this event started one cold night in January 2013. Ladies with no prior Barbershop experience, from villages in and around Cheltenham, gathered in the Bishop’s Cleeve Tithe Barn for an Open Evening for a new ladies chorus. We were amazed at what we heard. Four members of Vale Connection were singing in harmony. It sounded wonderful. It wasn’t long before Donna had us all singing in harmony and we were hooked.

Over the following weeks we worked hard and passed the assessment to be allowed to join this new group. Twenty four “survived” the process.

The following year has provided a variety of opportunities to challenge and

hone our performing skills. At the Street Fair, our first public performance, we were

accompanied by a loud and threatening Dalek. For the Christmas Light’s switch on, a live Rock Band strove to deafen us from 200 yards further along the shopping arcade and at Winchcombe Station on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway, we were accompanied by the chugging, whooshes and whistles of Steam Trains. The contrast with the beautiful, tranquil and sunny grounds of historic

Coughton Court in Warwickshire could not be more marked.

We’ve benefited from coaching sessions and support from various Labbs/ Babs coaches, specifically thanks to Lucy E, Lucy VDV, Craig K and Liz G and more recently an afternoon with Fortuity Quartet, plus support from Vale Connection, Bristol Fashion and Avon Harmony.

It is a tribute to the help and support we have received that our group of complete beginners were

judged to be of sufficient standard to join LABBS within 4 months and we are most proud to be here as your newest members.

We are pleased to have attracted Hayley, ex-Silver Lining, as Assistant Director to Donna and today our Chorus stands at 35 ladies of all ages, the most recent passing their assessment last month.Gillie BowerCleeve Harmony

Choral RisersFor Sale; 10, 3 Step Folding Risers with back rails. Made by Topspot. They are constructed from 19mm plywood and are very sturdy.When erected they form a large crescent shape which will accommodate a chorus of 60+. All the risers are used but good working condition, two have had new carpet fitted.

Erected dimensions for each riser isTop step 48”long x 19”wide x 24”highBottom step 42”long x 19” wide x 8”highFolded Dimensions are62” long x 19” wide x 13” deepWeight is 43 kgsThe price for all 10 risers is £600.00 ono we may split into lots

I CAN BE CONTACTED ON 07958 181810 Second City SoundBirminghamsecondcitysound@gmail.com

Bring out the BellesWannabe divas were in fine voice when

they joined The Belles of Three Spires to learn a whole song in a day and raise money for charity at the same time. The Belles held an open day ‘Diva for a Day’ for female singers of all abilities. Ladies from around Coventry, Nuneaton, Leamington and Rugby as well as visitors from Man-chester and Bristol, joined the Belles on Saturday 1st February. In total there were 62 guests along with 42 Belles, meaning

more than 100 people on the risers!Overall £373 for Coventry Haven

women’s refugee was raised. Coventry Haven are a member of Women’s Aid, which

provides safe accommodation to women fleeing domestic violence throughout the UK and which campaigns nationally against domestic violence. The Belles felt strongly about supporting a local charity that support women want-ing to share the support we give each other every week. Everyone had a fantastic day, enjoying not only the singing but the beautiful cakes on sale and the huge variety

of raffle prizes. As well as their own

fundraising event for Coventry Haven, the Belles have had the honour and pleasure of working with Caludon Castle school’s music department as part of a new scheme for the sixth form music students. The students have produced a char-ity single in aid of the neonatal unit at University Hospital, Wals-

grave, Coventry. The students are a seven-piece band whole have called themselves ‘One Step Closer’ and the single is called ‘Someone’. The Belles recorded tracks for

the project on 5th February to help produce a cd that was officially released on 29th March in time for mother’s day. The launch

involved a show in the centre of Coven-try with the Belles and One Step Closer performing their own sets followed by a combined performance of Someone. The sun shone down on the day and their was great support and atmosphere on the day. The track can be still be downloaded with every penny going to the neonatal unit. Emer Scott-BairdPRO The Belles of Three Spires

Lots of Ladies Learn to Sing!In November 2013 Main Street Sound

decided to hold a Learn to Sing course and quickly put a plan into action! Leaflets were designed and printed and soon after Christmas we started distributing leaflets. The leaflets went everywhere - schools, supermarkets, libraries and letterboxes – everywhere we could think of, and before long the phone calls and emails started! It was non-stop from then on and we had to make a decision to stop at 40 due to lack of space. Still the enquiries came and we kept a waiting list. On the first night at the beginning of February, we had 43 ladies arrive (some turned up without booking!) all looking somewhat worried, but we gave them all a buddy from the chorus and they were soon looking happier! We were absolutely amazed at the new ladies’ ability to pick things up with great enthusiasm. By the third week we had all learned a new song which we were able to sing in harmony. We then split into two choruses and sang to each other – then the

new ladies decided they could do without chorus members and with just a little help from the section leaders they were able to sing the whole song themselves. They were so good that the existing chorus felt quite

under pressure when they had to sing too! On week four of the course, the new ladies invited family and friends to come along and see what they had achieved – they were quite amazed!

The following week we were back to

normal rehearsals and we had more than half the “Learn to Sing “ ladies come along with a view to joining – fantastic!! Four weeks later most of those ladies were still with us and ready to become full time

chorus members. Oh – and the ladies on the

waiting list......well we had anoth-er one night Learn to Sing course so they could come along too! Ten more ladies turned up for that night and in the meantime we had two experienced barbershoppers join us on the risers.

The enthusiasm of the course members gave a real buzz to the chorus and we are very excited to be getting new members. It’s a steep learning curve working out how to manage our rapidly expanding chorus! Now we just need more dresses, new shoes.....

and tops...and more risers – but it’s all very worthwhile!Jenny Whitehouse, Main Street Sound, York.

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Following our very successful Learn to Sing Course at the start of the year

the exciting news is that over 20 ladies have now been auditioned and accepted onto the initial appraisal process. We are

so pleased to welcome them into the CCC family and are really excited to watch them grow with us,

they are doing so well already. In February were delighted to

be coached by the amazing Jack Pinto, baritone of Old School, BHS International Gold Medallists. We had a great coaching day & evening with Jack, learning more and more about our craft,

with visible results at the end of the day in both our performance & singing and we presented him with a portrait of

himself created by our resident artist Pippa. Over 40 ladies plus a few partners

flew off early one rainy Friday morning at the beginning of March to Dortmund in Germany where we had been invited to appear at the BinG International Convention and in true Barbershop style we were singing even before we boarded the plane at Manchester Airport.

We arrived in beautiful sunshine, hopped onto the Skytrain which took us to the railway station and then had a 50 minute train journey to Dortmund and

our accommodation for the weekend. We went to watch the semi-finals of the International Mixed Quartet competition prior to our first appearance of the weekend

on the Friday night show, after which we met friends old and new at the Afterglow.

On the Saturday we had a wander around Dortmund and then joined together once more to sing on stage before the afternoons Chorus competition where we were mic warmers.

We then performed once more on the show in the evening and once again there was the Afterglow, we just carried on singing. We seemed to be continuously putting on make-up, doing our hair and changing dresses but we didn’t mind, it was a pleasure performing to such receptive audiences. The chorus performed exceptionally well at all opportunities receiving praise and feedback from influential barbershoppers from around the world.

The International Mixed Quartet finals took place on the Sunday morning and then it was back to the journey home and some sleep!! What a fantastic weekend it was, full of laughter, singing, friendship and more. We were made to feel so welcome by everyone we met, they loved our performances and our dresses!!! It was great to share the stage with

barbershoppers from so many other organisations and to acknowledge that the standard in all of the organisations is getting higher & higher. We would like to thank everyone involved in

making it a weekend to remember.A film crew joined us at rehearsal one

Thursday night wanting to raise awareness of Psoriasis. Pippa, one of our dear basses,

has lived with Psoriasis for many years and has been selected to assist with the making of a trailer to promote “The Manchester Shout Out”. This is a festival of events taking

place from 28th April to the 2nd May 2014 across the Manchester area to not only

raise awareness but also improve the care of people with Psoriasis.

At the end of March we sent a small chorus and our quartet Close Encounter

over the Pennines to compete in the Pontefract Music Festival. We were delighted to be awarded a Distinction and First Place in our category and Close Encounter won their category too so a great time was had by all. Debby Hirst PRO, Cheshire Chord Company

Busy Barbershoppers

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Our annual pilgrimage to Harmony Inc. International Contest & Convention

began at the beginning of November 2013 when we left dank and gloomy London Heathrow behind and headed for Detroit USA.

Picking up the hire car at the airport was a breeze and we soon drove off to WalMart (where else?) for some retail therapy and then on to a Panera Bread outlet for some sustenance. Car loaded, we then headed off for the border crossing into Canada.

With the aid of my trusty Satnav we were soon at my brother-in-law’s house in Windsor & some good home cooking. A couple of days later we traipsed off to London, Ontario, visited a chorus rehearsal (in the snow!) did some more shopping, eating & drinking as well as seeing more local sights. Then we headed back to Windsor - to Caesars where convention was due to be held.

Caesars is the largest casino in Ontario, having 769 rooms and a breathtaking view of the Detroit river and the USA on the other side. Having arrived early, we took in a show (5000 seat auditorium) - to hear a sixties icon - Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons. Boy, can that man still sing!

Wednesday evening and the start of it all - Sing with the Queens. An annual event where anyone can substitute into a previous gold medal quartet. You need to pay $3.00 for the privilege and everyone

is greatly encouraged by the audience. Afterwards, you are presented with a certificate and a rosette, which you can proudly wear all weekend as it indicates your contribution to the Minor Chords. (Harmony Inc. Youth Chorus)

Thursday morning and a day packed with education ranging from basic chorus directing, chorus & quartet master class-es, show production, tuning (with David Wright), comedy, leadership (with Jordan Travis), coaching under glass (with Marti Lovick), a question & answer session on singing with Rik Johnson, tag singing & last but not least, exploring the brass tacks of support & resonance (with Lynn Randall).

Thursday evening saw us at the Parade of Champions show which raises money to

support clubs wishing to bring a champion quartet to their show.

Friday morning - the annual AGM & members’ meeting when the new Board is welcomed in and long serving members

are congratulated and thanked for their dedication and service to Harmony Inc., it was time for the quartet semi-finals. The finals took place in the evening and the winners were Spot On, scoring 76.5%

in the finals round.After the contest we joined

in with the Medallist Fanfare and helped celebrate

all their achievements.Saturday morning and time

for the International Chorus Contest. We saw it all from the

comfort of our VIP seating and were re-ally thrilled that the LABBS trophy for the highest presentation score not in the top 5, went to the 6th placed Over Tones Inc. from Guelph - a chorus with which we have had many years of camaraderie & hospitality. (74.3%)

Twenty three choruses reached the qualifying score of 756 points (double panel) in order to compete and the win-ners were - for the 19th time - The Village Vocal Chords from Chicago, Illinois - under the direction of Jeanne O’Connor.

After the Saturday night Championship Showcase Dinner, we were treated to a dazzling array of performances and then it was time to say goodbye to all our old & newly found friends for another year, until we meet up again in Louisville, Kentucky!

In harmony,Marilyn Penketh Harmony Inc. photos courtesy of Betsy Groner

Harmony Across the Pond 2013

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LABBS Convention 2014

“Seeing is believing! Imagine four tenors,

a baritone and a bass singer firing off some good and well-known songs. Very skilful, very captivating and very energetic”

Vocal Six was founded in 1988; its members are: Niclas Kåse, Staffan Paulson, Stefan Högström, Robert Green, Per Kockum and Peder Tennek.

Their Show repertoire includes pop, rock and jazz together with humorous dialogue and, as they say: “It makes you want to join in and sing along! Whether it’s a small event or a large concert, the goal is to create a unique moment with the audience. Vocal Six

really knows how to custom-make a show with a twist.”

Their tours have included their home country of Sweden and visits to Austria, Estonia, Finland, Holland,

Italy, Norway, Switzer-land, Taiwan and USA. In 2009, they performed at the International Male Voice Choir Festival in the UK. In March 2014, they are visiting Germany, Mal-lorca, Spain and Taiwan.

Reviews of one of their albums included:

…I would urge you to have a listen. …it might even be a little old fash-ioned but it’s a tremen-dously enjoyable listen nonetheless. I can only

hope we won’t have to wait another five years for their next one.

Vocal Six sings big and loud and without holding back.

StewardsStewards are always required. If you are interested (and the Convention Team would really appreciate your assist-

ance), please contact: June Donovan:junedonovan28@hotmail.co.uk01446 735 088; 07712 784 540.

First AidersThere are two Certified First Aiders on the Convention

Team but it would be useful if there was another person on-call throughout the weekend. If you are not competing

and are interested, please contact: Joan Harrison: executive60@hotmail.co.uk

01159 323 053After several years, Laurence Levett will be stepping

down as LABBS Show Manager after Convention 2014; the Convention Team would like to thank him for all his work

supporting LABBS and our Conventions.

This year, sees us back at what has proved over the years to be one of our fa-

vourite venues. There will be the usual Competitions and Shows and, after its success last year, the LABBS Fringe. The Conven-tion Team would welcome any comments or suggestions that you may have for items to be included in the Fringe; please address them to: con-vention@labbs.org.uk

Convention Express will not be printed each day as much of the information included previously is now

covered by signage around the Centres. In 2014, you will receive only one edition in your Registration Pack which will update any information that has changed and, of course, any good wishes that you wish to include.

Convention registration forms will be available online in April

@SingLABBS #LABBS14www.labbs.org.uk/convention

VOCAL 6VOCAL 6

WE NEED YOUWE NEED YOU HARROGATEHARROGATE

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LABBS Convention 2014

The Convention Team is working hard to make this year’s Convention the best yet. Yes, we aim to make each year better than the last and as we had so many favourable reports after Llandudno, it won’t be easy but we will try!

The 2014 Theme will be: Devils and Divas! This will allow your imaginations to run riot on your outfits for the Saturday Evening; with the extra thoughts of Halloween the previous evening and Bonfire Night the following week, the choice is endless!

Look forward to seeing you in Harrogate Joan Harrison: Convention Team Chairman

June Donovan is still looking for Stewards so, if you can help please contact her on: junedonovan28@hotmail.co.uk; 01446 735 088 or 07712 784 540.As has become tradition, the retiring Champion Chorus act as Stewards and June is grateful to the White Rosettes for their co-operation but extra people are required for when the White Rosettes have other commitments.

No Registrations accepted after 15 September 2014 You can register as a Non-Contestant at the Venue Contestants must hold a full All-Events Registration Prices for individual Events for Non-Competitors on the Registration Form (available on LABBS website) Cancellation Fees apply; see notes on page 2 of Registration Form

The last Application Date for new LABBS Members to be able to compete on stage is Friday 17 October 2014. Please remember that this is the date by which applications must have been received by the Membership Secretary so allow time for postal delays.

t has been decided that we will, again, be giving presents to a Woman’s Refuge so please start collecting items now. Full details will be in the next edition of Voice Box when we know whether the gifts will need to be wrapped or not, etc.

@SingLABBS #LABBS14www.labbs.org.uk/convention

2014 THEME2014 THEME

STEWARDSSTEWARDS

REGISTRATIONREGISTRATION

CHARITYCHARITY

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Having read the brilliant Blackpool Soundwaves Learn to Sing Preview

on “altblackpool” back in January, I was immediately intrigued. I love music, from rock to classical, folk to jazz – you name it. I’d never really tried to create it my-self, not unaccompanied, using my untrained vocal chords alone. So this sounded like it could be great fun. I signed up right away.

At session one of a four-week course, I sheep-ishly crept into Spring field Greenlands Methodist Church and was greeted without delay, by the lively and

lovely Soundwaves ladies, ready to sign me in. They struck a tick by my name, penned me a ‘Katy’ sticker and enthusiastically pressed a learner’s pack into my hands. There was certainly no turning back. I didn’t know anyone among this bustling, sixty-strong newbie crowd – but then, neither did anybody else. Oh, how that would change!

Samantha Roberts, Musical Director of the (once) twenty-strong Soundwaves chorus, was “absolutely overwhelmed” by the huge assembly of keen ladies who had turned out that evening; both young and old, mums, grandmas, sisters, daugh-ters, aunties – each and every one eager to sing and learn!

Across the following four weeks, Lauren would begin our sessions with simple dance warm-ups, then Sam and Christine would tackle the intricacies of

vocal production and the correct singing techniques. Each week they would cover a different aspect of good quality sing-ing, which they refer to as Basic Craft.

We initially went on to sing a round of basic

songs, including Oh When The Saints,

She’ll Be Com-ing Round

The

Mountain and Swing Low, to get a

feel for where our voices sat most comfortably within a ladies’ Barbershop Quartet, whether that be bass, baritone, lead or tenor.

Each vocal section worked week-on-week to learn their

respective and often

complex compo-

nents of three beautiful songs:

Lollipop, With A Lit-tle Help From My Friends

and That’s What Friends Are For. In every session we took great

enjoyment from the musical learning process, which was both fascinating and a great giggle (singing tricky baritone, I’ve experienced many a forgotten or missed note, but we just laugh and carry on).

Immense pride was frequently visible across beaming faces when practicing our songs together as a full chorus, as each individual vocal section brought their distinct and stunning sound to the tune.

Learning with the Soundwaves ladies and performing our three beautiful songs to friends and family brought a little tear to my eye but nobody’s meant to know

that!Samantha commented:“The pinnacle

of the course, our ‘friends and fam-ily night’, was a great way to meet the those who supported these ladies over the last few weeks and for them to show

off their new skills – and boy did they do that! Many of these

ladies had never sung a note before Learn to

Sing! I am very proud! The

hard

work and

prepa-ration

for the event was

so worthwhile and I hope that

the 60 Ladies that passed through

our doors en-joyed them-

selves and took

some-thing

posi-tive away

with them”.The Blackpool

Soundwaves ladies are an inspirational chorus, of

which I am now an official member. Yes, I’m staying! They have motivated

me and so many others to jump aboard a truly harmonious journey of song, fun and friendship.

If you have even the tiniest inkling to enquire about joining the Soundwaves ladies, I would encourage you to contact Christine, on 07947 557 774, or Trish, on 07811 607 783. Alternatively, come on down and see us. We meet every Tues-day evening at Springfield Greenlands Methodist Church Hall, Bispham Road, Blackpool, FY2 0LB.

Blackpool Soundwaves looks forward to welcoming even more new ladiesKaty SladeAs seen in “atlblackpool”.

Blackpool Soundwaves

13

Harton HarmonisersUnfortunately, our PRO, Beryl Cooke, is

unwell and in hospital at the moment so I am writing this report on her behalf.

The Harton Harmonisers started off

the year with a presentation of 35 year awards going to Beryl Cooke and Margaret Amess, and a 25 year award going to Gloria Normandale. These were presented by Jean Sutton, who was our director. We were very sad to have to say good bye to Jean shortly after as she has left us to go back to her home town of Crewe. We all wish her well.

On Good Friday a few of the chorus were in the massed choir who sang at The Great North Passion in South Shields which was televised on BBC1. It was a very moving experience and we enjoyed it very much. It was lovely meeting people from other choirs and especially getting to work with the famous director, Paul Leddington

Wright.Kathleen TudberrySecretary, Harton Harmonisers

Farewell Eileen LeechIt is with great sadness that we an-

nounce the passing of our very dear Eileen Leech, who died in December

2013.She had been a member of Crystal

Chords for over 30 year, and had been a

valued member of the Bass section; her smiling face can be seen in the middle of the basses on all our convention pho-tographs. During these years she played a big part in the running of the chorus becoming Secretary and also Vice-Treas-urer. In those days there were no such

things as laptops, emails, facebook and the like, if you were lucky you had access to a type writer, if not all the administra-tion was hand-written and supported by numerous phone calls.

Having been a personal friend of Eileen for more than 40 years, I knew her family were the love of her life, but I also knew Crystal Chords came a very close second. Some of her most happy times were spent with her many friends in the Chorus, also friends in coast-to-Coast where she enjoys great fun, especially going to the Irish convention with them. So many years filled with singing, fun and laughter in this magical world of harmony singing.

We also admired this special lady, who had the ability to take on board whatever

life handed out to her with such a quite determination and a tremen-dous sense of humour and always a ready smile.

Eileen had many health problems which she made sure not many people knew about, even after major surgery she bounced back so quickly and was soon insisting on standing on the risers when the most of us were flagging.She always hoped to stay in the chorus until we won a medal and her dream came true. How thrilled she was when we won the Bronze medal in 2011.

Over the last two years her health deteriorated more and she became in need of dialysis treatment.Once again she accepted this with courage and dignity. Three times a week this 85 years old lady was getting at 5:30am, driving herself to the hospital for 7:30am to endure four hours of uncomfortable treatment, then driving herself back home. Eileen was much loved and is being sadly missed.

But oh, there are so many very happy unforgettable memories you have left

with us, we thank you Eileen. Rest in peace, you deserve it!Peggy CunninghamCrystal Chords

Spain, 2011

Britain’s Got Talent Auditions 2008

Bratislava 2007

Telford convention 2012

13

14

SHEFFIELD HARMONY SEEKS NEW MUSICAL DIRECTOR

Fifty strong women’s barbershop chorus, the dynamic Sheffield Harmony, seeks new MD. Based in Sheffield.

Rehearse weekly on Monday evenings. Must be committed to Sweet Adelines International, convention, community engagement, as well as open to new developments - we’re about to appear in a film to be launched in June

in the UK singing Pulp’s ‘Common People’! We have an excellent business sponsor and we’re very excited about this next phase of our

development.  Please contact Elaine Carter, President, on 07443 455620.

Choir of the Day Award It was an early morning start for Avon

Harmony at the Colston Hall in Bristol for the second of the BBC Choir of the Year audition sessions. Along with 9 other choirs and choruses of all types, we joined in a mass warm up session with compere Greg Bearsell and then sat back to watch other competitors. With a vari-ety of singing styles and choirs ranging from chil-dren’s and youth choirs, community choirs and a male golf club choir, it was a very entertaining morning.

Having received some excellent presentation coaching from There-sa Weatherbee only two days previously, we were heartened to hear the judges, say that they were looking for a high standard of presentation in this round. Knowing that we “had the tools” to produce this, we went on stage prepared to show the audience exactly what a barbershop chorus could do.

It was a first experience of competi-tion for one of our members, Katie, who had only been a member of the chorus for around six weeks and summed up her experience as follows: “Having joined Avon Harmony fairly recently I was naturally nervous about competing with the chorus

for the first time. While in the rehearsal space behind the stage however, all of my

nerves turned into excitement as I sensed the poise and enthusiasm of the other la-

dies! Our music director, Alex, had done a fine job of building our confi-dence and I felt proud to walk out on stage with all of the other fantastic singers. The performance passed by in a blur but I can remember standing with a huge grin on my face as the audience ap-plauded. All in all, while it can seem scary to put yourself out there in front of a crowd, it was one of the most enjoy-able things I have done in a long time”.

Verbal evaluations took place immedi-ately after each performance and we were delighted to hear Stephen Connolly, one of the two judges and an ex Kings Singer, open his remarks by saying “And That’s Barbershop!”

Even more delight followed at the end of the morning session when we were awarded a “Choir of the Day “ certificate, meaning that Avon Harmony goes through to the second round. This involves the judges listening to all the Choir of the Day performances and choosing sixteen to com-pete in the semi-finals in October.

We are saving the date!Jackie Boffin - Avon Harmony

Jiggle in Germany!Well, didn’t we have a lovely time on

the weekend we spent in Dortmund, representing LABBS at the BinG World Mixed Quartet convention 2014!

Having represented LABBS last year in Holland at the European convention, we were then thrilled to be asked as guests to Bing. From the moment we stepped into Arrivals at Dortmund Airport, we were treated like celebri-ties, with Freda and Julia from BinG’s ‘Ladies First’ chorus driving us to our hotel, where we then spent an enjoy-able morning talking to Freda about the weekend’s schedule. We spent the rest of the day exploring Dortmund with its beautiful churches and shops aplenty, including Jiggle’s favourite shop, Primark!

That evening, we met up with a number of old friends at the welcome reception as well as making some new friends.

Friday morning saw us introduced to our two guides for the weekend and we then started off the World Mixed Quartet competition in true Jiggle fashion as mike warmers. We know we’re not a mixed quar-

tet but with some of the low notes Mandy has to sing, we do wonder sometimes, ha ha!

We were privileged to join in at the of-ficial opening party with The Buzz, enter-taining the party with a few songs.

Friday evening was amazing for us,with a spot on the Friday show alongside The Buzz and Vocal Spectrum! What an honour it was and singing on the stage of Dort-

mund’s famous Konzerthaus, no less!For the rest of the weekend, we had a

great time watching the numerous competi-tions and shows and we would specially like to congratulate all the British quartets, as well as Cheshire Chord Company, as you all

did LABBS proud!We also sampled the local cuisine,

which included Turkish kebabs, a Chinese buffet and McDonald’s...mm, I think we went wrong somewhere !

Of course Jiggle would not be Jiggle unless we ‘Jiggled’ any willing participants, including two of The Buzz, one of Vocal Spectrum, the BinG Chairman, David Wright our BABS representative and our LABBS chairman, to name but a few. You simply can’t take us anywhere!

We want to say thank you to Sec-ond City Sound and our families and friends for helping us fundraise for the trip and also to LABBS for giving us such an amazing opportunity, we

loved every minute of it!See you at Prelims!

Shell, Mandy, Katie and Elaine.Jiggle x

Main Street Sound York

For SaleWe have just over 50 black and white dresses for sale complete with white tops. They are in a georgette fabric and in a variety of sizes from about size 8 to size 26.

We also have about 28 turquoise and black skirts and jackets in a shimmery fabric which we wore to transform the black and white dresses.

We would like £300 for the whole lot – please get in touch with Jenny on 07786366387 or email mainstreetsing@gmail.com for more details.

15

16

How Jigsaw Was Pieced Together

Thanks for allowing me some space in Voice Box! I’m the Music Team Leader

with BABS chorus The Royal Harmonics (I sing bass) and I wanted to share some news that I hope will be of interest. After several years in the making, my first novel has been published.

Set in the world of British barbershop, The Fifth Voice tells the story of four singers whose turbulent private lives are transformed when they pursue their dream of competing against the best quartets in Britain. Inspired by a veteran entertainer and vocal coach, they encounter several adventures over the course of a year, dur-ing which they make discoveries about the power of music and friendship that help each of them shape the rest of their lives.

The story and characters are fictional, though inspired by our great hobby and the wonderful people I’ve had the pleas-ure of singing with for the best part of

a decade. Coincidentally, the book is published close to the date of the BABS 40th anniversary convention, so I’ll be plugging British barbershop whenever I get the chance!

The Fifth Voice is published by Silver-Wood Books and if you do read the book, I’d love to hear from you!Paul Connolly The Royal Harmonics

The Fifth Voice

As many of you will know, the four of us have know

each other for years. ‘Nooj’ and ‘Keef’ sang with QED and Steel (BABS quartets), and Ali and Donna sing with Havoc (LABBS quartet) and spookily, both quartets from the West Country won their Gold Medals in 2007!

Since we became couples, over 5 years ago now and firm friends, surprisingly we never thought about singing together as a mixed quartet until about 8 months ago when Ali suggested having a go, just for fun! We enjoyed it so much that we decided to enter the LABBS Mixed Quartet Competition in October 2013 and we were thrilled to win the Silver Medal.

We were then honoured to receive an invite from Alison Harbord (LABBS Chair) to represent the UK at BinG! as a ‘Wild Card’ at the World Mixed Quartet Competition, in Dortmund, in March 2014, along with Double Trouble (LABBS Mixed Gold Medalist 2012) and Patchwork (LABBS Mixed Gold Medalist 2013) and we

were delighted to accept.We would not have been able to attend

this event without the support from both LABBS and BABS and we would like to take this opportunity to thank both organizations.

The weekend in Dortmund was fantastic and we were extremely delighted to make it to the finals. The highlight of the weekend of course was being placed 7th in the world!

Our grateful thanks must go to our coach, Rob Butcher, for all his hard work, help and patience, which enabled us to raise our game and achieve the goal we had set ourselves.

We’ve had great fun over the last 8 months, so much so that we are trying to promote mixed singing by holding a workshop for mixed voices, on 27th September 2014 from 12:30 – 17:00 followed by an evening show where you can experience ‘One Day Like This’!

For further details on our workshop or Jigsaw, please contact Donna either by email; donna9460@hotmail.com, or by phone; 07724775048.

JIGSAW: Ali, Keef, Donna & NoojPictures by Eric Ideler (ideler@dse.nl)

Hat Trick in SpainWhen the ladies of Crystal Chords,

a Greater Manchester Barbershop Chorus, went to Alicante in Spain for the Spanish Association of Barbershop Singers (SABS) 6th Annual Barbershop Convention “En Armonia”, they dreamt they might come back with some good results and in fact they did! Between the Quartets and the Chorus, they brought home Bronze, Silver and Gold!

Over two days on Friday 4th April 2014 and Saturday 5th April 2014, Quartets and Choruses from all other Europe gathered to compete on stage for the coveted title

of SABS International Quartet Champion 2014 and SABS International Chorus Champion 2014.

Friday 4th was the International Quartets Contest and 14 quartets took the stage, two of which were composed of Crystal Chords ladies. Barberlicious, Crystal Chords most recent quartet, which formed at the end of 2013 and is composed of

Anne-Marie Borneuf (Bass), Rebecca Fish (Tenor), Anna Stutfield (Baritone) and Bushra Gilchrist (Lead), were contestant number 3 in their first ever competition. Despite the nerves, they sang beautifully and made us very proud by taking the bronze medal. Pzazz formed in 2011 by Monica Funnell (Bass), Gill Irwin (Lead), Julie Robinson (Baritone) and Sarah Hicks (Tenor) were contestant number 8. As an established quartet we knew they had a really good chance of a medal, so we were delighted when they were announced as

the SABS International Quartet Champion 2014, receiving the gold medal.

Spurred on by the success of the quartets, it was the turn of the Chorus to compete on Saturday 5th in the Inter-national Chorus Contest. We knew the

competition would be tough as some of the choruses in the competition were Gold medallists in their own country as well as European Champions. We had to work very hard at polishing our contest package of 2 songs - a ballad and an up-tempo tune. Having won Gold at the North Wales Music Festival in Llandudno in November 2013 we hoped we were in the running for at least a bronze medal. So when the results were announced and we found out that we had won the Silver medal, we couldn’t have been more pleased and proud.

This is a great achievement for the la-dies of Crystal Chords on the very week of their 34th Anniversary. But we can’t rest on our laurels as we need to polish a new contest package for the Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers (LABBS) An-nual Convention in October in Harrogate where 29 choruses from the UK will battle it out!

Celine Macdonald-MattiPR OfficerCrystal Chords

17

18

The Ivy League is 7!LABBS’ very own Youth Cho-

rus, is now celebrating its 7th year and (very excitingly) this year we have joined LABBS officially to become the 52nd LABBS chorus. So, as you can see, we have already started the year with a BANG!

Firstly, as the new Chair of Ivy League (YEY!), I would like to say a BIG hello and intro-duce you to the brand NEW and excited Ivy League Committee;

In February we had our yearly retreat in Coventry and had our biggest turn out to date with a total of 45 girls. The weekend was great with coaching from Nicky Salt and two brand new songs (arranged and directed by the awesome Hari Birtles). The girls worked really hard throughout the weekend, which was evident in their amazing sound dur-ing the Sunday show to all the parents. The girls also brought their talent during the Satur-day night talent show we had singing (obviously), a clarinet-tist, dancing, the cup song and many more. We even had the Ivy Mum’s singing barber-shop to the whole Ivy League chorus.

Here are a few quotes from the girls after the weekend; “I love IVY League – we are SUPERSTARS”

“I adore IVY League because it’s great opportunity to make friends and to learn new songs”

“Singing is so fun, in four part har-mony, never give up we say, gifted with our incredible voices”

The retreat also gave us a great op-

portunity to vote in the new committee and to welcome Alison (Chair), Brenda (Vice-Chair) and Rita (Membership Secre-tary) from LABBS to join us for our AGM. I’d like to take this moment to say a BIG thank you to all of them for their support so far - we are all looking forward to working more closely with you this year!

So we have such an amazing year planned for the Ivy League! We have some brand new songs (arranged by our superb Musical Director Hari Birtles), plans for a show (watch this space!!!) and Harrogate bet-

ter watch out as we will be closing the LABBS chorus competition again – which is going to be amazing.

As you can see the Ivy League Chorus is THE place to be this year. So if you’re a 7 – 29 year old budding singer who wants to come and learn the awesomeness of Barbershop and four-part harmony or would just like to join an amazing chorus then come along to our next rehearsals on Saturday 28th June and Saturday 20th September from 10 – 4pm.

For more info then please contact Holly our membership secretary on; mem-bership@ivyleaguechorus.com or send me an email on; chair@ivyleaguechorus.com.

Looking forward to seeing more new faces throughout the year,Amy Burns – Ivy League Chair

www.ivyleaguechorus.com www.facebook.com/ivyleaguechorus www.youtube.com/ivyleaguechorusv

Treasurer

Hari Birtles

Musical Director

Chair

Amy Burns

Vice Chair

Stephanie Hepburn

Kayleigh Daniels

Holly Burns

Francesca Tuckerman

Charlotte Knight

Rachel Dunn

Membership Secretary

Chorus Co-ordinator

Public Relations Officer

Secretary

Pzazz at SABS!What a wonderful time we’ve had over

the past few months, of-course our trip to SABS Convention in early April has to be the highlight.

Following many in-formative sessions at the Buzz coaching weekend, we decided to learn from the best and create rehearsal plans. In the main we stuck to them, but chat, laughter, toilet and banana breaks always seemed to sneak in there too. All too soon April had arrived and lists were compiled, boarding passes printed and Pzazz flew off to the Spanish sunshine. We were fortunate enough to enjoy some quiet time on the Thursday after-noon, before our chorus Crystal Chords performed on the evening show. The White Rosettes joined us for two songs which was to be the first of many highlights.

Friday morning saw an early breakfast with our sister quartet Barberlicious who were competing in their first contest. We presented them with a contest survival kit which we’re thrilled to say they made good

use of, even the toilet roll and cellotape. A final rehearsal and we were on our way up the hill or slight incline depending upon

your fitness levels. The audience reaction as we walked on stage was fantastic and to receive a standing ovation following our second song made it all worthwhile, even the walk up the slight incline! A quick glass of bubbly with our chorus and then back in for the results. Discovering our Barberlicious girls had won bronze was a moment we’ll never forget, congratulations

also to Backbeat on their silver medal, but the icing on the cake was hearing Pzazz announced as the 2014 SABS international

quartet champions. Much frivolity followed including more bubbly and singing in the evening sunshine, what better way to celebrate?

Saturday saw another early start for the chorus contest, Crystal Chords witnessed some excellent performances from our fellow competitors so your can imagine our delight to be announced as silver medallists. SABS 2014 provided Pzazz with so many happy memories and we would like to thank Gail Granger and her team for our invitation. SABS convention is a wonderful experience, Barce-lona 2015 maybe?

LABBS Prelims is now in sight and it’s wonderful to see so many LABBS members enjoying the thrill of quar-tet singing with nearly 30 competitors for this year’s contest. See you in June ladies!

To discover more about Pzazz you can find us on Facebook or our chorus website crystalchords.org.uk.Sarah, Gill, Julie & Monica

25th AnniversaryThe Abbey Belles Chorus from Selby

have just celebrated 20 years as a chorus. We had a lovely evening joined by friends and family, the hall was packed. Susan Taylor one of talented ladies and Tenor, wrote a spoof musical

based on Abbey Belles Chorus. It was hugely hilarious and nothing was rehearsed as folk got their words on the night, plus we had to dress up extremely wackily. Spoof

convention singing was followed by lots of lovely food, cutting of the birthday

cake and the presentation of a surprise

picture that contained all the names of the chorus plus some repertoire song names and we finished the night singing our 2 newest repertoire songs “ Something by the Beatles” and “ It’s getting better by Mama Cass”.

Our MD Anne Turner has been with Abbey Belles Chorus for 15 years. Our

asst MD Catrina Lakin received her 10 year award, along with all the Belles who received newbie certificates, 1, 5, 10, 15 year badges & Carol Lakin her 20 year badge.

Nathalie BoyntonAbbey Belles Chorus Lead section leader

19

Diary DatesJun 7 LABBS Board meetingJun 21-22 LABBS Quartet Prelims and Coaching WeekendJun29-Jul6 BHS International Convention, Las VegasJul 19 LABBS Music Education Day, Q3 Academy, BirminghamAug 2 E&J Meeting, RedditchAug 22-24 BABS HArmony College, NottinghamSep 6 LABBS Joint Board/E&J/Convention and Board meetingsSept 13-14 LABBS Judges Seminar

For more dates and information see our website www.labbs.org.uk

Deadline for Next IssueFriday

July 25th 2014Please supply photographs in the highest resolution possible, in colour, as separate Jpeg files not in a Word document. Expect the file to be bigger than 300Kb, probably more than 1Mb. If it’s not then it’s probably low resolution and won’t print well.

Where do you read Voice Box?

Send in photos of your travels or odd places that you read the magazine.

Cath Klaces, Moutain Harmony , Mold , N Wales In Ushuaia

This is the quiz that I didn’t get time to share with you in Llandudno. I scored 18. Next stop nursing home!

Tell -tale signs of middle age.1 Hate noisy pubs and prefer a night in to a night on the town.2 Have no idea what ‘young people’ are talking about.3 Complain of aches and pains and groan when you bend down.4 Need a daily afternoon nap.5 Don’t know the name of any modern bands or any songs in the Top Ten.6 Can’t work everyday technology such as tablets and internet TV’s.7 Think police/teachers/doctors look really young.8 Are shocked by how racy music videos are nowadays.9 Buy clothes and shoes for comfort rather than style.10 Join the National Trust and take a flask of tea on a day out.11 Forget people’s names and misplace you glasses/bag/car keys.12 Book a cruise, preferably one that does not allow children.13 Take a keen interest in gardening and The Antiques Road Show.14 Complain that TV is not like it was in the old days.15 Listen to the Archers and RadioTwo16 Trade in the family car for something sportier.17 Are thin on top but have bushy eyebrows and hairy ears, nose and chin.18 Recycle obsessively and know bin collection dates.19 Fall asleep after one glass of wine.20 Prefer a walk to a Sunday lie in.

Anita Bolland Pennine Chimes

Tell Tale Signs of Middle Age

ErratumThe entry for Laurence Levett in the Directory is wrong. It should read:Shows Manager: Laurence Levett, 21 Ash Way, Netherend, Woolaston, Lydney, South Gloucestershire. GL15 6QA. larglo@blueyonder.co.uk; 07989 669 980