Harmony Belles: Celebrating Our First Year Together

It’s the start of a new term for Harmony Belles. Our first anniversary is coming up and we have an exciting few weeks planned leading up to our Christmas concert on Friday 2nd of December. Let’s recap on our first year together as the Harmony Belles. What a year it’s been!

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We started off in mid-October, new Music Director Anne Fairbrother in place and COVID practices and policies adopted. It was a time of ups and downs, of excitement at being able to sing together in person again, of positive tests and self-isolation, of learning new songs and learning how to sing without music! Fair play to Anne who was not only a breath of fresh air but brought new challenges and ideas to the group. Singing by ear with just lyrics was daunting to start with, especially for those who love to look at the score sheet, but with Anne’s careful attention and confidence, we managed to learn many of songs this way.

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The beginning of 2022 brought challenges, a different and more contagious variant but that didn’t stop the Belles from singing every week. Open doors and lots of fresh air, testing every week and masks in common areas meant that we still managed to keep singing every week where many choirs were still online.

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In March we performed at a Civic Celebration event for the Mayor of Marlow at All Saints' Church. This is where we met the lovely group of volunteers from the Dementia Action for Marlow group.

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Dementia Action for Marlow is a registered charity group specifically set up for those people who are living with dementia and their carers with the aim of providing support and facilitating social interaction by making regular contact through gatherings and support groups.  When it came to choosing a charity for our summer concert, Dementia Action for Marlow was at the top of the list.

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We also identified another charity close to one of our members. Smart Works Reading is a charity which tackles a root cause of poverty by supporting women into work, through interview coaching and CV preparation, providing suitable work outfits for free and any other relevant support that will help women get back into the workforce.

Now we’d found our charities and booked our concert date for the 9thJuly, we hit the ground running, preparing 12 songs. On the 12th we took part in a concert for Save the Children, Slough, performing six songs for the event. It was a great practice for our main concert later on in the summer.

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And what a summer we all had. Those long, hot and dry days where the mercury reached 40c on quite a few occasions and we all wilted in the heat. The day of our Platinum Jubilee Extravaganza concert, performed at the Borlase Theatre in Marlow, was boiling and the air-conditioning in the theatre was a welcoming feature. But that didn’t stop us singing our hearts out, thoroughly thrilled to be back on stage entertaining the audience and raising money for our two charities, Dementia Action for Marlow and Smart Works Reading. The total amount raised on the night was £1001. A great effort for a local choir.

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As we begin our second year together, we have already gained nine new members and are once again chomping at the bit to sing every Wednesday. Singing together brings so much joy, a much-needed thing in the current climate.

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