A Winter’s Tale

Come and enjoy the lovely singing of Harmony One in aid of the Snowflake Night Shelter on Saturday 11 February at St Clements Church in Hastings Old Town. A Winter’s Tale features contemporary settings of Shakespeare’s lyrics for female voices. You can be sure there will be some beautiful harmonies and exquisite melodies. Debbie Warren writes.

Harmony One will be joined by actors Julian Curry and Mary Chater – both very experienced Shakespearian actors with many credits at the RSC between them. (Some of you may also remember Julian as Erskine-Brown in Rumpole of the Bailey.) They will be reading from some of Shakespeare’s plays to set the scene for each of the songs. The performances will be conducted by myself, Debbie Warren and accompanied on the piano by Helen Ridout. The recently formed Two Towers Handbells, based at St Clements, will also be performing.

The Snowflake Night Shelter provide much needed overnight accommodation to homeless people in Hastings during the winter months from November to March.

A Winter’s Tale: Saturday 11 February at St Clements Church in Hastings Old Town. Doors open at 5pm for a 5.30pm start. Tickets cost just £8 (children under 16 are free) and are available from Tourist Information (01424 451111), Cobblers to the Old Town, B&T Music and on the door.

Harmony One

Harmony One have only been going for two years but have already earned a reputation for beautiful singing, interesting arrangements and strong harmonies. They are as likely to be seen singing traditional fishing and sea-faring songs at some of the Hastings fish festivals, as they are on the concert platform performing newly written music. They also like to get involved in the community and raise money for local charities.

It has been a busy year for us. As the summer festival season began in Hastings we were singing fishing songs at the Midsummer Fish Fest. I decided it would be fun to accompany us on the piano accordion and so I ordered one from Bulgaria. It took weeks to arrive and I only had ten days to learn how to play it! The following month, we all donned pirate attire and performed sea shanties and piratical songs for Pirates Day. We performed on the main stage on the Stade as well as on the pier. It was a great day and a swashbuckling time was had by all!

Harmony One in action on Pirates’ Day

Meanwhile we were busy learning several pieces for ‘Clash!’, part of the Root 1066 International Festival. Composers and poets had been commissioned to write new works inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry and we were one of seven choirs involved in this exciting project which took place in September at Sussex Coast College.

A couple of weeks later we took part in The Big Sing for St Michael’s Hospice and helped raise several thousand pounds. Then at the beginning of November, we were singing songs about the herring fishing industry at the Herring Fair. In December we were honoured to be asked to lead the carol singing on the Stade for the Winkle Club Christmas Memorial Service, remembering those who had lost their lives at sea. A quick break for Christmas and we were back performing at The Ghost of Dunkirk lifeboat fundraiser at St Mary in the Castle in January. And somewhere amongst all of that we have found time to learn a whole programme of Shakespeare songs for our forthcoming concert!

For more information visit Harmony One.

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