HAG ROCKS! – Hi & Goodbye
Lesley Nicholls writes:
The Choir was started by Charlie, Amanda and myself on the 19th of Sept 2011, and we have some of our original singers from that evening still with us today! Charlie came up with the idea that as Hag really had enough singers and dancers to perform full scale musicals, it would be good to start up a choir again, as was historically the case. So, the three of us got together to set up an “outreach” project for the group, Hag members freely giving their time to non members in the local area, by setting up a community choir in the village. We welcomed all comers of all abilities, with the intention of just singing for fun and the health benefits it provides.
From humble beginnings the choir has gone from strength to strength over the years and Amanda has been staunch in her support. It’s a huge commitment, but not only every Monday evening, it’s also her time freely given for meetings, music arranging, numerous Concerts and technical set ups. She has also arranged and organised for our Choir to sing regularly at the “ Forget me Not” Café at St John’s Church Hall, as well as our annual entertaining for the villages” Holiday at Home” initiative. We have also sung Carols in a local Pub, Nursing Homes and for other local groups. All of which would not be possible without Amanda’s technical wizardry and dedication.
Sadly, Amanda is now leaving us, as she is moving to Norwich to be nearer her family. You take with you all our love and very best wishes Amanda and thank you so much for your time and efforts over so many years. Hag Rocks! Choir would not have been what it is today without you. 
Amanda has been a member of HAG for 36 years with many roles on and off the stage
Welcome to 2024, and the start of a new HAGRocks! term. We hope you all had a relaxing and refreshing break. We are looking forward to seeing you all again on Monday 8th January.
The Forget-Me-Not Cafe have asked us back, on Tuesday 2nd April.
We also need to start working towards a summer concert. We will start with the following music:
Paradise
What About Us
Lloyd Webber Medley
Razzle Dazzle
Fields of Gold
Don’t Stop Me Now
See you all soon.
Christmas Concert 2023
Carol singing 14th December The Mutton 6.30pm in Aid of Charity TBA
Christmas Concert Saturday 9th December 7.45pm Victoria Hall
Christmas Concert Friday 8th December 7.45pm Victoria Hall
Carol singing 14th December The Mutton 6.30pm in Aid of Charity TBA
Christmas Concert Saturday 9th December 7.45pm Victoria Hall
Christmas Concert Friday 8th December 7.45pm Victoria Hall
Advent Service 3rd December Old St. Mary’s Church. Time TBA
Autumn Term 6th September to December 11th
Friday August 18th St Johns Church Hall. Over 55’s Forum Holiday at Home 2.30pm
Summer Break
Thursday 29th June All Saints Parish Hall, Church Road, Fleet. Local Carers Association 1pm
Saturday June 24th Annual Charity Concert. All proceeds to ABA Accessible Boating Association. Victoria Hall 7.45pm
Tuesday 23th March St Johns Church Hall Forget-me-not-Cafe 2pm
2022 EVENTS
9th April Charity Commemoration Night for Lesley Parish 7.30pm (Members & Family)
26th April H. W. Society for Dementia suffers. Venue: St John’s Church Hall 2.30pm
9th July Charity Show all proceeds Step By Step Aldershot 7.45pm Victoria Hall
Summer Break
5th September Autumn Term begins 7.30pm – 9.30pm Jubilee Hall
29th November H.W. Society for Dementia. Venue: St John’s Church Hall 2.00pm
9th – 10th December Christmas Concert 7.45pm Victoria Hall
2022 TERM Choir begins again Monday 5th September & we will be back in our old home & much preferred Jubilee Hall. Whilst there are still some restrictions in place for Covid, as a choir we are allowed to sing and without masks. Of course it will be a personal decision as to who feels comfortable coming along & no doubt we will be carrying on with reduced numbers. Once again, I would urge that anyone who has any cold symptoms at all should stay away as there is a strong likelihood of the Omicron variant Covid right now. I would also recommend people do a lateral flow test (if you can get one) before coming. The intention is have our postponed charity commemoration night for Lesley Parish on the 9th April (to be confirmed). We are going to do predominantly fairly well known & popular songs, so to start with can you please bring the following music (some of Lesley P’s favourites) California Dreaming, Mamma Mia, Les Mis medley, The Rose, Viva la Vida, Don’t Stop Me Now, Mr Blue Sky. We will look at other oldies & a few new ones in due course. Looking further to the future we hope also to have a summer charity concert. |
HAG Rocks! is a social choir which meets every Monday night, 7:30 – 9:30, in the Jubilee Hall (behind the Victoria Hall). Enjoy singing in a friendly and relaxed environment. No auditions, no experience required.
£4 per session which includes a cup of tea or coffee. Your first session is free. Only £2 per session for HAG members.
For more information, contact our choir directors on hagrocks@hartleyartsgroup.me.uk.
I hope you have all enjoyed a good summer even if we’ve not had the best weather for it and that most have managed to get away somewhere for a break with some semblance of normality. It’s now coming up to 18 months since we were thrown into lockdown, when HAGRocks! was last carrying on normally. Since then we have managed 2 half-sized choir rehearsals for Lesley Parish’s commemoration night, which sadly never happened, and one unrehearsed “performance” for “Holiday at Home” on 20th August. This went remarkably well considering we had hardly sung at all for so long and I think everyone did extremely well. Memory for the music we did was excellent, so well done to all who were there! CHOIR RESTARTING! Yes, we are going to restart choir again next Monday 6th September! We will be in the Victoria Hall (not the Jubilee) starting at 7:30. This was booked months ago when we didn’t know what would be happening with Covid (still don’t) & felt we should have as much space as possible, better ventilation, etc for the rest of this year. This means there will be a few changes: Due to increased cost of hall hire, attendance charge will increase to £4 for non-HAG members & £2 for HAG members (Sorry, but we have had to do this in order keep going) You will have to bring your own drinks as we won’t have kitchen access CHRISTMAS SHOW 10th & 11th DECEMBER All being well, this is what we will be working towards this term, so please get the dates in your diariess & include a dress-rehearsal Wed 8th Dec. This will be similar to previous formats with general songs to kick off with & seasonal songs for the last set. We will be looking for any comedy & novelty acts, sketches, etc for entertainment between the choir sets. Any good ideas or suggestions would be most welcome so please let us know if you have any. MUSIC We are planning very little brand new music to learn apart from a Seekers medley from Doris, with songs that most will be familiar with, and I am going to start on Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing” – which hopefully I will be! Next week however, we’ll get back to numbers we started 18m ago, so please bring the following: “Wouldn’t it be nice” “Shine” “Blame it on the boogie” “Stay another day” “Sound of music” medley COVID Covid-19 is still very much with is, albeit less virulent if you should get it when vaccinated, but it remains easily transmitted and we must remain cautious. I know some choir members will not feel safe to return yet & I don’t know how many of you will attend. However, we all have to make up our own minds about what we want to do. We will try & keep as well spaced as we can. We’re looking forward to getting things going again. |
IMPORTANT NEWS: CHOIR RESTARTING MONDAY 19th JULY
| Dear All, After the postponement of Stage 4 out of lockdown, I thought I should confirm your suspicions that the choir will not be meeting on Monday 21st June(TODAY) as we had hoped. Unfortunately we will not be able to meet until Monday 19th July on the week of Lesley P’s commemoration night. Provided there are no further changes, it has been decided that the night should go ahead as planned and we will therefore have just one night’s rehearsal. We will be adjusting the song list a bit to include only numbers that need minimal rehearsal or work and will notify you of the decision on those in due course. Keep well in the meantime and we look forward to getting together, if we can, on 19th July. Posted 21st June 2021 |
Guess what? Would you believe that the Government have very recently bought in new regulations, and you can only now sing in groups of 6 indoors, which of course means we have to cancel choir, yet again, and after all the planning and hoops we have jumped through. We will endeavour to start again a.s.a.p, but if the rhetoric is to be believed we are looking at being able to meet again on June 21st.
Posted 23rd May 2021
Our intention is to work on a collection of past songs to sing at the HAG charity night to celebrate the life of Lesley Parish on Friday 23rd of July. I will put the likely song list (songs that Lesley particularly liked) at the end. Because of the number restrictions before the 21st June we need to find out how many choir members would be willing & able to attend these rehearsals before working out how to divide you up into 2 groups. One lot (group A) would come on 17th May & 7th June, the other (group B) on 24th May & 14th June. No rehearsal on Bank Holiday Monday 31st May. We should then have 5 rehearsals for both groups after that. You need to consider the following: Are you able to & if so would you like to sing on Friday 23rd July? Do you know most of the songs reasonably well? Can you come to most rehearsals? Later on, provided we definitely can proceed with singing rehearsals, which will be subject to appropriate distancing & regulations, then we will divide you into the 2 groups & let you know which nights to come. Probable song list: California Dreamin’, Mamma Mia, Les Miserables Medley, The Rose, Viva la Vida, Don’t Stop Me now, Mr Blue Sky, The informal Holiday at Home lunch concert that we do every summer will be held on Friday 20th August if you want to put a date in your diary. We will be restarting choir with new music to learn in September, when there shouldn’t be any restrictions, & all being well, we will all be fully vaccinated. This will be working towards the Christmas show in December. Charlie |
HAG Rocks! is a social choir which meets every Monday night, 7:30 – 9:30, in the Jubilee Hall (behind the Victoria Hall). Enjoy singing in a friendly and relaxed environment. No auditions, no experience required.
£3 per session which includes a cup of tea or coffee. Your first session is free. Only £1 per session for HAG members.
For more information, contact our choir directors on hagrocks@hartleyartsgroup.me.uk.