Early in December we celebrated the end of the year with a concert at Cooinda. This concert was slightly longer than what was presented at the Meet and Mingle day in November and included some Christmas favourites.  From the applause received the concert appeared to be enjoyed by the Cooinda residents.

Afterwards several members of the Singing for Fun group went to the Golf Club for their end of year lunch.

Singing for Fun in 2019 will start on Thursday 7 February at 10am in the U3A room at the seniors complex. We have had good numbers at our enrolment days and look forward to seeing everyone at our first session.
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Margaret Jenkins    

​​At our last Thursday morning meeting for the year Joyce Borschmann congratulated the group on the quality of their performance at the 100 years Commemoration of the End of World War 1 in the Benalla Town Hall on 11 November 2018. Joyce said that she had received congratulations from many members of the public regarding the U3A Singers.

Joyce is retiring as Convenor of the Singing for Fun and Harmony groups after 13 years at the helm but is remaining as a valued member of the sopranos of our group. Margaret Jenkins is going to be Convenor of Singing for Fun and Harmony in 2019.

As this is the last Newsletter for the year we would like to thank our three talented conductors Faith Hicks, Brian Greed and Margaret Merriman who have encouraged and improved the group throughout the year. We thank them for their time and expertise. We would also like to thank Gwen Barnes for her assistance on the piano during the year. It is a big job to learn and play so many songs so regularly for the group.

Also thank you to Ian Grace for opening up every Thursday that we meet, arranging the chairs, and also for closing up at the end of each session. Morning tea is an important social part of our group and thank you to Trish Roe for overseeing the morning tea and coffee throughout the year – we regularly have 30 people at our sessions and Trish and her team always have a smile and know who likes what.

Lastly but not least. What a performance we gave at Meet and Mingle on Wednesday 21 November for other members of U3A and the public. Our group really do seem able to lift themselves when singing out with excellent diction and expression added to most songs. The three conductors are to be congratulated for putting together a varied program of songs, and the performance was excellent. Well done everyone. 

Margaret Jenkins

Our three leaders Faith Hicks, Brian Greed and Margaret Merriman have been finalising their selection of songs for our Sing Out sessions. These performances will be on Wednesday 21st November at 10am at U3A Meet and Mingle and at Cooinda on Thursday 6th December at 10.30am.

We are performing two songs “I Vow to Thee my Country” and “Finlandia” at the 100 Years Commemoration of World War 1 on Sunday 11 November at 2.30pm at the Benalla Town Hall. Members of the Benalla Dramatic Society will also be participating in the program with other choral items.
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Margaret Jenkins

U3A Benalla was invited to be the guest speaker at the Cooinda AGM on Tuesday 25th September 2018. As part of this presentation the members of the Singing for Fun group were invited to sing. Whilst their performance was not long, it was great to be able to show the variety of songs that we enjoy singing.

One of the interesting aspects of the past month was when our Convenor, Joyce Borschmann decided to show us how a song could be improved by the use of drama. Many of us were unaware that Joyce had been a drama instructor during her teaching career, and were enthralled at the interest that could be added to “Right said Fred” by Joyce. Hopefully we have learnt a little of what she was showing us and put it into our rendition of that song at Cooinda.

We thank our leaders Faith Hicks, Brian Greed and Margaret Merriman who continue to provide us with ways to improve the songs we are singing.

Just a reminder that we are performing two songs at the 100th anniversary of the end of World War 1 on Sunday 11 November 2018 at 2pm in the Benalla Town Hall. Also our end of year performances will be at Meet and Mingle on Wednesday 21 November 2018 at 10am at the Senior Citizens complex, and at Cooinda on Thursday 6 December 2018 at 10.30am.
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Margaret Jenkins

During August the new Kawai piano has been moved to the opposite end of the U3A room where we hold Singing for Fun. The advantage of this position is that the piano is not near the doorway into the room. With the change in position of the piano, the singers are now facing the parkland, and therefore have the advantage of being able to admire the view of the parkland between songs.

Our leader, Joyce Borschmann has provided members of the Singing Group with a number of dates to put in their calendars. The first date to note is Sunday 11 November 2018 at 2pm in the Benalla Town Hall. This day is the 100th anniversary of the end of World War 1, and the Singing Group has been asked to sing two songs at the commemorative service.

The dates for our end of year performances will be at Meet and Mingle on Wednesday 21 November 2018 at 10am at the Senior Citizens complex, and at Cooinda on Thursday 6 December 2018 at 10.30am.

Our leaders, Faith Hicks, Brian Greed and Margaret Merriman, supported by our pianist Gwen Barnes, continue to present us with a variety of songs which we enjoy.
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Margaret Jenkins

What a wonderful surprise to hear the new Kawai CN37 digital piano in operation at our last meeting in July. Our thanks go to Brian Greed, Joyce Borschmann and Gwen Barnes for their submission to the U3A Benalla Committee, and to Brian Greed for overseeing the installation of the piano following their successful submission. The tone the piano produces is very good, and it also has the ability to transpose songs and retain songs which have been previously played which may assist the group in the future.

This month our numbers may have been down slightly but those who have been present have enjoyed the songs presented by our four conductors Faith Hicks, Rick Hann, Brian Greed and Margaret Merriman.

Sometimes it is an old song which gets sung with great gusto which adds to the spirit of the morning. Such was the choice of “She’ll be Comin’ Round the Mountain when she Comes”.

Our thanks go to Joyce and Gwen for providing the cakes to celebrate the new piano and Anne and Milvi’s birthdays.  
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Margaret Jenkins

The Singing for Fun group is always adaptable. For our first meeting of June there were a number of people away sick, including our valued pianist Gwen Barnes. Also missing was Patsy Bollard who had several stitches in her leg following an accident in her garden. We hope you recover soon Patsy. Our Leader, Joyce Borschmann was also absent as her son from Queensland was visiting.

However, the singing went on. Faith Hicks enlisted the help of some new conductors namely Rhonda, Rae and Milvi. We enjoyed their assistance. Faith showed us her talents on the piano accompanying the songs she chose. Well done Faith on the piano and also to our new conductors.

Brian Greed used the overhead projector to show the words of some old favourite songs which were currently not in the songbooks. Brian accompanied the songs on the piano himself, and then followed this up with some sing-along songs for which he also played. It was great to see the overhead projector being used by the Singing for Fun group.

Margaret Merriman enlisted the help of Neville Gibb on the piano for a new song for us namely “Old Khancoban”. Following that Brian Greed accompanied the other songs that Margaret chose.

We ended up having a slightly different but very enjoyable morning.
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Margaret Jenkins

The variety of songs at Singing for Fun is always great. Rick Hann introduced the group to some Gilbert and Sullivan during May, which is something new and which everyone seemed to enjoy.

Brian Greed started us with a new song “Sweet Caroline” during May. Most of us remembered the song and it was not too difficult to pick up the tune and the lyrics.

Margaret Merriman and Faith Hicks have been choosing a good variety of songs. As usual Gwen Barnes has been accompanying us on the piano.

We have seen a couple of new people joining the Singing for Fun group during the month. Perhaps it is the friendly group of people or perhaps it is that we meet on a Thursday morning at 10am. Whatever the reason, it is good to welcome new members to our choir.
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Margaret Jenkins