Chorale members worked hard this term to learn the medley from Les Miserable; it has proved to be a varied and tuneful compilation from the musical - all 15 minutes of it so quite a big sing! While we may have most of the notes in the right places and at the right time I know that Simon is keen for us to improve on the musicality of our performances, looking ahead to our summer concerts when we will be singing it again.

We ended the Spring term with a very enjoyable joint concert at Church Hill Primary School, Thurmaston. The school choir were little stars, entertaining us all with a variety of songs, and we added Oliver, Les Miserable and a couple more numbers to the show.

We all attracted a great audience; thanks to ticket sales and a raffle, £709 was raised for school funds and the evening ended with a rousing rendition of Jerusalem by all in the hall. 

Wednesday 29th April saw some of the choir members join together in a social night of Skittles at the Horse and Groom in Queniborough. 

Teams were allocated and the games began, there was a wide variation of skills within the group as can be seen for the score board.

It was a fun evening, even when Jackie hit the roof with the ball, an evening that allowed us all to talk to other choir members that we don't necessarily have chance to during rehearsals

As well as enjoying ourselves socially the Chorale worked hard, during rehearsals and at home, to perfect the beautiful music that our accompanist, Paul Cox, wrote especially for us. His 'Requiem Mass' was in striking contrast to the rest of our concert programme, which included music from 'Oliver' and 'Les Mis' but all our audiences seemed to really appreciate the contrast. We had a couple of standing ovations and some very generous donations from capacity audiences towards the various causes for which we were fundraising - approximately £3,000 was raised in total from the concerts at Ratby, Frisby and Syston.

The term ended with our annual picnic in perfect weather conditions. The traditional 'Ratcliffe Chorale's got Talent' was enjoyed by all, with fresh talent emerging from our ranks: a lovely end to a most successful term.