Ipswich Venue

Our Ipswich Choir had a temporary change of venue this week, as the refurbishment at Ipswich Sports Club takes place. Lots of very positive comments about this light and airy space – and one negative comment, thereby confirming the old adage.

We're waiting for a completion date for the refurb so not sure whether we'll be at Grange Farm this upcoming week, or back at Ipswich Sports Club.

I shall keep you posted but as always, check the Calendar below for details by clicking Ipswich.

Songs, songs, songs

Safe to say, you seem to like Don't Leave Me This Way! We took it nice and easy for the first week but still covered plenty of ground. This one will take us to the end of term (next week and the week after, that is) and then we'll get cracking with next term's songs! Plenty to cover this week so almost certainly no new Hot Hopeful this week.

I'll do the video recap lesson in two halves, so no new videos this week, but expect Part 1 at the end of next week, and Part 2 at the end of term.

I seem to have divided the choir with Mr Brightside although I have spotted some very generous comments along the lines of, "I don't like it but I'm sure that once Ed has arranged it, I'll come to love it!"

It might be helpful to share some thoughts about songs:

Firstly, do please use the Suggest A Song feature below. Whilst this section is listed for a rebuild when I get a moment, it should work for all but the most elderly devices.

It gives me a great idea of what you, The Choir, like and I'm guided, in part, by what you folks vote upwards. Please do thumbs-up or thumbs-down previously suggested songs, and feel free to add suggestions of your own.

If you're on your phone you'll need to turn it on it's side to landscape orientation for the list to show up. And if you want to suggest a song you need to search for it first and then look for the text which says, "We've found 0 song(s) which have already been suggested. If your song is not listed, you can add it to the list of suggestions by clicking here."

Secondly, I'm firmly of the view that Pop Club Choir performances are about entertaining our audiences. I've spoken about this in rehearsals but, at the risk of over-egging the pudding, the acknowledged wisdom at some choirs, is that the performances are only for the benefit of the choir members. Not so with Pop Club Choir!

Of course, I want you to enjoy our gigs, but I'm really keen that we also factor in the audience's enjoyment too! As far as picking songs that audiences enjoy, and at the severe risk of blowing my own trumpet (toot toot), I've got good form in that area from what I laughingly refer to as my "day job!"

That brings me back nicely to songs like Mr Brightside (and Giant which we'll be tackling next term). There are some gigs we have coming up for which I'll be very glad to have some more modern stuff in our repertoire.

(Not the) First Gig Of 2025

I'm very much looking forward to our gig on Tuesday 18th March at The Carnegie Hall in Thetford.

Up until the last minute gig in Newmarket at the beginning of March, this would have been our first one of 2025. It will also be our second time at this event. When we did it last year, it was the very first Pop Club Choir performance ever!

Quiz Night

I'm also very much looki¬ng forward to our first Quiz Night. This will be hosted by the Bury St Edmunds choir and the details are as follows:

• Friday 11th April 2025
• New Green Centre, New Green Avenue, Thurston, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk IP31 3TG
• 7pm to 10pm
• Teams of five or six
• Bar will be open
• Bring 'nibbles' for your team table
• Tickets £5 from popclubchoir.uk/shop

Printing

I'm always happy to print lyric sheets out for people but I'm trying to find a way to avoid ending up with loads of unused ones at the end of the week.

So, if you can print your own lyrics that'd be very helpful. If not, my current plan is to ask you to return anything that we'll only use once (such as the Hot Hopefuls) and if you'd like lyrics printed for the evening's rehearsal, perhaps you could message me on the morning of the rehearsal.

Failing that, I can recommend iPads!

As always, please share your thoughts and feedback. You can email me at ed@popclubchoir.uk, or WhatsApp, call or text on 07973 110075. Or hit me up on Facebook!

Ed X