On Sunday 1st October, the Choral Society presented a performance of Verdi’s Requiem. This concert, held in Burton’s Town Hall, was a fitting finale to Burton Festival 2000. In order to do justice to this magnificent choral work, the Rolleston choir was joined by the choir of the Needwood Singers, choristers from a number of other local choirs, as well as nearly 20 singers from the Stafford and District Choral Society. Altogether there was an augmented choir of one hundred voices on the stage.

The choir supported four exceptionally good guest soloists in Barbara Lowe - Soprano, Judith Carder - Mezzo Soprano, Keith Halliday - Tenor and John Hawker - Bass. The sixty strong “Millennium Orchestra” added the final touch. This combination of singers and musicians, under the baton of Peter Vernon produced a glorious sound that filled the hall and thrilled the audience.

The amount of work involved for, a relatively small society in, not only rehearsing for such a major concert, but also in its organisation and production is enormous. This concert was well worth all the effort required. However, it is not something that can be repeated very often, so we are now back concentrating on performances that are just as demanding and just as important to us but on a smaller scale.

The Society’s next concert will have been and gone by the time you read this issue of Rollestonian. This will be a Remembrance Concert to be held in St Mary’s Church, Rolleston, on Saturday November 11th. The concert was planned to have two distinct parts. The first part, having a more solemn tone, to be a performance of Faure’s beautiful and moving Requiem. This is to be followed by the singing of songs that were popular during the dark days of two world wars.

Immediately after the Remembrance Concert we start rehearsing in earnest for our Annual Christmas Concert. This year the concert will be held in the Methodist Chapel in Rolleston on December 13th staring at 7.30pm. This is always a very popular village event as it sets the scene for the lead up to the Christmas festivities proper. Please make the effort to come along and enjoy it with us.

This completes the rundown on our year 2000 performances. However the Society is also very busy in other directions.

On November 4th, the Society attended a Medieval Banquet at Tutbury Castle when, after an excellent meal, we really entered into the “spirit” of the night by meeting Mary, Queen of Scots (executed 1587). Mary kept everyone enthralled by her account of her life, her treatment at Tutbury Castle and her, (not altogether speedy) dispatch at the hand of her executioner. Although there was much emotion, horror and at times outrage, no one lost his or her head, not even Mary - you couldn’t see the join.

15th November is the Society’s AGM. We are still looking for members, both singing members and Patron members. For further details on membership, please contact any member of the Society.

Our AGM is followed on 25th November by a skittles evening at the Bridge Brewery, Burton. This is always a highly competitive affair to see who can down the most - skittles that is!

The final social event for the year 2000 takes place on 20th December, when the Society holds its Christmas Supper.

Well that’s it for the year 2000, it just remains for me, on behalf of members of Rolleston Choral Society to wish all readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Ken Green (Publicity)

The year 2000 continues to be a very busy one for the Society. On 14th May, the Choir sang in St Mary's Church, when it made its contribution to the village Millennium celebrations. The whole week of activities was very successful; there were some suggestions that, perhaps, there should be similar celebrations every year! Members of the Society really enjoyed making their contribution; singing to a full and very appreciative audience - which participated very musically and energetically when prompted. As always, the "session" performed by the Beyne Dixie Band added considerable colour to the tone of the proceedings.

With the Rolleston Millennium Concert behind us, the Choir is working hard in rehearsal for the Burton 2000 Festival. Readers of Rollestonian will know, from the Summer issue, that the choir of the Needwood Singers is joining us in this concert. In addition we are fortunate to have quite a number of singers from other choirs joining with us, including a contingent from the Stafford Choral Society.

On the day, it is expected that a choir of at least 80 voices - with guest soloists singing the principal parts - accompanied by a full orchestra will take the stage in the Burton upon Trent Town Hall at 7.30pm on Sunday 1st October. Tickets for this concert (all £7) are available now and they can be obtained through any member of the Society.

Looking further ahead, in consultation with the British Legion, the Society is looking into the possibility of participation in an Armistice Day Commemoration to be held on Saturday 11th November. Discussions on this are still in their early stages so no definite information is, as yet, available. However, should these arrangements come to fruition, details will be posted in the village well in advance of the date.

Looking still further ahead, consideration is now being given to the format, style and location of our annual Christmas Concert. Again, arrangements for this are still in the early stages but, details will be posted in plenty of time, as well as in the Winter (good gracious, did I really use that word?) issue of Rollestonian.

As you will appreciate from these notes, there is a lot of activity involving the Society on the local scene. This can be hard work but it can be very rewarding and fulfilling. The Society is still open to new members - or old members for that matter - either as Singers, Patrons or Helpers. All will be made welcome. If you are interested please let any member of the Society know.

Ken Green (Publicity)

They say that as you get older time passes quicker and quicker. I am beginning to think that this is true because, the time between each issue of Rollestonian definitely seems to be getting shorter and shorter. It seems like only yesterday that I wrote the Choral Society’s article for the spring issue and here I am writing for the summer issue. In reality the true explanation is probably that being busy makes time appear to pass quickly. Being busy is exactly what members of the Choral Society have been however, some members have been even busier than others have.

In addition to practising hard for the 20th May village Millennium concert, the choir is also in preliminary rehearsal for its Burton on Trent Millennium Festival Concert. However, this work load has not been enough for the really keen members:-

On 5^th February, members of the Society joined with over 400 other singers at a Regional Singing Day, organised by the Association of British Choral Directors. This was a truly inspiring event with works by Schubert, Chilcott, Farant, Lotti, Carter, Haydn and Rutter rehearsed and sung. John Rutter himself directed the afternoon session. It was not all serious music; it even included an arrangement of The Teddy Bears Picnic!

Following this, on 17^th March a number of members sang with the Staffordshire county choir in a performance of Handel’s Messiah, in Lichfield Cathedral. For this performance every seat in the Cathedral was filled and television monitors were provided for the benefit of those sitting in the side aisles. The performance finished with a rousing standing ovation from the audience. This was a memorable concert that will be long remembered by both those who listened and those who sang.

Then, on 8^th April, members of the Society sang, again in Lichfield Cathedral, this time with the Stafford Choral Society in their performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah. This concert was particularly enjoyed because the Society had performed this much loved work only last year.

On 14^th May members of the choir will be singing (I say "will be" because I am writing this article on 30^th April), in a full day "Come and Sing" workshop organised by the British Choral Institute and Association of British Choral Directors. This workshop will be held in the Guildhall, Lichfield and the work rehearsed and sung will be Verdi’s Requiem. This presents an excellent opportunity for some serious practice for our Burton upon Trent Millennium concert.

This brings me right up to date. As you can see, being a member of Rolleston Choral Society opens up many doors of opportunity, for singers of all ability, to practice and perform with experienced amateur and professional singers and musicians. Why don’t you try it? You would almost certainly enjoy it.

Finally, a reminder about the Burton Millennium Concert. This will be held in the Burton Town Hall on Sunday 1^st October. For this concert, the Needwood Singers (and a number of other guest singers from choirs around the county) will join the Rolleston Choral Society in performing Verdi’s Requiem. It is fully expected that this augmented choir will comprise between 80 and 100 voices.

In the Spring issue of Rollestonian the availability of Patron Membership of the Choral Society was announced. If you would like to support your village Choral Society by becoming a Patron for our 2000/2001 season, then please let any member of the Society know and they will be pleased to ensure that you receive details of this. Membership for the 2000/2001 season will ensure that you have a free reserved seat for our Burton on Trent Millennium Concert, as well as any other concerts that we perform in that season.

Ken Green (Publicity)

Well, here we are, already well into another Choral Year. The Choral Society finished off 1999 in grand style with a truly memorable concert of Christmas Music in St. Mary's Church. A concert that was exceptionally well supported by a capacity audience and an outstanding contribution by the boys and girls of John of Rolleston School Choir.

It is some five years or so since the Choral Society and the village junior school combined their efforts in producing a concert promoting the joys of Christmas. As this years concert was so thoroughly enjoyed by all who participated, let's hope that we can repeat the experience and that it does not have to be a further five years in the coming.

The Choir is now well into rehearsals for both the Society's Spring Millennium Concert and its Autumn Concert. The Millennium Concert, which will be a programme of popular English Music, will be held in the village on Saturday 20th, May. The Autumn Concert (a performance of Verdi's Requiem) will be held in a large capacity venue in the town, as part of the Burton Festival. This concert will be held on 1st October. Full details have yet to be finalised but, book the dates in your diary now. Both events will be widely advertised well in advance of the performance dates.

The Choral Society's philosophy is the maintenance of affordable prices and therefore the availability of our musical performances to the widest possible cross-section of the community. In order to achieve this objective, we would require additional support and hoped that this support would come from the recruitment of Patrons to the Society. Details of the Patron Membership have now been finalised and the Society is now happy to offer this to you.

Briefly, a Patron of the Choral Society, in exchange for an annual donation, (of an amount not less than the current membership subscription) will, although being a non-singing member, enjoy all the rights and privileges of any other member of the Society. In addition, as recognition of their support, Patrons will be entitled to free reserved seats at concerts performed by the Society during their membership year.

If you would like to accept this invitation to become a Patron of The Choral Society, (and we sincerely hope that you will) please apply to Paul Taylor, 'The Old Hall'. In return, you will be sent a receipt as confirmation of your membership. Your membership card and copy of the Society's newly revised Constitution will follow.

As a Member of the Society you will be advised in advance of concert details and you will be asked to confirm whether or not you will be attending. This confirmation will ensure that your free scat will be reserved for you.

We look forward to you joining us.

(Ken Green, Publicity)

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Last updated: 23 November 2002