Sound Waves Community Choir singing at the Stade last summer.

Sound Waves raises £2,000+ for charity

December was a busy month for Sound Waves Community Choir with several events that together raised more than £2000.  The concerts included one in aid of the Seaview Project which raised a magnificent £643.79, more than any other Seaview concert, and Sound Waves’ own Christmas concert, which raised just over £1,000 for its chosen charities, writes HOT’s Chris Cormack.

A good number of the choir also enjoyed the ‘Now and Then’ Christmas concert which raised £448 for Macmillan Cancer Support.  The choir’s ‘Songs for the Elderly’ group of about 20, led by Mike Rosenberg, was also well received by the residents and staff at the Moreton Centre in St Leonards. They love to sing at local events to support the Hastings community and make regular donations to local charities. The choir itself is a non-profit making organisation.

Sound Waves Community Choir is an important choir in Hastings, open to all-comers. They cover an exceedingly wide range of music, from early English music to classical/opera, jazz/blues, pop, sea shanties, gospel and world music; this they achieve by means of a variety of musical directors throughout any year.

The fabulous local opera singer Louise Winter volunteered to be the first musical director in February 2009, when approximately 30 singers took part. It was a great success culminating in a performance for family and friends.  Since then the musical directors have included other notable local musicians such as Liane Carroll, Mike Hatchard,  Jenny Miller from Barefoot Opera, Tallis scholar Deborah Roberts, De la Warr director Katy Debraux and Juliet Russell of Vocal Explosion.

The choir has a small number of CDs from previous concerts at the bargain basement price of £1. On most of the CDs there are one or two songs that are in their repertoire, so they might be useful for new members as well.

In its upcoming ‘Singing for Fun’ sessions, which are open to all, the choir plans to sing a wide variety of songs from different genres, some they have sung before and some completely new. Without the pressure of a final performance, the aim is to have a range of songs that are enjoyable to sing together. Some of these may form part of future performances.

In May Adam Hepkin, artistic director at The Venue, Bexhill High School, will be the choir’s musical director for some exciting work on musicals. The choir now has a Facebook page which will make it easier for people to keep in touch.

Singing for Fun sessions begin this Tuesday, 14 January, at 7.30pm at the Salvation Army Hall, St Andrew’s Square TN34 1SR (behind Pisarro’s).  They will continue until 15 April with a half-term break on 18 February.  Registration is now open.

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