On Saturday 7th May Spinnaker Chorus, Portsmouth took part in the annual Sweet Adeline’s International Region 31 convention at The Sage in Newcastle. Taking to the stage at 12.03pm, 72 Spinnakerettes performed 2 songs, firstly a gorgeous ballad, ‘I never meant to fall in love’ and secondly a fun and lively uptune ‘The moment I saw your eyes’ both of which were written and arranged by Joe Liles. With our new Musical Director, John Palmer leading us we could be heard screaming with delight and excitement when announced as 3rd place champions with our best ever score of 620 points, an improvement of two places on our 2015, 5th position. Sixteen Choruses competed this year and the overall winner was Forth Valley Chorus followed in second place by Lace City Chorus.
The lead up to this year’s convention has brought it’s challenges as our previous MD Jenny Savory had to stand down in January so the hunt was then on to find her successor. In February we welcomed John Palmer (formerly of the Royal Harmonics) as our new MD and we all had some adjusting to do whilst still preparing for the looming competition in May. Well we have all risen to the challenge, John has fitted in wonderfully to his new role and the Spinnakerettes are learning so much from his wealth of barbershop experience and knowledge.
In March we had a change of President as Jill Cook took over duties from Maggi McEwan who stood down after 9 years on the Spinnaker Board. Also our lovely Choreographer, Joanne Comben is on maternity leave so Theresa Cooper, one of our talented front row ladies, is standing in and has worked tirelessly to get our moves to a high standard in time for convention.
So despite the challenges we’ve faced over the recent months Spinnaker Chorus have not been deterred we are in fact going from strength to strength. We are one big supportive family, a great team with the determination to succeed in the hobby we love so dearly. Winning 3rd place in Newcastle is the icing on the cake for us, it has given us all huge confidence and we are immensely proud of our achievement.
We have no time for relaxing now though as our next competition will be Bournemouth Music Competitions Festival on 18th June. We are entering in five classes and we have at least one quartet in the small ensemble class also. Last year Spinnaker came first place in the ‘Show songs’ class and second in the ‘Barbershop’ class.
Wish us luck!
