Gallery from Groby Sings At the Movies
The new season is announced as Groby Sings At the Opera. This season will end with a performance weekend in November. Details will be on the 'Next Concert' page.
The choir restarts on September 6th. Please note we sing on Wednesdays in school term time.
Singers are welcome to join in with this season at whatever point they wish to and don't need to come every single week. Performance is optional.
Who conducts the choir?
The new Musical Director is Simon Lubkowski.
Please visit https://youtu.be/9ATB5cgCl14 to view Simon's introduction to the choir.
Guidelines For This Season
Health: You are requested to NOT ATTEND if you are feeling unwell at all or have any symptoms of any illness. This is out of respect for the health of your fellow singers, volunteers, musical director and yourself. Many of our singers are vulnerable to infection.
Venue and travel: The Groby Club, Leicester Rd, Groby, Leicester LE6 0DJ There is limited parking. Please consider walking. Do not park at the Library or Village Hall. Beware of parking restrictions in the local roads.
Adult arrival times: 1.15pm for the afternoon and 7.15pm for the evening. Please do not arrive early.
Rehearsal times: 1.30 to 3.00pm and 7.30 to 9.00pm.
Registration: All attendees will need to register as they enter the rehearsal room.
Children aged 7 and above are welcome to arrive from 3.15pm. They will be signed in in the rehearsal room. Parents and carers are welcome to stay in the rehearsal room or to leave their child when they have been fully registered.
Donations: It will cost about £2 per attendee per week for us to run Groby Sings. There will be the opportunity for you to make a donation on arrival. You are welcome to attend without making a donation - we are a registered charity open to all to attend regardless of payments received. There are options for Gift Aiding a lump sum donation for the season - please ask for details.
Words Booklets: These are provided free of charge and may be used for the duration of the season but must be returned in November.
Seating and Numbers: Chairs will be set out by volunteers in advance. Please do not move them other than to sit closer to friends or family if you wish. We can accommodate everyone who wishes to sing.
Breaks and refreshments: There will be a short cake break of about 15 minutes in the middle of each rehearsal to allow for purchase of drinks and toilet use. And to give time for chat!
The urn will be set up for tea and coffee.
Cake is supplied thanks to kind offers by our singers.
You can buy drinks and food items from the bar.
You may bring a bottle of water from home for your own use.
There is a ‘creche area’ where young children are welcome to play or nap at our afternoon rehearsals in the care of their accompanying responsible adult. They are also welcome in the evenings.
Groby Sings Management Team
From our first Musical Director
Singing in a community choir like Groby Sings is life transforming and it has been a gift to have been able to stand in front of you all and conduct you every week.
Groby Sings became a hit, such a glorious success, not because of any one of us but because of ALL OF US, everyone who turned up week in, week out and sang our hearts out. Because of all YOU wonderful people listening to your rehearsal CD's and driving your families mad and dressing up in your crazy costumes and arranging all the bears in your house to sing to when we couldn't gather to sing together.
Thank you so much for letting me be part of that. It has been so very special.
My prayer is that Groby Sings will continue long into the future.
That what we started 7 years ago will grow from strength to strength, continuing to touch people’s lives who need some hope and joy. But for that to happen, all you amazing people have got to hold tight until this pandemic is over and Groby Sings resumes. Then you've got to come back so you can finish off what was started last February and perform Groby Sings On The Road and many many more concerts after that.
As I skip off into the sunset of retirement, I need to have something to look forward to and returning to hear Groby Sings perform songs from Calamity Jane is top of my list.
Keep singing everyone. Keep laughing. Most importantly….you know what’s coming…keep eating that delicious cake!
Helen Hayes
Last Performance: We performed in June 2023 to 300 of our family, friends and neighbours including an audience member from Australia.
Groby Sings At the Movies
Concerts were performed on June 24th and 25th 2023
Simon says:
Well, what a weekend that was!
It was my first time in the fabled Sports Hall and it didn’t disappoint – the whole weekend was such an enjoyable experience (except perhaps the heat!) and I was so thrilled with the quality of the singing and performance level we managed to achieve. There were the tender moments of “I Remember It Well”, the uplifting energy of “Nine To Five”, and the harmonies in “How Far I’ll Go” were so so good!
Well done for learning your songs so well, looking at me as much as you did (it’ll never be enough, but it was still great to see your faces!), showing the enjoyment of singing together in this wonderful group – the youth choir were amazing, and I found myself quite emotional at the quality of both their singing and the potential they have for the future...
The organisation of the whole weekend was perfect, and I was able to concentrate on my directing role, rather than having to dip into logistics and issues as is often the case in some of my other Choirs – huge thanks to the Management Team and the Trustees for their incredible hard work in getting all this off the ground and providing such a wonderful canvas to make music together – we are very lucky for all their hard work and care...
A special thanks to Paul for his unstinting work in the musical, arrangement and performing side of things – his work pulling the band together, getting it sounding so good and providing us with such a great backdrop to our voices cannot be underestimated. We have thoughts and plans for next season and the seasons beyond that, and I just love sitting with him and discussing song choices, possible season ideas and just soaking in his enthusiasm and talent – thanks to him for everything!
I look forward to seeing you all soon, whether at the party or next season, and I will try and join Jane at the library on a Wednesday afternoon when I can!
Well done again to you all – it’s great to be part of the Groby Sings family!
Cliff says:
I thought that the concerts were a triumph, especially considering that it was our first time performing in the College’s sports hall for three and a half years - it felt as good to be there as it ever did.
I only played in a few of the songs. (If you heard some fantastic piano playing, that was Paul!) That meant that, on Saturday, I was able to sit in the audience for most of the second half of the concert and enjoy watching everyone perform – especially the young people!
On Sunday, I spent the whole time at the keyboard - a great place to be, because I was right in the middle of the wonderful balanced sound from the men behind me and the altos and the sopranos to each side.
It was hard to have a favourite song, because all the songs were good in their own way. But if I had to choose one, it would be I remember it well, which was simply delightful.
At the end of Sunday evening, I watched Elton John perform at Glastonbury. The crowd’s enjoyment of his and his band’s music reminded me of our concerts: they showed what a joyful experience performing live music is, for both the audience and the performers.
Other comments received:
My sister has been to all the concerts since I joined ( approx 7!years ago) and said this was the best “set” of music we have ever done with so much variety to be enjoyed by all ages and all music genres … my great niece turned to her mum and said “they are good aren’t they” … so I think it’s safe to say it was well worth all the hard work put in by everyone to make this concert a success.
Thank you to all concerned
I am sad that I couldn’t be a part of the concert especially as I feel I have made so much progress this year.
Thank you ... for making it so much fun.
Groby Sings has given me something to look forward to and enjoy, also a challenge at a difficult time in my life.
How fantastic it was to be back at the College this weekend doing what Groby Sings does so well – having a great time whilst entertaining an appreciative audience on 2 extremely hot days. Those difficult 3 years were almost forgotten as we felt like we’d never been away. I loved it all, the buzz of singing for others as well as ourselves is difficult to describe until you’re in the middle of it, as our newest singers discovered. I heard so many positive comments from both audience and choir members and it was clear that anyone who’d been part of our pre-Covid concerts was very happy that we’d come back. I really hope that it has inspired some new voices to join us and that we can aim to fill the Club at our Wednesday sessions again.
So pleased that all went well with the concert 🎶 I was gutted to miss it as I loved every song hope to see you all in September
A massive well done to the whole team for pulling off a great performance weekend. I think the choir sounded fantastic and the audience seemed to enjoy the show on both days.
Acknowledges with gratitude the generous support of singers:
Anonymous Benefactors
The Free Women
The Rambling Rector
Loopy Lu
A New Recruit
Celtic Chorister
Younger than springtime am I when singing at the movies
Hinge & Bracket
Desford Dames
Happy Face and the Geeky Scientist
Always Be Kind
Basso
The Dancing Duet
And local businesses:
-
Progress Works Gym Ltd.
0116 287 7667
Progress Works Gym
132 Station Road, Glenfield LE3 8BR
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Classic Cuts
Ladies’, gentlemen’s and children’s hair design
0116 287 8804
11 Lawnwood Road, Groby LE6 0BH
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LEV Engineering Ltd.
which enabled our words booklets to be provided for free to all singers.
Groby Sings could not happen without the generosity of:
The Club, Groby
Groby Brookvale Learning Campus
St Philip and St James' Church, Groby
St Philip and St James' Church, Ratby
The Thomas Herbert Smith Trust Fund
Groby Library and Time Out Cafe
Making Music
The Dementia Programme Board of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland
The Worshipful Company Weavers
Page One Pictures
Registered Charity 1180490