Athelstan House, Malmesbury

This afternoon we made a successful return to Athelstan House on the outskirts of Malmesbury.

Our last appearance at this care home was in November 2018. The lounge quickly filled with residents and there were more than 30 in the audience to hear our performance. When asked if there was anyone who remembered us from our previous visits there was one elderly lady who put up her hand. It was amazing to discover that people could remember us over such a lengthy period.

Our music was well received from the outset – with people joining us with the singing or else clapping to the beat. Today’s repertoire was a mix of up-temo songs and ballads, and our audience seemed to appreciate the balance. We even saw a few who managed to perform some dancing to a couple of songs – aided by some of the staff who were in the room. It really is a pleasure to see how our music provides some entertainment to people in care homes.

At the end of the performance we were thanked by a representative of the residents, and the organiser of our concert asked us to return again in around 3 months time.

Singers who missed today’s performance were Keith Bartlam, Ron Dolman and Nick Greene. It was good to see singer Brian Elliott alongside us following the recent passing of his wife. Jill had been a resident at the home for a short period before her passing.

Our programme was:-

1. Amarillo          
2. Proud Mary              
3. Bye-Bye Love            
4. Under The Boardwalk       
5. The Young Ones          
6. When My Little Girl Is Smiling 
7. I’m Into Something Good   
8. Help Me Make It Through    
9. You Are The New Day    
10. Another Saturday Night    
11. No Matter What    
12. Hey Jude           
13. Crying In The Rain    
14. Hey Baby                       
15. Sweet Caroline               
16. Do Wah Diddy Diddy     
17. American Trilogy            

Chippenham v Arthritis

This afternoon we gave our annual performance for this group who meet in St Paul’s Church Hall in Chippenham.

Although it had been a very wet day, we had an audience of 21 which consisted of 20 ladies and one gentleman. They were a marvellous audience for us – joining in with the singing and performing hand jives to our music. Everyone participated in the ending of Hay Jude. We recognised a number of familiar faces and it was great to see their enjoyment of our programme.

Our group are still experiencing health issues amongst some of our singers, and this cut down turn out to seven – but one more than we managed in our previous concert. We hope to get others back in the coming week.

We finished at 3:00pm and enjoyed a refreshing drink with our hosts. We received really good feedback about our performance, and we look forward to returning again in the near future if that is possible. Singers missing today were: Keith Bartlam; Ron Dolman; Brian Elliott; and Jack Webb. Our programme was:-

1. Amarillo                    
2. Hang On Sloopy          
3. Proud Mary                
4. Bye-Bye Love                
5. Under The Boardwalk       
6. The Young Ones            
7. When My Little Girl Is Smiling
8. I’m Into Something Good 
9. Sunny Afternoon             
10. Can’t Help Falling In Love
11. Another Saturday Night  
12. Runaway                            
13. Hey Jude                       
14. Crying In The Rain          
15. Saturday Night At The Movies
16. American Trilogy             

Malmesbury Monday Club

This afternoon we made our 18th appearance for the club since we first visited Glovers Court in July 2015.

The lounge room was full by the time we arrived – 30 minutes before our performance. Clearly, organiser Iona had recruited some new members, and everyone seemed eager to hear our music. Our group were very much down on numbers for today’s concert: five singers were unavailable through reasons of ill health (either themselves or wives).

The audience were on fine singing form for our opening song – Amarillo – and they continued into the next song Hang On Sloopy. We teased them about their previous beach holidays when announcing Under the Boardwalk – referring to such exotic destinations as Bournemouth and Weymouth! And audience participation continued into Cliff’s song The Young Ones. Most of the audience were able to sing the words of that one.

No one was admitting to having a birthday around this time – although we did hear one lady say hers was in October. We decided that would not count towards us singing Happy Birthday!

Our two Elvis songs were well received – especially our finale rendition of An American Trilogy which received great applause. At the end of the concert we were treated to a magnificent buffet – and we must thank Iona and her helpers for all their efforts.

Singers missing today were Keith Bartlam, Ron Dolman, Brian Elliott, Chris Scott and Jack Webb. Our programme was:-

1. Amarillo              
2. Hang On Sloopy       
3. Proud Mary                
4. Bye-Bye Love            
5. Under The Boardwalk     
6. The Young Ones      
7. When My Little Girl Is Smiling 
8. I’m Into Something Good  
9. Sunny Afternoon          
10. Can’t Help Falling In Love  
11. Another Saturday Night  
12. Runaway                 
13. Hey Jude                 
14. Crying In The Rain        
15. Saturday Night At The Movies
16. Sweet Caroline               
17. American Trilogy       

Flowers Manor Care Home, Chippenham

This afternoon we re-visited this care home in the centre of Chippenham. It was our third appearance in the last 12 months.

And it was a pleasure to sing Happy Birthday to Gloria who will be 90 next Monday – the whole room joined us in the singing and Gloria got a little emotional towards the end. Well done to Gloria and we hope she enjoys Monday at the home.

There were around 25 residents and staff in the lounge for our performance, and we could see that many were joining in the singing of the familiar songs. They also enjoyed waving their arms aloft during our rendition of Hey Jude. We didn’t manage to encourage anyone to get onto their feet to dance along to our music – what a shame – but most of the audience joined us for the singing of our final song ‘American Trilogy’.

After the performance we were treated to tea and cakes in the home’s reception area. We thank Rachael for arranging those refreshments. We hope to return to this venue in the near future. Singers missing today were: Keith Bartlam; Ron Dolman; and Chris Scott. Our programme was:-

1. Amarillo                  
2. Hang On Sloopy      
3. Proud Mary                
4. Bye-Bye Love               
5. Under The Boardwalk       
6. The Young Ones               
7. When My Little Girl Is Smiling 
8. I’m Into Something Good    
9. Sunny Afternoon                  
10. Can’t Help Falling In Love  
11. Another Saturday Night     
12. Runaway                   
13. Hey Jude                    
14. Crying In The Rain            
15. Saturday Night At The Movies
16. Sweet Caroline          
17. American Trilogy            

Calne WI

Yesterday afternoon we entertained for the Calne Womens Institute in Marden House, Calne.

Calne has several WI groups and we have regularly performed for the Calne Morning WI – but this was the first time back for this group since June 2016. We were warned of a roadworks traffic delay on the route to the event. Everyone prepared plans for an alternative route (leaving earlier), and then news came that the roadworks were lifted. Urgent messages of this news were sent out to everyone, and most singers arrived OK – although most of us were very early and needed to wait for the hall to be arranged for the performance.

There were around 30 WI members in our audience. Some of them had heard us perform in the past, but the vast majority had not. However, they seemed to appreciate our music and many sang along to songs they were familiar with.

After 30 minutes of music we had an interval – with everyone receiving sandwiches and cake washed down with a Shloer fruit drink. We then completed our second half of music and finished at around 4:20pm – allowing the raffle to be held.

We must thank our hosts for the interval buffet we shared with the WI members. Singers missing the performance were Ron Dolman and Chris Scott. Our programme was:-

1. Amarillo                        
2. Hang On Sloopy          
3. Proud Mary                 
4. Bye-Bye Love         
5. Under The Boardwalk         
6. The Young Ones              
7. When My Little Girl Is Smiling 
8. I’m Into Something Good   
9. Sunny Afternoon                 
10. Can’t Help Falling In Love  
11. Another Saturday Night   
12. Runaway                          
13. Hey Jude                       
14. Crying In The Rain        
15. Saturday Night At The Movies

The Wingfield, Trowbridge

Last Thursday we made a return visit to this care home in Trowbridge – and we were pleasantly surprised by the audience reaction to our music.

There were around 20 residents seated around their lounge/conservatory – together with a number of staff members. As soon as we launched into our first song there were several residents who got onto their feet to have a dance. Some of them needed the help of the staff but they were overjoyed by the experience. And many of them stayed on the dance floor area to continue dancing to the following songs.

Others in the audience were handed percussion instruments to enable them to provide extra backing sounds to our music! There was quite a din throughout our performance and we all thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

We must thank the staff for actively encouraging the residents to enjoy themselves, and we hope to return to the venue in the near future. Singer Jack Webb was unable to perform with us. Our programme was:-

1. Amarillo                  
2. Hang On Sloopy          
3. Bad Moon Rising           
4. Will You Go Lassie         
5. The Young Ones                 
6. When My Little Girl Is Smiling 
7. I’m Into Something Good     
8. Sunny Afternoon           
9. He Ain’t Heavy              
10. Runaway                
11. Hey Jude             
12. The Locomotion      
13. Saturday Night At The Movies
14. Can’t Help Falling In Love   
15. Sweet Caroline         
16. Eight Days A Week    
17. American Trilogy