Countess Mountbatten Christmas Fayre

Countess Mountbatten Hospice, Moorgreen Hospital
11:30 am - 12:00 pm

The New Music Makers have kicked of their Christmas journey by singing on Saturday 17th November at Countess Mountbatten’s Christmas Fayre.  It was a very well attended event with lots of lovely stalls full of Christmas presents and decorations.  It was Hilary’s birthday and she said it is the first time she had sung Christmas Carols on her birthday, we ended our slot with a rendition of Happy Birthday To You which everyone joined in with.  I hope this worthwhile Charity made a lot of money on the day.

RAF Battle Of Britain Ceremony

Spitfire Court
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

On Saturday 15th September 2018, Battle of Britain Day, the choir were privileged to be asked to sing at a ceremony to re-dedicate two memorials. One for those who worked at the Supermarine Spitfire factory in Woolston who lost their lives or were seriously injured during the bombings in 1940 and the other to ‘RJ Mitchell’ the designer of the iconic aeroplane.
The short, moving service which was conducted by The Reverend Miles Newton was attended by His Worship the Mayor of Southampton, the President and Chairman of the Itchen and Hamble Branch of RAFA, RAF cadets and standard bearers together with family members and the general public.
Wreaths were laid on the sea wall adjacent to the factory memorial poignantly followed by the haunting sound of a Bugler playing the ‘Last Post’. A 2 minutes silence enabled reflection and then the bugler finished with ‘Revellie’ .
The party then made their way to the refurbished ‘R J Mitchell’ memorial and a further dedication took place Members of the Royal British Legion Motor Cycle Group demonstrated their respect by a ride past, pausing to lay a wreath at the memorial.

A World Of Songs

King’s Community Church
7:30 pm

Saturday’s summer concert , ‘A World of Song’,  was a double first – a new venue (KCC, Hedge End – packed to the gunwales) and a new uniform (royal blue), both of which proved a massive success, with numerous positive comments from the audience. The programme took the audience around the world in song and the music was as varied as ever, from ‘Another Day of Sun’ from La La Land, ‘One Day Like This’ by Elbow and ‘Reflection’ from Disney’s film ‘Mulan’, to classics such as West Side Story, For the Beauty of the Earth by John Rutter and ‘Its a Classic’ (to music by Mozart).  

The evening started with the choir walking in to a tremendous opener of ‘Let the River Run’ by Carly Simon, with a rousing percussion ensemble.  As the evening progressed, the audience were treated to the Flower Duet, sung by sopranos Sandra Williams and Lin Kellaway, a hilarious solo by Roy Hogben of ‘Ill Wind’, which not only told the convoluted story of someone losing their horn, but also turned into ‘Two Ronnies’ style impromptu banter between Roy and Chris (our pianist), much to the audience’s surprise and delight.  Roy of course received a huge ovation.  The beautiful song ‘A Thousand Years’, from  The Twilight Saga, was hauntingly delivered by a group of eight singers, which touched everyone.  Sharon Thomas treated everyone to a reading of ‘Behind the Scenes’, which she wrote in light hearted verse, about what goes on at choir in order to put on a concert.  She possibly gave away too many secrets of how she sometimes gets around performing (or not, as the case may be), in that she confessed to a little bit of miming the odd word she’s forgotten!  I think we all do that at some point!  ‘Once Upon a Dream’ performed by Rebecca Williams was a delicate solo, in contrast to the final audience participation piece of ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’ – a fitting end to a concert bringing together both choir and audience. 

Many thanks go to our Musical Director, Lillian Sediles, (whose friendly encouragement and innovative teaching have given the choir the ability to perform to its best and sing from the heart), to David Farnell, our Assistant Musical Director, (who keeps us on track and enables us to perform with great detail to dynamics and delivery), to Chris, our pianist, (whose talent knows no bounds – see those fingers move!), to Simon (our friendly minibus driver), to all who helped with front of house and to our other Chris, our able and very affable compere, who brings the entire concert together.   Finally, a huge “Thank you” to our fantastic audience, without whom there would be no concert. 

We look forward to seeing you all at our Christmas concert on Saturday 8th December 2018 (2.30 pm matinee and 7.30 pm evening show), at Hedge End Village Hall.  Tickets will be available in November but you can always go on our website www.newmusicmakers.com  to reserve tickets.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Netley Concert

St Edwards
7:30 pm - 10:00 pm

A resounding thumbs up for Friday’s concert at St Edward’s, Netley, which made over £600 for the church.  The welcome we received was fantastic and everyone enjoyed the delicious homemade cakes.  A programme packed with something for everyone, ranged from a medley of Westside story to favourites from Adele, Elbow, John Rutter and much more.  Liz, Pat, Rebecca, Roy and his ‘rat’ wowed everyone with their solos (Far Away Places, Memory, Once Upon a Dream and You Can Do Anything) and huge applause for the choir, Chris – our amazing pianist and Lillian and David who conducted us with great panache, ended a truly memorable evening.  Don’t miss a second chance to enjoy this upbeat performance on Friday 1st June, 7.30 pm at the Kings Community Church, Hedge End – bar provided for a relaxing drink in the interval.  Tickets £10 and £8 for concessions are available from www.newmusicmakers.com, The Flower Garden (Hedge End) and 01489 781836.  See you there!

Collecting for Charity at ASDA Chandlers Ford

Asda Eastleigh Supercentre
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

We were at ASDA singing and handing out sweets but also collecting for Countess Mountbatten. 

Many thanks to all those shoppers that contributed

Joint Concert with Thornden Community Wind Band

Thornden Hall
7:30 pm - 10:00 pm

The New Music Makers shared a fantastic Christmas concert with the Thornden Community Wind Band on Friday night.  The purpose built concert hall rang out with seriously festive music to please the audience.  Traditional join in carols were the order of the evening and to compliment the choir’s harmonised set pieces, the wind band performed enthusiastic interpretations of well loved scores such as ‘All you Want for Christmas’ and ‘A Fireside Christmas’.  Both groups joined together for a jazzy rendition of ‘Swing into Christmas’, the initial part of the medley being set to Glen Millar’s ‘In the Mood’, which got everyone’s toes tapping.  A second collaboration took place with ‘A Festive Christmas’.  Topped off with a jazz trio singing ‘Jingle Bells’, Christmas was certainly rung in.  Many thanks to all who put their time into creating a wonderful concert.

RAFA Group

Hamble Social Club
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm