Music, Maestro, please!

As well as doing my paid work during the day and enjoying what seems to be a continuous diary of events in the town at the weekends, I am also keen to get involved with some local activities on a regular basis with, hopefully, the added benefit of getting to know some more people here.

With this in mind I contacted a couple of the local choirs and duly went off about three weeks ago for an informal audition at the home of the director of a small choir. After a bit of voice-warming exercises and singing through a couple of pieces along with the piano it would appear that I had done enough to be accepted. The following week I drove across town to the rehearsal venue and had a sing-through with the group. I haven’t sung with a choir on a regular basis since my days in Stamford and it felt good to be doing so. Sadly, though, after the second rehearsal I decided that the choir was not really for me; the style of music they perform not being my cup of tea.

With a second choir up my sleeve I went along to their rehearsal the following Monday (last week). This is a larger choir with a more traditionally classical repertoire and I enjoyed the evening. Best of all, they usually perform their concerts within walking distance of home! I have since been to the second rehearsal and still enjoyed myself and was warmly greeted by the other singers, many of whom are also incomers from as far afield as Sweden, Scotland and Wales. Next week, I have an audition (aaargh - I do not like singing solo), but it's supposed to be casual and only to check my range.

I have also attended a meeting of Enterprising Women Dorset, a networking group that meets every other month with a visiting speaker and on the alternate months meets at other groups or events. This meeting included a presentation from Popcorn Marketing, a PR company who helped to turn around the revamped Riviera Hotel in Weymouth - a large post-Art Deco grade II-listed hotel - from one of the worst-rated into one of the top ten rated hotels in the area in just a few months in the lead up to the Olympics. Julie Cleaver, who is also a governor of Weymouth College and will be president of the Chamber of Commerce next year, also runs Open 4 Business, a community interest company. They are organising a free Platforms for Growth conference and exhibition in mid-October at this hotel, so it should be an interesting day out in many ways.