Our new hosts at “Ye Olde House at Home”
made us very welcome and 35 singers gathered for an evening of festive
songs to herald the season ahead and prepare us for our events at the
Weald and Downland Museum and Michelham Priory. On Sussex Hills,
which has almost become our anthem, warmed us up before moving on with
The Holly and The Ivy, the Sussex Mummers Song (with a different
selection of verses), and then Christmas is Drawing Near at Hand which
some have dubbed the ‘Marmite’ song due to the mixed responses it
receives! The Pentonville tune for the shepherds and their flocks
reunited us and, with a refreshment break along the way, we continued
with Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Masters in This Hall and The
Angel Gabriel, which was liked by all. Sugar Wassail, The Moon Shone
Bright (beginning with women’s voices but gradually introducing the
men’s), and the Falmer Carol with its different harmonies, were all
sung before time and energy ran out and the session needed to close. The
end of our first evening at “Ye Olde House” concluded with enthusiastic
agreement from singers and landlord alike that we make it our regular
venue, and future sessions were duly booked.
(NB – These include an Extra session on 15th November
to have more time to prepare for the Weald and Downland event on 26th
November – and similarly, an option on 29th November, if needed
(tbc), before Michelham Priory in December. Our usual Worthing session will be there again on 6th December.)
Welcome to our website for singers who want to learn and sing traditional and new South Downs folk songs, sung in the traditional way. "Put another barrel on, landlord, and pull a pint for me! The ale here in Sussex is the best we all agree!"
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