Another Prestwold wedding!

With no choir rehearsals to keep the vocal chords in trim it's good that my services are required for a few weddings over the summer.

The latest was on Saturday August 6th at Prestwold Church again, but this time I was to be the only male! The choir was made up of Caroline, Ruth, Anna-Ruth, Amy, Diane, Julia and me with the addition of one non-family member - Olivia from Enchanted. So, as the 'token bloke', any blunders would be glaringly obvious to everyone. No pressure then?

So, with us all looking sensational, me particularly in  a reddy/pinky striped shirt, borrowed from Charlie King with the tasteful addition of my 'Marilyn Monroe' cufflinks, we made our way to the King's new residence in Barrow-upon-Soar. A fascinating house it is too - lots of levels and a very long garden!

A pre-gig run through of 'We Pledge to One Another' went okay except that I kept singing bits of the first verse during the second verse in an attempt to sight read the music. I got the tune right, but messed up the words. Doh! Still, it'll be all right on the night? Or not. . . .

It turned out to be another curious wedding. A highly emotional groom, a bride that washalf an hour, yes, HALF AN HOUR late and two kids running around and playing during the entire ceremony! The Vicar, the Reverend Vince seemed a jolly chap though. On hearing that the majority of the choir were related he then questioned whether any of us had webbed feet! Is that the kind of joke a 'man of the cloth' should be making I wonder? Well, why not!

For our part, the choir did admirably. I think I sang the first hymn 'Love Devine, All Loves Excelling' pretty darned well. However, that was as good as it got for me. While the others did a good job, from a personal point of view, the second hymn 'Make Me a Channel of Your Peace' was a bit of a shambles. I thought that I knew the tune - until I actually came to sing it. The words simply didn't seem to fit the music to me and I rather bluffed my way through it. Never mind, our starring role in singing 'We Pledge' during the signing of the register went (for me at least) a bit better but rather like the earlier run through, I again sang a line of the first verse in the middle of the second! Oops!

So not bad I suppose. Apparently, so miffed was Reverend Vince that there will in future be a maximum delay of 20 minutes after which the choir may depart and still get paid! Quite right too, say I. This 'tradition' of the bride always being late is just not on and over half an hour is madness!

My services are required for another wedding near the end of August and perhaps wisely Caroline arranged a rehearsal last Saturday. It should be another corker and we've got folders of music for this one! Included amongst the hymns was a piece of music for us to sing under the title of 'Caroline Sharpe Singers', at a concert at Trinity on November 19th! Woh!

I'll keep you posted.

Cheers for now,

Alyn