- BABS National Contest - Sing 2023 - Winners of the Small Chorus Award
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Date Posted: Sat, 27 May 2023
Sing 2023 - Bournemouth the venue. The Knights of Harmony achieved 6th place with 70.9%, our highest score at National Convention. Congratulations Knights on winning the Jim Carter trophy - the Small Chorus Award, pictured here with Sean Bui (left - Chorus Director) and Bill Homer (right - Chairman).
- Convention Update
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Date Posted: Sun, 21 May 2023
Saturday the 20th May saw us complete our final away day preparations for the British Association of Barbershop Singers Convention in Bournemouth next weekend (27th May 2023). We have polished our two songs to the best we can and now hope that we can take our best performance to the competition stage.
Last year saw us break into the top 10 and obtain a record (for our club) score of 70.4%. We would love to beat that score and cement our place in the top tier of British Barbershop but mostly we just want to soak up the atmosphere and have a great time. Four great singers; Phil Wichello, Stephen Freestone, Nick Joy and Tom Lilley all join us on stage for the first time in competition and just one, Dick May is missing from last year’s line up as he jets off to be with his family in the USA. It is the first convention he has missed for 43 years. We’ll miss him but we are all really excited about the whole weekend event.
We’ll update you next week when the judges have had their say, but a quick reminder that we have an open evening on the 8th June. Hope to see a multitude of newcomers there.
Bill Homer
Chairman
- New Knights
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Date Posted: Fri, 21 Apr 2023
We welcome and congratulate Sam Winwood and Terry Hannigan, who this week became the newest members of the
British Association of Barbershop singers, seen here with Knights’ Chairman Bill Homer receiving
their certificates. Well done on passing your auditions guys and welcome to the fold.
This week we put a bit of movement into one of our convention songs, which we think sells the song
so much better. Dick May unfortunately can’t be with us this year in Bournemouth, but in addition to
the other 16 singers who took to BABS convention stage in Harrogate 2022, we are joined by
newcomers Stephen Freestone, Tom Lilley, Nick Joy, Phil Whichello and we welcome back Muff
Winwood. What a great team. We are all greatly excited about Convention this year.
- News update April 2023
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Date Posted: Wed, 5 Apr 2023
News update April 2023
Well the first quarter of 2023 has been an eventful, exciting and full-on few months. We began the year with an open evening which attracted 4 potential recruits, of which two have subsequently passed auditions and become full members. Welcome to Sam Winwood (bass) and Terry Hannigan (lead).
February saw our first sing outs of the year; a quartet performing at a 50th birthday party and a sextet performing for Bucks Vision raising money for the blind and partially sighted. We also had one bass, one lead, two baritones and two tenors attend ‘Harmony Brigade’ in Nottingham.
There was no let-up in March either. 10 of us had the privilege of singing at bass, Phil Whichello’s wedding which was an absolute joy and it’s always great to have an appreciative audience. We also had our first couple of away days where we pushed the contest songs along a bit with Chorus Director, Sean Bui, weaving a bit of his magic and, as always, it was a good deal of hard work which reaped some pleasing results. We’re hoping for a better turnout for the next couple of away days as we aim towards our goal of exceeding last year’s Convention score. We capped the month off with the Watford Festival of Music, winning the Choir Class A6 trophy for the second year in a row and won the inaugural award for the best A Cappella performance: the judge said of our performance:
MY GIRL
“I did enjoy your take on this Smoky Robinson classic, Knights of Harmony. A steady, punchy groove with warmly handled vocals and tidy lead work.
Tricky harmony corners were confidently handled. A lovely Brian Wilson-esque top to the line too.
Very funny interaction here by the way.”
Mr BLUE SKY
“A vibrant contrast followed with your ELO cover, with this groove tautly handled, with a rhythmic feel from the up-tempo energy. The complex melodic work evenly controlled. Lovely physicality of the lyric here.
Lots to commend in these two assured, entertaining performances.
Knights of Harmony. Well done.”
- Choirs R Us - Sharing the Joy of Singing
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Date Posted: Wed, 5 Apr 2023
Sharing the Joy of Singing with Choirs R Us
April kicked off with a guest spot at the Choirs R Us concert in Barnet, in aid of the Stroke Society. We were also joined by the North London Singers. It was great to perform to a packed church of about 300 people and get a standing ovation. It is especially satisfying when that happens from a bunch of people who have no idea who we are and are outside our normal support base. It was a fabulous night full of the joy of singing which is what we’re all about. Jenny Bennett (Choir Director - Choirs R Us), wrote to say: “It was an absolute joy to have you all there and to hear such beautiful singing and such a high level of ensemble performance.”
- Upcoming Events for 2023
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Date Posted: Wed, 5 Apr 2023
Upcoming Events for 2023
When can you see us?- 7th May Small group singing at Chesham Coronation Party by the Clock Tower at 12:30pm
- 27th May BABS Convention Bournemouth International Centre
- 10th June Northwood College for girls Summer Fete
- 15th July Hats off Chesham - Chesham High Street
- 30th September: Chesham Baptist Church: Knights of Harmony Annual Concert with multi award winning Amersham A Cappella and Gold medal winning quartet Portobello Road
- 12th October: Join us for our annual Time to Sing course and experience the thrill of singing A Cappella in 4-part harmony. Details will appear on this website in due course
