Our Newsletter

They say nothing succeeds like success and, yes, we are truly experiencing a wonderful upturn in all areas of our choir’s activities. We are attracting new singers through our recruitment campaign, (more of that later), we are venturing into new music, and we had a sell-out of our Winter Concert at High Cross Church in Camberley. We are improving in those areas that are cornerstones of our men’s choir, or Male Voice Choir if you prefer, namely: singing techniques and, in our case, raising money for charity. We raised £1200 for Parity for Disability at the Winter concert.

Because we are improving in our singing, we are now able to take on more challenging music and that should be evident at our Summer Concert at St Thomas on the Bourne. Additionally, because we have attracted some real talent, our soloist spots in the concert programme will be featuring members of the choir instead of guest artists.

Our recruitment campaign is gathering pace, we have been performing “sing-outs” in various venues in our “catchment area”. These sing-outs feature two 20 minutes of song in places such as the Lion and Lamb yard in Farnham. This gives us the opportunity to distribute flyers that inform potential singers that we are having a “Pie and Pizza” event at the Hogs Back Brewery (where else?). There, potential recruits will experience a rehearsal together with the choir, a free pint and a pizza and the choir singing to them! Last year we initially attracted 12 new members (we now have at least 15 new members). This year we want 20 new members! Can you imagine the noise of having 60 odd blokes singing to you – it’s enough to curdle the milk. ?

In my last newsletter, I hinted that we had arranged something special for Margery Wakefield, our retiring accompanist. Now it can be revealed that we successfully applied to the British Citizens Award Council for Margery’s contribution to the community should be recognised. We are proud and delighted to announce that Margery has been awarded the British Citizen’s award. The has been reported in the Farnham Herald and there is a copy of the citation in this newsletter.
Sometimes fate has a large part to play in our lives. I would like to say we have more fun and a better camaraderie because of our fantastic Musical Director and hugely talented new accompanist Charlotte Hobbs. Lady Luck has truly smiled on the Hampshire and Surrey Hills Men’s Choir. May it continue to do so.

Peter
Chairman, Hampshire & Surrey Hills Men's Choir
 

Gosh! We have been busy.
 
We are really working hard for our Winter Concert at High Cross on 19th December. Of course, there will be new songs and old Odds’ favourites. And our MD will again throw down a challenge for you, our audience, to sing.

We welcome a talented soprano, Laura Sillett, daughter of Dave Sillett, our treasurer, (do not accuse us of nepotism?) who will entertain us, I am positive you will not be disappointed.

Meanwhile, after the outstanding success of our recruitment campaign this year, where we attracted 12 new members, our numbers continue to grow with three more gentlemen joining. We are not letting the grass grow under our feet. We are embarking on yet another campaign, focusing on Farnborough, Farnham and eastwards thereof. We will invite new members to join us for a “pizza and pint” at the Hogsback Brewery (where else, one may ask?) in April next year. We are striving to get our choir membership up to 60 or more singers. Can you imagine the sound?

In support of this year’s recruitment campaign, we have been awarded £3,757 from Rushmoor Borough Council under the “Pride of Place” scheme. There is an awareness that communities are concerned about men’s mental health. Choirs, such as ours, provide opportunities to improve well-being as well as an increased community spirit. We are truly proud to offer such opportunities to men to enjoy life in all its fullness.

I am sad to announce that Margery, our accompanist for 40 years, has decided to retire. 40 years of dedicated service to the choir! Imagine how she has contributed to the choir and it's charitable fund raising! Of course, this is not the place to detail how we will mark her retirement, she reads these newsletters, and we want her to be agreeably surprised. Margery, being Margery, wanted to be assured we had someone able to take on the role as our accompanist and I am pleased to announce that Charlotte Hobbs has agreed to take on the role. I know you will give Charlotte a wonderfully warm welcome.

We will do our utmost to involve Margery in the life of the choir – parties and the like. She is already a Life Member of the choir. We wish her a happy retirement and we will keep you, our supporters, informed of developments.

May I wish you all, on behalf of the choir, A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS and a fulfilling New Year.

Peter
Chairman Hampshire and Surrey Hills Men’s Choir

“May you live in interesting times” is supposed to be an ancient Chinese curse. But, in our case, the choir is revelling in all manner of change. We are truly enjoying our rehearsals under the baton of our Musical Director, Philip Viveash-Brainch. We have gone through an outstandingly successful recruitment campaign master-minded by our Concert Secretary Roger Hacker, our Logistics Manager Paul Aldridge and our Publicity Manager Mark Kusionowicz; the outcome of which is we have increased our choir membership by at least 12 singers – these new members we refer to as our “re-enforcement” .
 
You cannot help but notice the increased volume and depth of sound now produced by the choir!

Our MD is so focused on producing the best sound possible for our guests that he has been determined that we choose venues where the acoustics is favourable for choir and audience alike. Thus, we are singing at High Cross Church, Camberley this summer and winter. Besides offering a favourable venue it also has easily accessible parking. Next year we will likely be singing at St Thomas on-the-Bourne in the summer (excellent acoustics) and the High Cross in winter. You must tell us if you find our new venues to your liking.

Another change is our name. We have elected to recognise that our catchment area for singers is Northeast Hampshire and Surrey and thus we have changed our name to “Hampshire and Surrey Hills Men’s Choir. We will continue to follow the Welsh Male Voice Choir tradition – singing without copies (and looking at the conductor!). We will still refer to ourselves as “The Odds” in loving tribute to our heritage. Visit our NEW website to see the changes (https://www.hampshireandsurreyhillsmenschoir.org.uk/).

We continue to enjoy the double whammy, as I call it, of nurturing the endorphins by singing AND raising money for charity. For this summer concert, we are supporting the local charity Camberley Care Trust which has  been providing help to elderly, disabled and vulnerable members in the Camberley and Frimley community for 50 years.

Tickets for the High Cross Summer concert are available on trybooking.co.uk/DLUG or from your friendly member of the choir.

Lastly, we welcome the Cactus Brass Band – I am assured they are not that prickly!  Please give them a warm welcome.

Peter Viveash
Chairman
 

A new name for an established choir

Dear Supporters,

For over 60 years we have been known as the ‘Odd Fellows’. Geoff Waller in 1960 built a male voice choir by ‘raiding’ the local church choirs by persuading the ‘odd fellow' from here and the ‘odd fellow’ from there to join a choir created to celebrate the Aldershot Festival. However, the choir had greater ambitions, to reach out to men who enjoyed singing and raising money for local charities whilst doing so.  For over the last 60 years the choir, affectionally known as ‘The Odds’ have enjoyed wonderful local support.

Unfortunately, the pandemic and tempus fugit have had a serious effect on the number of choir members, and we are now embarking on a serious, and expensive, recruiting campaign. We are reaching out into a wider area to recruit, way beyond Aldershot/Farnborough/Farnham/ Camberley/ environs, into Guildford/Alton/Godalming areas and, perhaps, even further. The people we are reaching out to are unaware of the history of ‘The Odds’ and in today’s culture, would find the name somewhat strange and off-putting! Thus, we must change our name, both recognising the current sensitivities and the new geographical reach,

The new name “Hampshire and Surrey Hills Men’s Choir” reflects this new era. We shall, of course, remain ‘The Odds’ to our established supporters and continue to honour our history, the legacy of Geoff Waller, Colin Wilson and Stephen Petch, our past Musical Directors. We will hope to see you soon and demonstrate both our heritage and musical prowess under the baton of our new MD Philip Viveash-Brainch.

Peter Viveash
Chairman