hampshire guitar orchestra newsletter

This is a web-archive of the Newsletter we emailed to our subscribers in April 2008

The passage of time may mean that some links to external sites are out of date or broken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

LATEST NEWS

With newsletter subscribers all over the world, there's no point in just sending out invitations to our next concert (although there is one a bit further on!), so this section will fill you in on all things hago that have happened recently.

So let's begin by saying "Welcome to spring" to all our northern hemisphere readers, and "Welcome to autumn" to all those south of the equator.

We began the season with a birthday party - our 9th, which, as is tradition now, required the consumption of two birthday cakes by a team of 15 people. You'll be pleased to know that we rose to the challenge and the cakes were defeated!

Our first concert of the season, on March 8th, was a sell-out, and the URC at Hayling raised £950 for their rebuilding work - a remarkable achievement, topped only by the remarkable way they managed to squeeze quite so many people into the building. It's our second concert in 6 months with audience behind us as well as in front. And above. Great fun. We return to Hayling in October for a concert at the theatre.

We had a fantastic feature in Hampshire and Wiltshire View - a lifestyle magazine for central southern England. It's generated a flood of interest and the prospect of at least one concert in Wiltshire - a new area for us. The magazine is available as a free download on their website here - you want so download the March 2008 issue. We're the first main article in the magazine, so you can read all about us before you get overwhelmed with adverts for walk-in baths, driveways and posh home furnishings!

Our good friends at the two local guitar societies (West Sussex Guitar Club and Southampton Classical Guitar Society) have sent out our concert flyers to their members and we're looking forward to meeting some of their 200 members at future concerts. Our roles in the world of guitar are very different - the societies provide a mix of playing opportunities and classical recitals, whereas we provide evening entertainment that's almost always for those unfamiliar with guitar, and almost always in aid of a local charity. It's these different perspectives in the world of guitar that mean we enjoy a warm friendship with both societies, and we will be teaming up with WSGC again next year for our third joint event - something rather special on April 25th 2009

Possibly the best guitar shop in the UK is Brian Whitehouse's Guitar Centre in Birmingham, and once again, some of us went up there last weekend to try some of the instruments. We've got subscribers from all over the world, but Brian will supply all over the world too, so why not click above and have a browse. It's an Aladdin's cave of a shop with guitars hanging on every wall in every room, and a toilet full of guitar cases! And yes, we came back with yet another guitar which will add clarity and roundness to our trademark sound.

WHAT'S COMING UP?

Don't laugh - what's coming up is so many concerts we're getting a bit overwhelmed. We stopped taking bookings when we reached a dozen concerts for 2008, but we have seven possible concerts for 2009 already!

The receding bad weather and the lighter evenings mean that we've emerged from hago-hibernation and our concert season is starting to gather pace, with our next concert just a week away on April 12 in Copnor, on Portsea Island. There are 20 seats left and they're expected to go pretty soon, so if you want to come along, you'll find contact details for the organiser here. This is a most amazing venue - a domed room high in the roof of the Church. There's easy access by stairs and lift, and incredible acoustics. The concert is in aid of their regeneration fund, a regeneration that has already provided a nursery, a doctor's surgery and much more, all within what was a vast and empty Church. It's an inspirational project and we're delighted to support it.
We've said it before, but we'll say it again - the one that's a real jewel in our crown this year is on June 21st at St George's Portsea. Part of the Portsmouth Festivities, this is our biannual concert with Peter Rueffer's Cambridge Guitar Orchestra and provides some glorious contrasts and a wonderful variety of sound. More booking information soon!

RECRUITMENT NEWS

There's more information on our website at a special page all about the opportunities we offer. We think we offer players a unique chance to play concerts, many of which are sell-outs, and it's all backed up with bespoke arrangements, our four sizes of guitar and a new and much expanded members website with technical tutorials and practice aids. So if you're Grade 5 and above get in touch by replying to this email.

REPERTOIRE

Last time we wrote we told you we had some new repertoire. Well, we fired it all up at our recent concert and there are some great crowd-pleasers there. I'm not going to spoil the surprise and tell you what's on offer, but let's just say that there are some amazing contrasts again - a Morris Dance (no really!), a Spanish piece with a real atmospheric sound, and a Tango that you'll know from the soundtrack of not one but two big films.

WEBSITE NEWS

Our website continues to grow, and we've spent some time trying to make it really easy to find what you're looking for. The concerts page, for example, is very streamlined now - check it out here.
We're planning some housekeeping work behind the scenes over the next 3 weeks, and you might find, if you visit our site as we're moving files, that you get an occasional broken link - sorry about that - if you wait 20 minutes and try again, it should be fine.

PUBLICITY

Keep an eye out for us - we're working hard to get as much free publicity as possible - we've been in both local newspapers recently, and Hampshire View (see above), together with coverage on some of the local radio stations too. But as ever, if you can help us with new leads, or with a link, for example, from a website that you run, it will help us in our quest to hear the last of "well, I didn't know there was a guitar orchestra in Hampshire"....