Not much to report for the month of April apart from an experience from a Melbourne friend of mine. She is part of the Open Door Gospel Singers and they are continuing their singing on a Monday evening at 7.30pm in a closed Facebook Group.

You need to apply to join this Group. However, approval seems to happen very quickly. The Leader is Shaun who I am told is a professional conductor. The words appear on the upper portion of the screen whilst the conductor is in the lower section. Shaun seems to handle the accompaniment and the words and keeps the session moving quite well. He also has a very positive attitude.

So if you would enjoy a singing outlet I suggest you have a look at this.  The songs are different to what we are used to. But the session is still enjoyable.

Hope you are all well and keeping yourselves happy and occupied.
​
Margaret Jenkins

We have seen some changes to Singing during the month of March.

During the first week our pianist Gwen Barnes was not able to play for us due to ill health. We saw Faith Hicks playing the piano for Kieran Smith who did a great job introducing us to a medley of Australiana songs. Faith also played for Margaret Merriman, whilst Brian Greed organised and played for his section of the program.

Harmony saw Gwen Barnes back playing the piano which was great.

The second Singing for Fun session for the month saw Faith away and Gwen playing for Kieran. As it was two days after St. Patrick’s Day and Kieran coming from Ireland, we all enjoyed his session of Irish songs, most of which we knew quite well.  Brian Greed and Margaret Merriman chose some old favourite songs for their sections of the program which were also enjoyed. 

We are sorry to learn that one of our long-time members, Gwen Cheetham has been unwell and has been in Wangaratta hospital. We all signed a card for Gwen and hope to see her back with us soon.

During the latter part of March we observed increased spacing of our choir due to the appearance of COVID-19 in Victoria.

On Saturday 21 March 2020 U3A Benalla suspended all groups until the end of the first Semester. Hence there will be no Singing for Fun, Harmony or Community Singing until we receive notification that groups such as ours may recommence.

Our Singing for Fun and Harmony members have been telling us that they would prefer to start at 9.45am instead of 9.30am. This will happen when we recommence in Semester 2.

Margaret Jenkins