First full day! Tuesday 16th July

Today we had our stage rehearsal for the Secondary Schools competition in the town hall. This just involves working out where we will stand, walking on and off and having a quick sing to hear what the acoustic sounds like. After that we had the huge privilege of singing in a flashmob for the World Choir Council. We sang alongside two other choirs, one from New Zealand and another from China. It was great to meet these other singers and to learn a Maori song alongside them.

After lunch, we headed down to Quay Street for the parade of nations. Again the singers mingled with singers from choirs all over the world - China, the USA, and India - to name a few. The atmosphere was fantastic. There were also a few impromptu rehearsals, including in the local park, before a well-earned early night.

Arrival day! Monday 15th July - Auckland!

And we’re all here! It was great for the FYC advance party - Patrick, Melanie and Anna to greet the choir members and adults as they arrived at our hotel at lunchtime. Once rooms were sorted out, some went for a nap while others went for a swim (and created a synchronised swimming routine!). We went for a delicious dinner at Elliott Stables, before returning to the hotel for a quick stretch of the vocal chords and bed. The adults are so impressed with how maturely the singers have dealt with the long and stressful journey. Everyone was happy to go to bed.

New recording: Herstory out 1st March

We are very excited to announce the release of our latest recording: 'Herstory', coming out on 1st March. This mini-album consists of the three songs written by our composer in residence team for 2022, Russell Hepplewhite and Helen Eastman. The three songs each feature inspiring women scientists from history: Mary Anning, palaeontologist, Caroline Herschel, astronomer and comet-finder and Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan, the so-called 'human computers' who calculated NASA's missions to the moon in the 1950s. The songs are: ‘Sea Shores’ about Anning, ‘Comet Crazy’ about Herschel and ‘In the Numbers’ about the NASA mathematicians.

Senior Choir singing ‘Sea Shores’ to Mary Anning’s statue

The whole period of Russell and Helen’s residency has been extremely enriching for our three choirs. Composer and librettist both came to meet our singers and answered some really thought-provoking questions about writing music and words. The three songs had their world premiere at our summer concert at the Menuhin Hall back in June 2022 and ‘Comet Crazy’ featured in our inaugural Singing Spree in the same month. Then all three choirs worked hard on the recordings in the weeks that followed. The Senior Choir had the added joy of being able to sing ‘Sea Shores’ to Anning’s recently unveiled statue in Lyme Regis back in the summer as part of their summer tour. We hope you’re going to enjoy these songs as much as we do and hope that you will add them to your playlists from 1st March on Spotify and YouTube.

We would also like to warmly thank Alton School for the loan of their drama studio as a location for these recordings. Without their generosity, the recording of these songs would have been impossible. www.altonschool.co.uk

Tesco Community Grant

We’re in the customer vote for a Tesco Community Grant. It’s a scheme which gives community projects like ours grants of up to £1,500. Tesco customers will now vote in:

• Aldershot, GU11 1SQ

• Fleet Ancells Farm, GU51 2XF

• Fleet Express, GU52 6AB

• Farnborough Cove Road, GU14 0EU

• Ridgeway Road Farnham, GU9 8NN

• Hale Farnham, GU9 0LA

• Ashvale Lysons Avenue, GU12 5QL

stores during October-December 2022 to decide how much funding we get, so please support us the next time (and every time) you shop at Tesco!

Funds from our current fundraising will go towards supporting our Senior Choir to compete at the International Choral Competition in Hull in 2023. This will be the choir’s long overdue return to competition, after their double gold medal winning appearance at the European Choir Games in Gothenburg in 2019.

New Music Director for the FYC Junior Choir

We are delighted to announce that another familiar face will be stepping forward in January, when Margaret O’Shea will become Music Director of the Junior Choir. Margaret directed the Junior Choir throughout Patrick’s recent sabbatical, and returns to continue the fantastic work she and the young singers achieved together last term.

Margaret is Director of Music for Ark Schools, a network of 38 schools around the UK, where she leads Ark’s music curriculum and enrichment programmes. She is also a trustee of NYCGB (National Youth Choirs, Great Britain). a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and of the Royal Northern College of Music.

She is a qualified teacher and a staunch advocate for inclusivity in education and for the importance of music in young peoples’ development and wellbeing.

FYC's new Artistic Director

FYC is delighted to announce that Patrick Barrett will be its new Artistic Director from January 2021. Patrick is. of course, well known to FYC having previously being Assistant Director and Director of the Junior Choir. He is very much in demand in the UK and abroad, and is also Junior Chorus Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Conductor of the Irish Youth Training Choir.

We are so pleased to have a familiar and popular figure to lead FYC going forward, and Patrick’s vision for our choirs is bold and exciting. Patrick says: ‘I’m delighted to be starting in this new role with Farnham Youth Choir, a community of singers so dear to my heart”