hago.org.uk - updates in 2007
Hampshire Guitar Orchestra » what's new » 2007
hago news from 2007 ...
December 2007
Our Christmas Newsletter has gone out to almost 100 subscribers - it's free, it's ever 6-8 weeks - subscribe here
Our concert in Southwick in November raised £934.86 for The Rowans Hospice, and brings our Charity Fundraising to £35067
Goodness - we've 11 concerts in planning already for 2008!
Our concert at St Nicholas North End raised over £200 for CCL - Chernobyl Children's Lifeline. It's a great thrill to be able to help such a tragic set of kids by offering a respite from the background radiation in Belarus. Many of the children arrive in the UK for a holiday with only the clothes they stand up in. The money tonight will give them a break, a break that can add as much as two years to their tragically shortened life - thank you for coming tonight!
We're delighted to announce a new scheme to let talented 16-21 year-old guitarists have a real taster of what playing in a Guitar Orchestra is all about. If you fit that age-bracket or you're a teacher with young players, read more here!
November 2007
It was great to see so many people at Southwick - that's two sell-out concerts in one month - it'll be going to our head!
The organiser writes
Thank you to everyone for another absolutely splendid Concert at Southwick last evening - it was really great to have you back in Southwick Church.
Will be in touch as soon as we have an indication of the fundraising, although we shall have to wait for the Gift Aid envelopes to be opened and checked at Hospice headquarters.
My grateful thanks to all your team - you are just a very special Group.
With 130 tickets sold for our Park Place Concert on 1st November, we were optimistic that we would raise a sizeable sum for the work that the Sisters do in India. We've just heard that the Friends of Park Place have handed over a cheque for £1025 - what a great total! It brings our total raised for charity to £33245
October 2007
Another Guitar FAQ - when to re-string.
Our fundraising total climbs to £32220
What a lovely Church it is at Four Marks - excellent acoustics and an audience that really enjoyed our eclectic mix of styles. The organiser of our concert in aid of Friends of Boundaries Surgery writes:
Thank you to you and all the orchestra for the fantastic concert on Saturday night. I have had so much feed back of how super it all was - So thank you all very much for coming and providing such a great time for us all.
We made £430 clear for our funds - I waited until I knew the final amount before I sent this. So again thank you.
We're back in harness now with our regular autumn and spring concerts for local charities - see our concerts page
September 2007
What a great evening we had at the Portsmouth Guildhall, where we were guests of the Milton Glee Club, who put on a superb evening of massively enjoyable music. We needed just a little amplification to stand a chance being heard after a large band and a 100-strong choir, but it was a real thrill to play to a 1000-strong audience and to surprise each and every one of them with the sound that a guitar orchestra makes!
Check out our concerts page - it's suddenly filling up for 2008 - and we'll be popping some more concerts into the gaps soon!
Our concert at Winchester for BRPS is long gone from our website, but BRPS continues to be in the news - the BBC news...
We had a great time at the Birdman of Bognor on September 2nd - mind you, it was blowing a gale!
August 2007
Another free lesson with another mini teach-in - all about tone production...
We're looking at setting up some 2008 concerts now! The first is on March 8th on Hayling Island - more details soon.
We've added booking information for our concert on 29th September with Milton Glee Club and the Band of the Royal British Legion.
July 2007
Our fundraising total has reached £31750!
It was really nice to return to St Faith's, where we last played in May 2005, this time raising almost £150 for their organ restoration.
June 2007
What a great time we had in our biennial visit to Cambridge to play with CGO, and what a great audience too.
A small change to our home page means that you can now see when "new news" is added to this page
Our concert for Street Pastors in Portsmouth on June 9th raised £500 for their project and brings our charity fundraising total to £30979.
Elly Mulvany, the coordinator, writes
"It was very successful and after costs we have raised £500 that will sponsor 2 Street pastors to be out on the streets for 2 years!"
Our fledgling section on hints and tips for ensemble players now features hago's magic MIDI Metronome
May 2007
There's another 5-minute lesson - this time our topic is Dynamic Range
Over £170 goes to BRPS - our charity for May 11th - and our charity total reaches £30,479
We enjoyed meeting many new faces and some old (well, not old!) friends at our May 11th concert in Winchester - we'll let you know the fundraising total as soon as we find out
We've added another mini-article of interest to guitarists - about tone production and ensembles
April 2007
Dedication should never go unrecognised - our latest Long Service presentation....
Our fundraising for local charities reaches £30,300 following another donation to The Rowans Hospice
March 2007
Our concert in Emsworth on March 16th raises £647.05 for Hope and Homes for Children.
Our fundraising for local charities crosses £30,000 to reach £30,200 - thank you everyone who has helped us reach this super figure
Our concert season is under way - our first is on March 16th - our free email newsletter has all the dates as they approach...
February 2007
February 25th - hago is 8 years old today, and we're celebrating by booking more concerts than ever this year!
We're excited about the venue for our concert in May - a chance to visit Winchester, capital of historic Wessex
January 2007
Our MD travels far and wide auditioning players for hago - Bruce Paine's website features Derek and Bruce in concert at Alberton House, Mt Albert, Auckland, New Zealand
We've now got booking details for our concert in Emsworth on March 16th in aid of Hope and Homes for Children - see also the Portsmouth News 30th January
Our charity fund-raising total climbs to £29546
Happy New Year to all our many visitors! We are already setting up many more fundraising concerts