16 April 2005
RUGBY CHOIR MEETS BAND
The night of 16 April will be remembered by many as a dismal loss by the ACT Brumbies to their arch enemy the NSW Waratahs. For the Choir it was another 'first' being a partnership with the Canberra City Band to entertain the arriving crowd of some 27,000 in the Canberra Stadium precint.
The appreciative crowd that gathered for our first song bracket included our patron, David Lewis. Brumbies' Rugby Chair, Peter McGrath, also stopped by to tune in. The new 'combo' performed 'Razzle Dazzle', 'Consider Yourself'' and two medleys credited to Band leader Keith Helgesen - 'Songs of the Trenches' and 'Sing Aussie Sing'.
BRISBANE DEBUT
After a successful 'away' trip to Sydney for the match against the NSW Waratahs last year, members of the Choir will be heading to Brisbane for the match against the Queensland Reds on 14 May at Suncorp Stadium. It will be a modest band of brothers, but we are confident that we will be able to add some colour to the precint entertainment on the night and make ourselves heard during the match.
CHOIR BACKS BROULEE DOLPHINS
The Choir has responded enthusiastically to a request from John Edmunds of Broulee Dolphins, who is starting a rugby choir in Eurobodalla Shire on the South Coast of New South Wales.
We have sent a copy of our song book and invited John and other interested people to come and visit us during our forthcoming 'Retreat' at Camp Longbeach NSW in June. If we firm up a prospective gig later in the year at Narooma NSW, we may be able to to give John's efforts a push along then. Keep on truckin' John - we are right behind you!
CHOIR OFF TO OPERA HOUSE
We are all in Rugby Choir Heaven after learning that the Choir has been invited to sing at the Sydney Opera House on 11 July with the touring British Lions Choir.
Three Australian choirs have been invited to join the Lions Choir in a special Gala Concert - a massed voice concert along the lines of the 1,000 voice event at the Royal Albert Hall in London. In fact, Haydn James, who has directed the Royal Albert Hall event for the last 20 years, will be directing the Opera House Concert.
The program is a challenging one - songs such as 'The Soldiers' Chorus' (Faust), 'Speed Your Journey' (Nabucco), 'The Roman War Song' (Rienzi), 'Do You Hear The People Sing' (Les Miserables) and five other songs, all in four-part harmony. Extra practices and a special 'Retreat' are planned to help ensure that our Musical Director, Andrea Clifford, can have us all prepared in time.
News of this success was 'scooped' by ABC local radio 666. Sports commentator, Tim Gavel, interviewed Choir President, Alastair Crombie, 'live' on the Alex Sloane morning show - with Alex inviting the Choir to sing in the studio again before setting off for the gig of a lifetime!
OUR BOB NEWMAN PLAYS FOR WORLD GOLDEN OLDIES
Bob Newman, a member of the Choir, first played representative rugby for the Australian Capital Territory in 1954! We have come by a photo of Bob as captain of the Australian Forestry School Team from that era. Bob played for many years at the interstate and international levels. His recent interest has been with the Australian Rugby Choir of which he is a serving Committee Member and the World Golden Oldies tournament in San Diego, USA. Bob is playing for the Old Tasmanian Devils and his fitness has enabled him to score a try in each of the two games played, one try against a Japanese team and another try against an Irish team.
Bob Newman is over 70 years of age so this makes his feat even more commendable! He wears purple shorts so he is treated with some gentleness! The players in the tournament are mainly in their 50's but there are about 10 out of the 3,000 players who are over 70. There are players from 21 nations.
Alastair Crombie
President