What a wonderful morning we had at Freemasons! Probably 25 singers there plus somewhere near 50 residents of Freemasons. We were able to catch up with Gloria Banks, also Faith Hicks who used to be a Leader for Singing for Fun. Many of the residents told me afterwards that they had really enjoyed the morning, and hoped we would come back soon.

Thank you, Brian for the fantastic job you did playing the piano for us. We had a bit of a tricky start, but once the electrics for the piano were sorted, it was full steam ahead. Thank you also to Margaret Merriman for acting as MC for the morning.

Our thanks to Freemasons for providing us with a cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit. All around, it was a great morning. 

​On 22nd June Community Singing was shared with residents of Cooinda in the Alice Goulding room at Cooinda. Brian Greed used the Tram Shed song book for the morning’s singing, as well as including three Seekers’ songs which are always popular. Kieran Smith did a great job as MC for the morning.

The audience were provided with song books and joined in the singing with great gusto, some waving hands in time with the music, and even a dance by a couple from Cooinda. The previous day Cooinda residents had a Western Day, so there was still a cowboy hat around to be tried on by Kieran. One of the Cooinda residents enjoying the morning was 101 years of age.

Thank you to the Cooinda staff for inviting us for the morning, and to Brian for providing great music for the singing.

Our Community Singing group will have a session at the Hub at Cooinda on Thursday 29th June at 10am.

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Margaret Jenkins

Community Singing for May was going to be at Freemasons. However, due to Covid cases associated with Freemasons, our Community Singing at Freemasons has been re-scheduled for Thursday 27th July at 10am.

In June Community Singing will be held at Cooinda on Thursday 22nd June at 10am, and also at Estia Health on Thursday 29th June at 10am.  
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Margaret Jenkins

Just a quick note in case someone is checking - sadly Margaret has had to cancel tomorrow morning's Community Singing Session at the Freemasons because of Covid. Members of the group should have been contacted already.  

Media team

Over 20 members enjoyed Community Singing with Brian Greed at the piano in April.

The Community Singing group have been invited to sing at Freemasons on Thursday 25th May, Cooinda on Thursday 22nd June and Estia Health on Thursday 29th June, all at 10am.

Brian chose the Tram Song Book for April as a preview of how Community Singing will go at all three Aged Care facilities. Brian had printed more copies of the Tram book so that the residents at Freemasons, Cooinda and Estia will be able to join in the singing. As well as this Brian had printed three Seekers songs, which are always enjoyed by the group, and we slotted these in about half way through. Thank you, Brian, for organising the program so well.

Everyone participating in the singing at Freemasons, Cooinda and Estia is required to do a RAT test at home before they arrive, and must bring the RAT test with them and present it at the door. RAT tests will be given out at Singing for Fun the week before each Community Singing at Freemasons, Cooinda and Estia.

As we are Singing at Freemasons on Thursday 25th May there will be no Community Singing at the Hub at Cooinda that day. Any queries please give me a call on 5762 6944.
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Margaret Jenkins  222 words

Community Singing is something which is enjoyed by everyone. No preparation, words supplied, music supplied and the vast majority of songs are well known to everyone. It is also pleasing to see so many people from Cooinda arriving for Community Singing.

Brian Greed chose the Tram Book of Songs for the first session, and followed this up with the new song book he produced during the holiday season for the second session. A huge thank you to Brian from everyone there for his great playing of the songs.

Brian has offered to have Community Singing again next Thursday 30th March as there are five Thursdays in March. Many thanks Brian. We are all looking forward to it.

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Margaret Jenkins

We had twenty-four at Community Singing for the first meeting for the year in February, and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. We welcomed back Marjorie Geeson, Ian Grace, Tomoko Fujiie, Beth Hall and Judy Stewart who had not been able to be with us for a while.

Brian Greed did a wonderful job at the piano, playing a variety of songs by ear. For the first session Brian chose songs from a new song book which he had copied and stapled himself during the holidays. For the second session he chose songs from Sammy’s Song Book Part 1 which had songs like Waltzing Matilda, Loch Lomond and Danny Boy in it.
The singers gave Brian a round of applause at the end to show their appreciation for his efforts in playing for Community Singing.

The next Community Singing will be on Thursday 23rd March 2023 at 10am at the Hub in Cooinda. We have five Thursdays in March. Brian has offered to have Community Singing also on Thursday 30th March 2023.  
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Margaret Jenkins 

At the November Community Singing Brian Greed chose songs from our usual Song Book 2 for the first session, and then songs from the Tram Book for the second session.  Everyone enjoyed the variety of songs which included “Click go the Shears” and “Waltzing Matilda”.

As this was our last Community Singing for 2022, we had some Christmas cookies for morning tea.  At the end of the morning everyone gave Brian a big round of applause as a thank you for his fantastic playing for us during the year.

With best wishes for Christmas and hoping to see you all in 2023.

Margaret Jenkins

At the October Community Singing Brian Greed chose our regular Book 1 for the first session. This has a great lot of Sing a Long songs which everyone enjoyed.

For the second session we used Sammy Song Book No 2 which has several Australian, Irish and Scottish songs which everyone knew.

At the end of the morning everyone gave Brian a spontaneous round of applause to thank him for his great playing of all the songs.

The next Community Singing will be on Thursday 24th November at 10am at the Hub at Cooinda. All welcome.

Margaret Jenkins  

From our photo shoot in April!  

At Community Singing held on Thursday 29 September Brian Greed brought along the Blue Song Book which is used by Cooinda residents. The benefit of this song book was that it had slightly larger print, and had 122 songs in it, some of which we had not found in other song books.

Everyone who attended gave Brian a round of applause at the end for his wonderful playing of the piano for the group. Also thank you to Brian for organising these song books for the morning.

The next Community Singing will be on Thursday 27 October at 10am at the Hub at Cooinda. All welcome.
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Margaret Jenkins 

Brian Greed chose our Regular Song book No 3 for the first session of Community Singing in August. We had not used this book before, and everyone really enjoyed the variety of songs in it. For novelty “The Mickey Mouse Song” seemed to appeal as well as many old favourites like “Love Letters in the Sand”. For the second session Brian chose Sammy’s Song Book No 1, the songs from it being quite different but also very enjoyable.

We welcomed three new people at Community Singing this month, Carol, Tony and Dorrie. We hope they enjoyed themselves and come again.

Best wishes to Gloria Banks who had a short stay in Wangaratta Hospital and is now recovering at home. We hope to see you back with us soon.
 
The next Community Singing will be on Thursday 22 September at 10am at the Hub at Cooinda.

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Margaret Jenkins 

It was pleasing to see members of the audience coming up to Brian Greed after Community Singing and congratulating him on his playing of the piano. Brian does a wonderful job playing all the songs from memory, needing only a reminder of the key a  particular song is in before he starts playing it.

In July Brian chose Sammy’s Song Book No 2 for the first session, followed by the Tram Book of Songs for the second session.

The group is evolving and feeling comfortable with each other, and we enjoyed the odd story about a song, or a reference to there being another possible verse of another song. But everyone participated and enjoyed themselves, which is what Community Singing is all about.

The next session of Community Singing will be on Thursday 25 August 2022 at 10am in the Hub at Cooinda. All welcome.
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Margaret Jenkins 

Community Singing in the warm Hub at Cooinda was enjoyed by all who attended. We were amazed by Brian Greed’s ability to play such a variety of songs without any music, and to keep the vocal cords of everyone there well exercised.

Brian chose songs from our regular Song Book 1 for the first session and followed this in the second session with songs from Sammy’s Song Book No 1. The participants seemed to really appreciate the variety of Irish, Scottish and Australian songs in Sammy’s Song Book.

The next Community Singing will be on Thursday 28 July at 10am in the Hub at Cooinda. All welcome.
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Margaret Jenkins 

Brian Greed chose our regular Song Book No 2 for the first part of community Singing in May. This book has a variety of songs such as “Carolina in the Morning” and “Click go the Shears” which were enjoyed by all.

The second session used the Tram Book of Songs which has a different group of songs. Brian’s instant recall of each song means that it is amazing how many songs can be fitted into Community Singing each time we meet.

The next Community Singing will be on Thursday 23 June at 10am at the Hub in Cooinda. All welcome.  
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Margaret Jenkins   

The weather may be getting cooler but the enthusiasm for Community Singing is certainly there.

Brian Greed chose songs from our regular Book 1 for the first part of Community Singing and followed it with a selection from Sammy’s Song Book No 1. We all enjoyed the variety of songs, many old favourites, some with an Irish, Scottish or Australian background. But all sung with great gusto and all thoroughly enjoyed.

Everyone gave Brian a round of applause at the end to show their appreciation for his wonderful effort on the piano.

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We also had a visit from Bev Lee who stayed for some of the second half, and told us that she enjoyed the singing.
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Margaret Jenkins

At the March meeting of Community Singing Brian Greed chose Sammy’s Song Book No 2 for the first session. Brian accompanied this session on the organ which is always a great sound.

For the second session Brian had a new Song Book which he had found on a boat cruise in the South Island of New Zealand. For this session Brian accompanied us on the piano.

It was interesting that on our way out of the Hub a visitor to Cooinda complimented Brian on the music which had come from the Hub that morning.  He told Brian that the music had been enjoyed by other residents of Cooinda, and not just those attending Community Singing. 

The next Community Singing will be on Thursday 28th April at 10am at the Hub.
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Margaret Jenkins

Community Singing in February had the usual relaxed atmosphere and was enjoyed by everyone there.

In the first segment Brian Greed used Sammy’s Song Book No 1 and accompanied us on the organ.

After morning tea Brian switched to the piano and used Brian’s Little Song Book which has a completely different group of songs.

We are all amazed at how Brian recalls each song by just telling him the name of the song and the key it is in. Well done Brian!

The next Community Singing will be held on Thursday 24th March 2022 at 10am at the Hub in Cooinda.
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Margaret Jenkins

A group of enthusiastic singers met for the first Community Singing of the year at the Hub on the fourth Thursday of January.

Brian Greed who plays both the organ and the piano for the group used a new songbook which he had produced himself.   This new book is called Brian’s Little Song Book and has a variety of songs in it including many which were on the hit parade in the 1950s.

At the end we had a few songs spontaneously suggested which completed a very enjoyable morning. Our thanks to Brian for producing this new Song Book and for accompanying the group so well. We look forward to the next Community Singing on Thursday 24th February 2022 at 10am at the Hub.
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Margaret Jenkins

Brian Greed has offered to run a Community Singing session on Thursday 27th February – 10 am to 11.15am at the Hub, Jean Lee Drive, Cooinda Village.   Thank you, Brian.   Brian first offered three sessions of Community Singing as a summer school program in January 2020.  It is now a much-loved feature of the regular timetable!  

Margaret Jenkins

An enthusiastic group of singers came together for Community Singing with Brian Greed at the Hub in November.

Brian chose songs out of the Tram Book of Songs for the first session, and accompanied the group on the organ.

After morning tea Sammy’s Song Book No 1 was used, and Brian played the songs on the piano for us.

We are sorry to see one of our members Rick Hann moving to Queensland early in the New Year, but wish him all the best in the Sunshine State.

Everyone gave Brian a big round of applause at the end of Community Singing for the effort he puts into accompanying the group each month. Well done Brian. We all enjoy this relaxed group of singing.

This was our last session for 2021, but we are looking forward to more Community Singing in 2022.
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Margaret Jenkins

It was really great that Community Singing with Brian Greed actually happened in October.  Due to COVID lock downs and restrictions on the number who could meet in the Hub, it was our first session since June 2021.

Thank you to everyone for their cooperation in showing me proof of vaccination as they came into the Hub.  Your assistance made that job easy.

In the first half of Community Singing Brian used the Tram Book of Songs and accompanied us on the organ.

For the second part of the session Brian used Sammy’s Old Time Sing along Book Part 1 and played the songs on the piano.

Everyone enjoyed singing songs that are known so well.  Thank you to Brian for your accompaniment on both the organ and piano.

The final session of Community Singing for 2021 will be on Thursday 25th November 2021 at 10am at the Hub in Cooinda.

Margaret Jenkins  

Unfortunately due to COVID restrictions we were unable to hold Community Singing with Brian Greed in September.

There will be an Email sent to everyone if we are able to hold Community Singing in October.
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Margaret Jenkins

Unfortunately due to lock down, there was no Community Singing with Brian Greed in August.

​Hopefully we will be able to meet and sing on Thursday 23rd September 2021.
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Margaret Jenkins

Unfortunately the July Community Singing which was scheduled for 22nd July 2021 had to be cancelled due to the Victorian COVID lock down.

The next Community Singing meeting with Brian Greed is scheduled for Thursday 26th August 2021 at 10am in the Hub. All welcome.
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Margaret Jenkins