Katy Phillips Bursary Award-Young Barbershopper of the Year 2019
Bethany Restarick -Spinnaker Chorus.
Bethany was nominated by Spinnaker for this award due to her dedication to barbershop singing, her prodigious musical talents and her future potential as a barbershop singer and coach to others.
Since joining Spinnaker Chorus in 2015 Bethany has fully embraced barbershop singing and has become a dedicated member of the Lead section, of Decadence (a ten strong ensemble) and of the Chorus as a whole. She has the voice of an angel, learns songs quickly and diligently and acts as an evaluator of other Leads as they submit recordings of new songs which the chorus may be learning. She has had a 100% attendance record every year since joining the Chorus and never misses a sing-out or a coaching session.
She passed her audition to be on the front row and has grown in confidence to become a real performer in front of an audience.
Bethany is a key member of the small group Decadence and has extended her singing repertoire and singing technique by learning new songs, by being coached, by performing at local music festivals and at sing-outs. Her love of singing barbershop is such that she has also joined a quartet and so now sings in three different groups.
In September 2017 the Chorus were surprised to see Bethany’s boyfriend George (whose mother sings with Spinnaker) arrive unannounced at a regular rehearsal. He proceeded to get down on bended knee and proposed to her in front of the Chorus. We are all looking forward to singing at their wedding in May 2020.
The bursary will make a huge difference to Bethany, allowing her to further her barbershop education. We believe that investing in Bethany’s personal development at this stage in her young career would pay dividends to her, to Spinnaker Chorus and longer term to the benefit of others.
We are overjoyed that our nomination was considered and approved by the LABBS panel and the impressive trophy was presented to Bethany at the LABBS 2019 convention in Llandudno.
Bethany was totally shocked to receive this award and afterwards said
Wow what an amazing weekend!!! Singing in Spinnaker is truly a magical experience! I have loved every part of it, have laughed and cried (good tears) and spent it with the most amazing women in the world!! Barbershop singing (with the lovely Spinnaker Chorus) has supported me in so many ways, when I first started I was so self conscious and shy and now feel like I am confident and ready to take on pretty much anything every day. I have gained the most amazing extended family and love you all.. So this weekend we came away with bronze medals upholding our title (YAYYYY!), I also had one of the biggest surprises in my life when I was announced LABBS Young Barbershopper of the year. Thank you to those who nominated me and to those who felt I am worthy of this award, I felt so honoured (and a little petrified) to walk up on to that stage and collect the Katy Phillips award. Well what more can I say, Thank you all for such an amazing weekend performing and celebrating with my Spinnaker family and the people of LABBS. See you all next year x