The Forever Young Choir! We smile quietly at our name.
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It is such a brave title for this choir of ours, as nobody is younger than 65 and we reach to 95 years young.
Imagine if you will the joy of not only our weekly gatherings as the Forever Young choir, but the fun we will have with our guest this year, Mark Seymour from Hunters and Collectors (The Thinking Woman’s Crumpet).
Just as exciting is our second guest, the didgeridoo player who is accompanying us as we sing the Great Southern Land anthem.
Welcome Ron Murray, who has played for the Queen, the Dalai Lama, indigenous and sporting ceremonies around the world, and is recognised as the world’s best player on the didgeridoo.
Girton Grammar accepted the proposal from their music staff member, our wonderful choir mistress Laura Dusseljee, who offered her skills as a conductor for a choir of retired elders in the community.
This was an opportunity to unite a group of people once a week on Thursday mornings, taking time to sing together and enjoy the shared passion of music. We meet in the hall at Girton Grammar.
Not for us the sweet haunting Irish lyrics of Danny Boy or the chorale-challenging Sound the Trumpet.
No, we sing wild, raunchy rock ‘n’ roll songs of the ‘50s to the ‘80s. Laura challenges us to sing ‘grunge’ style which almost brings us undone at times, when you consider it would be some years since the word ‘grunge’ has passed our lips.
There we are, all eighty of us movin’, rockin’, swayin’ in time to the often-crazy lyrics of those wild years of our youth!
Accompanying us on the night of our concert at Ulumbarra are the Girton Rock Band (Contraband) and the Girton Grammar Orchestra, made up almost entirely of students.
This year we beef out Howzat and Great Southern Land, and then sink softly into a gentle set of lyrics around Throw Your Arms Around Me and Into My Arms to again sing the wild lyrics of Another Brick in the Wall and Highway to Hell.
Just some of the many songs we will be presenting.
Thursday mornings are sacrosanct for choir members.
As one of our choir members says “I love choir days. I live for Thursdays; catching up with new friends, singing songs and having fun. Choir makes me feel amazing. I wish it was three days a week instead of one”.
For some it is the only social event of the week.
Tuesday, September 19 this year, the night of our concert, can’t come soon enough. We’re ready to take on the might of the Ulumbarra Theatre and hopefully a full house.
Do come and see for yourselves what a bunch of retirees does for entertainment these days in 2017.
I challenge anyone to find as much fun and enjoyment in their retirement as we do in sharing time together making music and offering each other friendship and support as we rock and roll our way through a collection of songs each Thursday morning.
From everyone associated with the Forever Young choir, thank you Girton Grammar, thank you musicians young and old, and particularly a huge thank you to Laura who is both conductor and pianist, and Margaret Keech our roadie, who keeps the wheels running smoothly and keeps us all up to speed with coffee, tea and cakes.
Don’t forget to book your seats for Tuesday, September 19.
ANNIE YOUNG