hampshire guitar orchestra newsletter

This is a web-archive of the Newsletter we emailed to our subscribers in September 2006

The passage of time may mean that some links to external sites are out of date or broken

ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER

This free newsletter is a small-scale production to keep you in touch with what's happening in hago - we always include links into our main website where you can read more, see photos and explore still further, so do click when you see a link...

Welcome to the many people who have subscribed since last issue - here's where you find out what we're up to.

NEW NAME - NEW VENUE

On July 6th, our final rehearsal of the summer, we decided we'd drop the word "Area" from our title - it was a sort of hangover from the days when we were the Havant Area Guitar Orchestra. So now we're simply the Hampshire Guitar Orchestra, but we're still hago, but we're stealing an "a" from Hampshire instead!
And we're excited that we're moving a little further into the countryside to rehearse. We're moving to Lovedean. We lodged there temporarily a year ago when our Purbrook venue was being redecorated and the refurbishment over-ran dreadfully. Now they are pulling the Church apart, and had we stayed put we'd have had a 27% hike in fees to pay for the over-run on the Hall, and there would be no car-park at all - full of building materials.

Lovedean offers us a cheaper venue (under 1/3 the cost) and it's double glazed instead of being draughty.

There's a photo of Lovedean Village Hall on our website

CONCERT NEWS

Well, two days after our final rehearsal, we shared a concert with Cambridge Guitar Orchestra. You can read all about it on our website, and also see a photo of their new mascot, which we're a bit peeved they call Derek because he has a large beak and makes a lot of noise...

Already we've been invited up to Cambridge some time in May or June next year and already we're plotting our revenge...

It was great to have one of the UK's finest guitarists in the audience - Graham Devine. I don't think he wanted to join, though...

Last Sunday we were at the Birdman of Bognor again. It's futile to try to explain to our overseas subscribers why us Brits like jumping off a pier in a chicken suit, so let's tell you that there's a serious element too with a prize of £25000 for the flight that beats 100 metres. Once again the competitors were close - two achieved over 80 metres - but once again the prize money stays unclaimed.
We didn't make a big noise about our performance because we didn't think we'd make a big noise! Guitar is quiet enough without playing outdoors in the bandstand, but some excellent amplification meant that we drew a large crowd.
We've a small album of photos you might like to view.

WHAT'S COMING UP?

We usually start a new academic year with an empty diary, but this year is different - already there are some events on the horizon.

Our first concert is on October 14th, back at the Church of the Resurrection, Farlington, and all the proceeds are going to Age Concern, who are promoting the event. The tickets are a real bargain at £5, and we hope to get a large audience so that they receive a sizeable addition to their fund-raising. There are details
on our website. Do come if you can - we have a new piece especially for the event, and it is, shall we say, a bit tongue-in-cheek.

Also on the horizon are concerts in North End on December 2nd, and (subject to final confirmation) one for The Rowans on November 30th. New venues, both of them - we're looking forward to those. If you're keen to support The Rowans, as many people are, look out for this one on our website - all being well we have a rather nice venue in a rather nice place...
Looking further ahead, we already have a definite, a probable and a possible for next summer!

TORNAVOZ

Now there's a word you don't see often. If you want to know what one is, and why we made a plastic one, you need to read the Tornavoz article we've put on our website. We'll give you a clue - you can see some photos and hear one in action... British subscribers who remember the Blue Peter TV programme will be pleased to note that it was made from the next best thing to sticky-backed plastic. Plastic and glue...

WEBSITE NEWS

Our website continues to attract visitors and our increasing living history means the site is growing ever larger! Our MD is interviewed by Hantsweb - there's a link on our news page. As we've said, there are also photos from our CGO concert and from the Birdman (including some close-up piccies of the action) in our Archives.

RECRUITMENT NEWS

We're not really recruiting at the moment, but if you're a Grade 6+ player, we'll find you a seat - there's one line we could do with strengthening - www.hago.org.uk/join You need is to be free on fortnightly Thursday evenings, a few Saturday evenings a year, and want to really be part of something that mixes hard work with huge amounts of exhilaration and fun. Commitment is more important than anything else!

If you live locally but are more of a novice with classical guitar, our MD's Workshop (which reconvenes on September 28th) might be just right. A sort of hago-for-novices, it has shorter pieces, easier lines, more people and a less grumpy Musical Director. Well, it's the same MD, but he lets people make mistakes in Workshop!

CHARITY NEWS

The amount we've raised for local charities has now reached £27,000 - thank you for helping us in our outreach and charitable works

PUBLICITY

As a not-for-profit orchestra, with many concerts for charity, we are always on the look-out for chances to raise public awareness of what we do, preferably at no cost, of course. If you are aware of opportunities to publicise what we do, please reply to this newsletter and send us details - thanks!

hago newsletter 15th September 2006