Southend Bach Choir

Rehearsals:

Please - remember to bring a pencil to rehearsals !

Terms for 
2011 / 2012:

September 2nd to December 16th 2011
January 3rd to March 30th
April 16th to July 20th

A rehearsal is also held on the afternoon of the concert at the concert venue. Timings are confirmed the week before the concert.

Subscription:

Currently the subscription is £100 per year which can be paid in one of three ways:

• 1 payment of £100
• 2 payments of £50 - one in September and the other in January
• 10 monthly payments of £10 - payable by Standing Order

As the Choir is a registered charity, if you are a UK tax-payer it will help the choir funds, if you 'Gift Aid' this subscription. You do not have to pay any more tax yourself in order to do this.

Please see the treasurer, Peter Hepworth, for further details.

New Members:

We are always pleased to welcome new members.

If you know of anyone who is interested in singing and would like to 'try it out', please invite them to a few rehearsals to see how they get on.

The Musical Director, Colin Edwards, does carry out auditions for those who want to join.

These are not onerous but are necessary in order to ensure that people are placed in the correct section of the choir.

Uniform:

Concert dress is the same for the Autumn, Christmas and Spring Concerts - as follows:

Ladies

Black Blouses (long sleeved); long (ankle length) black skirts or smart black trousers; black tights & black shoes; discreet jewellery & small black handbag.

Gentlemen

Black suit, white shirt, black bow tie, black shoes and socks.

If we sing at other events/venues the uniform may be changed and you will be informed of this at rehearsal.

If you are unable to attend any rehearsals, try to let someone know.

This could be another member - or someone on the committee, e.g. Membership Secretary (Margaret Partridge) or Secretary (Christine Smith).

The School requires us to keep a register of attendance. So you are asked to 'sign-in' each week and also to indicate, if you are able to sing in the concerts.

Music Hire:

The Librarian hires the music for each concert. The full cost of the hire is to be paid by the members.

If you wish, you can use your own scores, provided they are compatible editions. At Christmas we always use Carols for Choirs Books 1, 2 & 3.

Choir members usually purchase their own copies.

The music we sing is chosen by the committee and the Musical Director.

If you would like to suggest music to perform, please put your suggestions in writing to the committee.

Fundraising:

Our Annual Subscription nowhere near covers our running costs, and so fundraising events are held to raise additional funds to subsidise the concerts:

• There is a raffle each week at rehearsal and also one of the members collects our spare 5p coins!
• One way funds are raised is via the 200 club:
  Members and friends purchase one or more £1 'shares' each month and half of the money raised is shared between 3 winners each month, with the other half going into the funds. Please see Brian Ash (Bass) for more details.
• We aim to hold further fundraising events during the year. If you would like to organise a fundraising event, please speak to one of the committee members.

Website:

The Choir has its own web-site:
www.southendbachchoir.org.uk

Do have a look from time to time to check the information!