hago newsletter 24th October 2009
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Hampshire Guitar Orchestra » Concerts » Mailing List » 24th October 2009
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This is a web-archive of the Newsletter we emailed to our subscribers in October 2009
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ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER ... Almost 120 readers now!
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 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. You're all very welcome :-)
LATEST NEWS
So what's been happening?
We've welcomed two new players - Jenny and Anna, both extremely competent and helping ensure that our standards always rise and never fall. As you'll see from the next para, they had a bit of a baptism
by fire, concert-wise!
In quick succession, we've had four concerts.
On September 19th, we played at St Peter's Petersfield - we still haven't managed to extract from the organiser a fund-raising total - she tells us that the Treasurer has gone on an extended holiday,
hopefully not with the money we raised!
On October 3rd we were playing at Four Marks, near Alton - invited back to raise more money for the "Friends of Boundaries Surgery". Now that one we do have a total for - £429
Then it was Portsmouth Guildhall, the following afternoon, as guests of Milton Glee Club, which despite its rather archaic name, is a massive choir that includes music from many of the latest shows.
Accompanied by the Central Band of the Royal British Legion, they raised the roof and deafened nearly 1000 people. Our own contribution was a little quieter, but thanks to the excellent sound system
there, we really got rather a splendid reception. Our Musical Director is still walking around talking about the fact that his jokes didn't just get a laugh, they got applause.
And finally, on October 17th we played in the Church at Portchester Castle, and - wait for this - raised £1250 for their appeal. What a massive and wonderful total! And we also had the curious
pleasure, if that be the word, of sitting in the middle of the Church, so that the audience was on our left and on our right, but not in front. It meant that we were audible to 170 people, in what would
otherwise be quite awkward acoustics - it's a big tall, long Church...
WHAT'S COMING UP?
On November 19th - that's a Thursday - we're at St Barnabas for our annual concert in aid of The Rowans Hospice.
Find out more on our concerts page. We are starting to pencil in events for 2010, as you can see.
That big gap between now and then? Well, we have another Carol concert in Portsmouth in December at a Sheltered Accommodation block - always a wonderful and moving time, but not open to the public.
And then we give Churches a bit of a wide berth in the "closed season" when it's really too chilly for us to make our fingers work in the cold, dark nights.
So it's March again when we venture back out, but if past winters are anything to go by, we'll have some more new pieces, and we might have a new player too!
Oh, and if you want guitar lessons, Derek, our MD has one-to-one vacancies during the day - ideal if you are retired or working flexible hours. You can "reply" to this email, but if you want to read up a bit more first, visit Derek's brand new tuition pages.
WEBSITE NEWS
Check out our website - there's a whole lot of miscellaneous news there. New on the news page is the inclusion of little graphics to make reading through the page a little easier on the eye.
And you can find us on Facebook too.
If you're not a member, you can read all our latest news. Check out the Boxes and Wall tabs.
If you're a member, become a Fan - then you can get automatic reminders about our next concert, and get occasional news posted to your NewsFeed. Sounds a bit alien? Well, click the link and see!
PUBLICITY
Look out for us on local radio and in the press. And if you can get as a mention somewhere local to you, please do - word of mouth is our best advertisement!
We had rather a good review after our Petersfield Concert. We say "good" - the reviewer is renowned for tearing into performers in print, and we got what we think is high praise "the audience seemed to enjoy..." - sure the reviewer obviously didn't, but hey...
We hope to see you at one of our concerts - if the feedback is like it was last weekend, then you'll enjoy it more than that cold-hearted reviewer did!
With best wishes from everyone in hago - we're off to contemplate spending the whole of the "extra hour" tomorrow adjusting all the clocks as we revert to GMT and say goodbye to British Summer Time - talk about giving the hour with one hand and taking it away with the other... I think there are 13 clocks in this household, but at least some of them adjust themselves!
With best wishes from everyone in hago!