Our Newsletter

We are so lucky to have Emily Renshaw-Kidd as our soloist, performing four songs of her own as well as leading some of ours. Body noises of the politest kind became important as we imitated trains with our Ssshhoooo and Tff and Chipa, chichipa. This segued into a short percussion ‘train’ - complete with whistle - and Emily leading us into: ‘I can hear the train a-comin’’, marking the start of our train-themed set.

Emily sang ‘Alto’s Lament’ which resonated with that section of the choir.  (The altos DID have the tune occasionally though, notably in ‘Downeaster Alexa’ and ‘Nellie the Elephant’!)  Her other solos paid tribute to ABBA, The Carpenters and John Rutter.  As always our highly accomplished accompanist Stefan Catto, played for Emily and sometimes for us.  Other distinguished solos came from our own Tim Offord & and David Rance.

Body percussion in the shape of enthusiastic foot stamps accompanied ‘The Wellerman’ in our set of sea related songs and finger clicks and claps appeared in our last set, ‘Beatles Classics’.  Vanessa wisely avoided introducing ‘When I’m 64’ knowing various members (men) longed to yell out ‘you should so lucky!’ or ‘you wish!’  

So that’s it.  I doubt any of us are in the choir for the concerts.  We turn up regularly for the joy.  The concerts give us the opportunity to stick it all together, to share that joy, to recruit a few more members and to prove to our relations that we have learned something (Zulu, Bulgarian etc) when we disappear some Saturday afternoons.

Our members don’t just sing.  They run raffles, distribute and collect our colourful scarves, serve refreshments, fold programmes, move furniture and much more besides.  We are a community, a community choir, based in Adisham for over 25 years!

September will see us assemble again, with a new repertoire and Vanessa’s unfailing patience to guide us through another Eclectic year.   Keeeeep singing!!

Welcome to the first Eclectics Choir Newsletter!  We have just finished our first term of the season and we now have a website!  It is adorned with marvellous photos from Dan and has lots of information.

The choir goes from strength to strength.  Vanessa, our founder and director, is more than a conductor.  She chooses our repertoire and welcomes everyone warmly.  She is unfailingly patient.  She is organised and reflective and knows how to get the best out of us.  Anyone who wishes to sing is welcome at the Eclectics.  Theee are no auditions and there is no need to read music as we have learning tracks to study between rehearsals.

Our membership is eclectic too with musicians including a wonderful pianist, singers who are members of other choirs in the district, those who read no music at all, Adisham locals and people from much further afield.  We share the desire to sing, to sing an eclectic repertoire and to share it in our concerts. 

The repertoire this season is as eclectic as ever.  We have some sea songs including 'Wellerman' and 'Downeaster Alexa'.  We have a strong train theme with spirituals and gospel including  'Chicka-hanka' and 'Ride This Train'.  Included are a couple of songs from 'Zimbe!',  a celebration of African music, and a little Beatles.  This season we do not have so many languages to learn as we have had some years, but Macedonian and Bulgarian are enough of a challenge!

Are you reading this on our website?  Maybe you are looking for a choir like ours.  Be assured of a warm welcome.  It is proven that singing is good for us!  You could wait to hear us at one of our concerts in 2025 or you could get in touch.  All the information you need is on our website.