Social Events and Special Performances

One of the many benefits of joining a choir are the social events and the Edwin James Festival Choir are excellent ambassadors in organising an eclectic mix!

We pride ourselves in not only taking care of our members, but make sure they have a good time on and off the performance stage as can be seen below in our Social Events report.

Events over the last 12 months

MAYOR OF LITTLEHAMPTON'S CHARITY GALA PERFORMANCE "Curtain Up!" - March 2018

A selection of choir members performed a medley of Musical Theatre songs as part of the Mayors's Charity Gala Performance "Curtain Up!"

They sang songs from Follies, My Fair Lady, Grease, Half a Sixpence and La Cage Aux Folles, all in elegant costume. Their performance included a hilarious appearance of a pantomime horse during "The Ascot Gavotte".

The show raised funds for the Mayor's charities The Friends of Mewsbrook Park' and The Littlehampton Heritage Railway.

A great time was had by all!

PANCAKE OLYMPICS - February 2018

Congratulations to our two teams who entered into the Pancake Olympics - Hampton Fliers, supported by our mascot Hampton The Hedgehog and Daisy's Pancakes, supported by Daisy the Cow.

They are the proud winners of the Silver Medal in the Curling competition!

RACE NIGHT - January 2018

A Race Night was held at the Sea Scout hall in conjunction with Littlehampton Twinning to raise funds for both groups. Competitors had to take their hobby horse down a track based on the role of a dice. The evening included refreshments of beer and wine given as a gift from our twin towns. A fun time was had by all!

ST JAMES CHURCH, FINAL MASS - January 2018

It was with sadness that our lovely church held its final Mass with The Bishop of Chichester. The church has now become a Chapel of Ease and will not be used for Worship, but both the church and the hall will be available to us and for other community activities.

SPECIAL CHRISTMAS CAROL CONCERT- December 2017

The choir performed a special concert for one of our dear Patrons, June, at her home.

SUPPORT OUR SOLDIERS - December 2017

The choir decided to support our soldiers by sending festive cheer to members of the British Armed Forces on active service overseas this Christmas.

We were given a list of suggested food items and donations flooded in, boosted by cash raised from DVD sales of the Remembrance concert on sale to choir members as a memento of the concert.

Photo's below of those donations which have now been handed in but any further donations received will be taken for January's parcels.

Other photo's were taken at their Collection Event at Morrisons, with the Soldiers helping out, our local co-ordinator Penny and our very own Chris.

Thank you to everyone for supporting this cause.

CONCERT FOR ST CECILIA-18th November 2017

The St Mary's Church Choir were joined by members of The Edwin James Festival Choir to perform an afternoon concert for St Cecilia.

The concert included music to bring joy to the heart and soul with the first half beautifully sung by St Mary's Church choir, singing Blessed Assurance, May It Be, The Music's Always There With You, The Ship That Sails, Address To The Moon, The Lord's Prayer, With A Voice Of Singing, interspersed with poems eloquently read. The Edwin James Festival Choir joined them for the second half to sing The Lord Is My Shepherd and Magnificat by John Rutter, with soloist Pat Franklin sounding superb. The 22 strong 4 part choir blended magnificently in a church with fabulous acoustics, under the expert baton of Mr James Rushman.

Well done everyone and many thanks to the appreciative audience for attending.

PATRONS EVENT - 4th November 2017

We are very honoured and proud to have the support of our Patrons and we thanked them by holding a tea party in Arundel.

It was attended by 52 Patrons who enjoyed a lovely tea and were thoroughly entertained by Mick from Bondwood Tea Shop.

LITTLEHAMPTON BONFIRE CELEBRATIONS - 28th October 2017

Littlehampton's famous Bonfire Celebrations attracted a large crowd to witness the spectacular torchlight procession, mamouth bonfire and seafront firework display.

10 members of the choir took part as one of the walking groups with a theme of "Halloween Wedding from Hell". Last year, they collected £800 and came 3rd in the Collecting Challenge.

This year, they smashed it, collecting a staggering £1,552 coming 2nd to win £50 for our chosen charity, CancerWise, as well as the Laura May's Collecting Challenge Cup.

Well done everyone!

CHOIR HOLIDAY TO TORQUAY - 22nd to 26th September 2017

Members of the choir and patron's enjoyed a holiday in Torquay!

LITTLEHAMPTON TOWN SHOW AND FAMILY FUN DAY - 9th September 2017

The choir set up a stall at the Show, displaying choir information and details of our next performance plus great bargains to purchase and a "prize every time" tombla. The day also included excellent family entertainment, superb performances on the stage and other high quality stalls.

The amount raised was £240. Many thanks to everyone helping on the stall and to the public who supported us.

JAMES AND CHRIS' GARDEN PARTY - 12th August 2017

The annual garden party, hosted by our President and Treasurer, took place on a gorgeous day where approximately 65 choir members and patron's were truely spoilt with a selection of lovely food throughout the day and evening, Thank you for a great party !

CHOIR BIRTHDAY DINNER - 28th July 2017

The choir celebrated their 19th year with a meal at The Vardar Restaurant, welcoming all choir members, patrons and their partners. It was a chance to meet socially and celebrate all that is good in our choir family as well as presenting cheques to representatives from our chosen charities for money raised during 2016/2017.

The event was attended by nearly 60 people including Sue Pegrum and Chris Jay representing 'Enable Me', Alison Lewis-Smith representing 'CancerWise' and Joseph O'Neil travelling from London to represent 'The Mission to Seafarers'. Unfortunately Macmillan Nurses were unable to attend but have since sent a letter of thanks.

We presented 3 awards to the people that our choir voted for as having given that extra something:-

The Myrtle Allen Award for Best Newcomer to the choir - presented by Chris Allen and awarded to David Bathurst.
The Janet Martin Award for Best Supporting member outside of the Committee - presented by Eric Griffiths and awarded to Sandy Shiner.
The Edwin James Award for Annual Achievement by any member of 3 years or more - presented by James Rushman and awarded to Noel Capelin.

Cheques for £400 each were presented to Cancerwise, Enable Me Project, Mission to Seafarers and MacMillan Nurses who gave wonderful heartfelt and grateful responses.

An entertaining evening was had by all, including the now traditional sing-song, which included our own versions of Grace, Sussex By The Sea, Bella Notte, Flash,Bang Wallop (what a Picture) finishing the evening with a patriotic rendition of Jerusalem.

Please enjoy the photo's below.

RUSTINGTON STREET FAYRE - 17th June 2017

The choir took part in the RUSTINGTON STREET FAYRE organised by Littlehampton District Lions Club together with Rustington Chamber of Trade and Commerce. They sang a selection of Abba, Beatles and Carpenters songs from their upcoming concert on July 8th. They also ran a stall and enjoyed other entertainment and an Arts and Craft Event in the church. This event was in support of the Sussex Snowdrop Trust. More photos can be found in the Photo Gallery, in our Members' Section and on our Facebook page. We raised £163.10!

SUMMER FAYRE - 3rd June 2017

The Choir held their Summer Fayre in the garden of Littlehampton United Church on a beautiful summers afternoon, attended by the new Littlehampton Mayor, William Blanchard-Cooper and the choir's mascot, Hampton the Hedgehog. The event was very well supported with the bottle stall selling out within half an hour! We raised £1500 for choir funds to purchase music etc for forthcoming concerts, which in turn raises funds for our chosen charities. Massive thanks to the Mayor, everyone who helped organise the event or run a stall and everyone who came.