Gold medals for gold harmony (From Croydon Guardian)

Gold medals for gold harmony

11:21am Wednesday 8th June 2005

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They went seeking gold and they came back victorious. Surrey Harmony barbershop chorus, based in Coulsdon, and drawing from members from across the county, set their sights on securing gold medals at the UK championships for Sweet Adelines in Plymouth last month.

A total of 17 choruses from England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland participated and the winner would be eligible to represent the UK at the Sweet Adelines World Championships in Las Vegas in 2006.

One of the newest members, Alison Walker from the tenor section, was still excited and jubilant when she revealed that Surrey Harmony had won gold in the mid-size chorus section and were overall champions of the competition.

"We brought back two gold medals, and we even won the best choreography section too. We now have to decide if we will go to Las Vegas next year. We'd obviously love to go but we need to find sponsorship towards the costs," she said.

Surrey Harmony director Jenny Lawson said: "Our main aim was to improve our scores and we had top coaches from America and Sweden to help us improve our barbershop sound and jazz up our stage presence."

Many of Surrey Harmony's members are old hands, having been in the chorus for many years, some of them since it was founded in 1990. But the chorus is always on the lookout for new members and had several competing for the first time in Plymouth.

Summer Harmony are at Fairfield on Saturday, June 18, in aid of saving Fairfield's future music programme. They are one of four of Croydon's premier musical organisations rallying to help the venue that has been hit by cuts in its grants. The Croydon Male Voice Choir, Trinity Boys' Choir and students from the Croydon Centre for Young Pianists are joining the chorus for a spectacular programme.

Alison added: "We want to help Fairfield as much as we can. It's a busy time for us what with the wedding celebrations. We are often called on as we sing romantic, classic songs that seem to go down well. Between 40 to 50 of us attend these functions. Joining Surrey Harmony is the best thing I have ever done, I fully recommend it."

There are 30,000 members of Sweet Adelines International in 11 countries. The organisation's aim is to promote four-part unaccompanied barbershop as well as educating its members in the art form that is growing in popularity across the globe For more information on booking or joining Surrey Harmony visit www.surrey harmony.com. New members are always welcome at rehearsals which take place every Wednesday at 7.30pm at Coulsdon Methodist Church Hall, Brighton Road, Coulsdon.

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