Thameside Harmony Chorus in their red and white outfits welcomed some 30 participants to the course. Our guest Marilyn Penketh ably assisted by her colleague Rosamunde gave a lively introduction to Barbershop singing.

Phillip started us off with some stretching and posture ready for singing. Marilyn gave us some brain wrenching vocal warm-ups involving numbers, stretching our voices every which way. The younger ladies present said it reminded them of their schooldays! We then all sang Three Blind Mice as a round. That sounded really good with more than fifty voices.

Next we were split into the four sections to practice a few bars of 'One More Song'. This was not so easy as many of us are not very proficient in reading music and there were some bars open to different interpretations. However we struggled through and nearly everyone had got the gist of the tune by the time the allotted 15 minutes were up. Well done section leaders for having a go at some completely new material, sight unseen.

Then we all came together and the four parts sounded really good and Phillip was much impressed with the result. The 'Ladies in Harmony' became the audience and Thameside had a chance to sing to them. We performed 'Java Jive' and 'Alexander's Ragtime Band' with gusto! I dont know what they thought of it but it gave them a taste of the Barbershop style anyway.

A short break followed and refreshments were on hand. Some of the visitors stayed on for our rehearsal - finally we all 'got together again' and then it was time to clear up and go home. All in all a successful evening for everyone. Lets hope next week goes as well too.