Remembrance 2018

Photo: Simon Meeds

Last week's session was our Remembrance special. It was good for the regular crew to be joined by Steve C. Having been absent at our last session, Derek hadn't prepared songs to the theme but as usual he provided plenty of topical material.

This week's session will have no theme but be prepared for the following one on 30 November, which will have a St Andrew's Day theme. As well as being patron Saint of Scotland, which is of course the main target of the evening, it may be useful to know that he is patron of: Barbados, Georgia, Ukraine, Russia, Sicily, Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Patras, Burgundy, San Andrés (Tenerife), Diocese of Parañaque, Telhado (Portugal), Amalfi, Luqa (Malta) and Prussia; Diocese of Victoria; fishermen, fishmongers and rope-makers, textile workers, singers, miners, pregnant women, butchers, farm workers, protection against sore throats, protection against convulsions, protection against fever, and protection against whooping cough. You should find something there to sing about.

And so, back to last week, Colin was MC and started off the theme with a good WWI sing-along to Bless 'Em All (Fred Godfrey, Robert Kewley - Roud 8402).

Remembrance - 2015

As last week's session marking Remembrance continued, news of the massacre in Paris started to unfold on my phone. I didn't mention it to those assembled as the scale of the incident wasn't yet clear and I didn't want to disrupt proceedings, but it now seems somehow appropriate that we were remembering past conflicts and mostly asking for peace. I don't want to dwell on it too much but I'm sure we would all want to offer support to those in Paris and the rest France who we know, and those we don't.