Category Archive general

Firstly a huge thank you and well done for all the events we did in December – we raised a grand total of £2277.14 for the MPS society throughout the year!

We start again in January on Tuesday 16th January 2024 7:30pm at Edith Weston Academy.

Chater Community Choir will be giving their Spring concert again at South Luffenham Parish Church on Friday 19^th May at 7:30pm.

Since being formed in 2012 the choir have raised almost £24,000 for national and local charities and this time will be raising money in aid of The Society for Mucopolysaccharide Diseases (The MPS Society). This charity provides support to families affected by rare, life limiting genetic conditions. Carolyn Hunt, one of the choir’s sopranos, sadly had her much loved granddaughter diagnosed with Sanfilippo syndrome late last year so she is now trying to increase awareness of these rare conditions.

Refreshments will be served after the concert in the Village Hall. Tickets are £10 and are available from members of the choir or Tracy Steward on 01780 729006.

I hope you are all having a fabulous summer. I am looking forward to seeing you all soon to start singing together again. However, due to my planned foot operation now scheduled for September 5^th (eek!) it will not now be until October I’m afraid, and even then I’m expecting to be conducting you sitting down for a few weeks! Don’t worry there’s still plenty of time though for our Christmas concert preparation!! I am going to be preparing audio tracks for you so you can do some pre rehearsals practice/revision at home which I’ll send out in September.

Our first rehearsal then will be Tuesday 4^th October at Edith Weston Academy 7.30pm.

The other change to our usual format is I’m afraid due to falling numbers but costs being the same (or increasing), I need to increase your weekly subs to £3 a week. This is the first increase since we started in 2012. For the first time in many years we have an empty back account therefore to enable me to purchase any music required for the coming term for you and to settle a few outstanding debts from last term, I am requesting that your subs and costs for any music you require are paid by BACS by September 6^th (which would had been our first rehearsal back originally). I will then order any music needed and have it available when we start back.

I wanted to clarify what is happening after our May concert – I have decided that given the summer term is, even under ‘normal’ circumstances, difficult for attendance (indeed the very reason we started to have Spring concerts instead of summer ones) and that this term has been more challenging than perhaps I originally anticipated with the high levels of absence, we will not be meeting over the summer term. I realise this will disappoint and I appreciate that many of you have attended over 90% of rehearsals since January – just not all at the same time! Our members numbers have significantly dropped since Spring 2020 and I really appreciate the extra effort given at rehearsals to prepare for the forthcoming concert.

Have a good Easter weekend, practice a little if you can next week and I’ll see you again on Tuesday 26^th April.

Happy New Year all!!

Thank you to all of you who took part in any or all of the 5 events through December. An amazing overall total of £1212.78 was raised for the Rainbows Children’s Hospice, based in Loughborough and the British Heart Foundation.

Unlike previous years we are rehearsing from the first week of term – there is of course opportunity to go to The Fox for a drink and catch up after the rehearsal!

If there are any announcements or advice in the next week I’ll let you know if any is applicable to us as soon as I can.

I will however request that before coming to a rehearsal you continue to take a lateral flow test to ensure as much as possible we stay as safe as possible.

See you soon!

SAVE THE DATE – TUESDAY 7^TH SEPTEMBER

Subject to any government advice changing I have booked the hall at Edith Weston Academy to restart Chater Community Choir on Tuesday 7^th September 7:30pm.

Payment will be weekly (£2 a week). I will not be asking you take a lateral flow test before each rehearsal but you may prefer to do so (I will be). We will be sitting socially distanced and you may wear your singing mask if you choose.

We will be ‘singing for fun’ and using our old repertoire  –  I will send out a song list nearer the time. I’m not planning any concerts but anticipate we will organise some Carol Singing events in December (similar to the South Luffenham Carols last year).

It’s not ‘business as usual’ but hopefully it’s a start and we’ll continually review the situation.

Enjoy the rest of the summer and take care all.

Autumn Term Newsletter 2020

Well  – who could have ever predicted this?!

As it’s the time of year when we would have been gearing up to getting back to rehearsals and preparing for our Christmas concert, receiving the newsletter letting you know subs, music requirements, concert dates and having our subs and social evening at The Fox I wanted to get in touch once more.

Although, as you may have seen on the news recently, there are positive steps forward in research concerning the safety of choral singing unfortunately we are still some way off being able to have rehearsals in a safe way, particularly for a choir such as ours. If nothing else using the school hall for rehearsals is not feasible this term as schools are finding their own way through all this and who knows how the new term will pan out for them??

Ultimately, as I’ve said before, your health and safety are my priority and I will not consider restarting until all the risks are low and I’m continually monitoring all the ‘industry’ research, discussions, advice and legalities (definitely keeping me busy!).

In the meantime do keep meeting in your smaller groups, as I know some of you are, exercising your vocal chords, remember to keep singing in the shower and if nothing else know that we shall all be able to meet again before too long and enjoy our singing together.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if I can connect any of you who haven’t done so already and remember we are one big choir family, complete with fussy aunts, annoying siblings and mad uncles!! (not mentioning any one specifically in any role!! 😊)

I certainly do miss you all!!

Lots of love

Tracy xx

We are continuing with rehearsals with a week by week review. If you are poorly in any way please stay away to minimise the spread of any infections not just Covid-19. If you feel you wish to stay away from rehearsals regardless then please do so. Keep practising at home though! 😊

Please could you let me know if you do have to self isolate so I can let the choir know but also so if we can help in any way ( shopping or fetching medications ) we can.

If schools do shut there is no reason we cannot continue to use the building for rehearsals.

We will not be attending the Community Choirs Day in Rugby at the end of the month and I will review the situation about both the concert and the VE Afternoon Tea in May nearer the time.

Rutland Mercury and Rutland Times Friday 10th January 2020

Rutland Community Choir Raises Amazing Amount for Little Known Charity

Chater Community Choir have recently donated £2,216.75 to the little known charity AMMF, which is the world’s first charity dedicated solely to Cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer). The choir held 2 concerts in 2019 and topped up the final total with carol singing events during the Christmas period.

The charity is personal to the choir’s founder and leader Tracy Steward as her mother was diagnosed with this type of cancer in 2018. Tracy says, ‘fortunately after extensive surgery and exemplary care at Leicester General my mum has got through her illness. I have never heard of this type of cancer and came across the Charity when I was researching treatment. Our donation will go a little way to exploring this cancer, which only has a low recovery rate, and help investigate ways to improve diagnosis and care.’

The choir are now entering into their 8^th year and so far have raised for local and national charities £20,442.98. The choir meet in term time on a Tuesday evening at Edith Weston Academy. Tracy says “We welcome experienced singers to total novices and all those in between. You just have to be willing to join in, enjoy meeting new people and making music together.’

We have really excelled this year with our fundraising! The total amount raised for AMMF was £2,216.75 and we raised £181.10 carol singing for the RNIB. This takes our grand total for fundraising for charity as we go into our 8th year an amazing £20,442.98!!!