Autumn & Winter 2023

The flood water returned to the Somerset Levels super early in the last months of 2023 and those who enjoy walking along the River Parrett at Langport found this flooded path on many an occasion!  Indeed South Somerset as a whole faced flooding earlier than might be expected and these have continued into early 2024.

We are a hardy and resourceful bunch who will find ways and means to keep singing going, no matter what the challenges.  This is just as well, as our main festive sing for 2023 was at Coates English Willow Christmas Fayre - bang in the middle of the Somerset Levels at the end of a particularly water logged week.  Even though we missed our practice session before, Pete and 35 of us meandered around the muddy roads that were open to be able to sing the set we had been practicing over the autumn and winter weeks.

A bright, but cold windy day, we had a very memorable warm up in one of the willow weaving sheds - yes those are willow coffins that you can see in the background!

Our 30 minute set included rendtions of new songs that Pete had been recently teaching us and much festive songs that we have sung for some years.  We had particularly enjoyed learning 'Row On' with words that orginate from a 19th century book - 'Songs the Whalemen Sang' - melody by Tim Laycock and arranged by Pete Linnett.  The High Ham version of While Shepherds Watched their Flocks ended our festive set - which was just as well as it takes a fair bit of energy to get through this fast moving arrangement!


A happy end of term sing and social evening followed a few days later, shared with a few guests who enjoyed a bit of vocal chord stretching for the last time in 2023 - we are an adult choir and it was so nice to hear a young voice amongst us.


And to round it all off there was Maxine's tea n' tinsel morning - always a very jolly affair with our lovely Maxine's sparkly input.


Thank you to all who have continued to support our happy and talented choir - we're just a touch biased!  We wish all a very happy and healthy 2024 and we look forward to our much loved singing throughout the seasons with Pete - hoping as always, that the light and warmth of Spring will be with us before too long.


Spring & Summer 2023

It's hard to imagine that we are already in August and enjoying our summer break from weekly practice sessions.  After two of the strangest summers that most of us can recall, it has been fabulous to get back to doing all that we love this year - well at least, all we could physically fit in!  Our choir has so enjoyed getting back to performance haunts of times past, starting with Kingsbury Episcopi May Festival - and what a beautiful day we had for our sing at Kingsbury Episcopi Methodist Church - welcomed by the lovely Edwin Gutteridge.


And here are our Sops and Altos lining up - with Karolina explaining that the gap in the front row is because I am taking the photograph!  We had a most enthusiastic audience for our late afternoon sing, with a full set of songs that our Musical Director, Pete Linnett, has been taking us through out paces on during our spring and summer practice sessions.


And here are most of our tenors and basses, looking equally happy in our 'brights' - a perfect choice of clothing colour for such a joyous occasion.  Our set included songs from a range of world cultures and included Eriskay Love Lilt, Midnight Special, Hlonolofatsa and Heke Hau.  Even better, many of us got to perform all of these again a few weeks later with Pete's 'Meeting Voices' Choir at the South Petherton Folk Festival - on a equally bright and happy day.


With so much on offer to do again this summer, many members have taken a week or two out from practices to go off on their travels.  Alto Karolina, was the choir's stalwart this year, attending every practice session right up to a few days before daughter Ava was born!  Missing one practice only, she even came to our final end of term session and we loved meeting our youngest member yet!


We wish everyone a happy summer and lots of fun until we start our practice sessions again on Monday 18th September.  We are looking forward to welcoming new members this autumn and we offer a free taster session - so please do pop us an email should you fancy coming to try us out!

Autumn & Winter 2022

And so the heat of the summer of 2022 continued into autumn and even when the flood waters rose in and around Langport, the mild weather continued longer than we could have reasonably expected.   We had many bright and sunny days until well into December and the moors in and around Langport looked particularly scenic.

Starting to learn songs for our Christmas set on mild autumn evenings, the possibility wintery weather felt a lifetime away.  Perhaps Pete's revival of this cult 1973 song by Roy Wood had a part to play in bringing an early drop of snow to Somerset that caught many unawares!

By the time we performed this and other festive songs at our Family and Friends social in mid December, that snow had disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.  We greatly enjoyed singing our Christmas set all the same, our first indoors performance in Langport since 2019.  How blessed we felt by this happy evening in the Langport Arms Ballroom after three lean years and we are so grateful to Pete for keeping us going throughout.  Long may our happy choir continue and we greatly look forward to raising our voices together throughout 2023.



Spring & Summer 2022

The arrival of spring and summer 2022 has brought a whirlwind of activity for all and after two years of confinement, the possibilities for connecting with others have been a joy, albeit a touch exhausting at times!  The choir has kept moving forward through the highs of singing together, the lows of infections and the challenges of extreme weather.  We attended and performed at the rescheduled Bristol Choirs Convention in April, singing with Pete's Chard and Lyme choirs.  We also gave a performance at the Drayton Jubilee Fete in June despite an untimely downpour and needing to run for cover!  

At our final practice session we had been polishing off our set for an end of term summer event, due to take place outside Tesco in Langport the following Monday, looking to raise much needed funds for a new library at Huish Episcopi Primary School and for publicity for the choir over the summer.  


Our set included one of the songs we have greatly enjoyed learning this term, 'Lost Words Blessing' - composed by a group of European musicians and arranged by Nikomo Clarke.  The song is inspired by the amazing children's 'Lost Words' book by Robert MacFarlene, which has happily also inspired an art competition by children at Huish Episcopi Primary school.  Most sadly, our event had to be postponed due to extreme high temperatures and we very much hope that we will be able to reschedule again in the near future. 


All that we do is only possible with the guidance and skill of our enduring musical director, Pete Linnett.  We wish Pete and all of our members, happy and relaxing summer weeks and we look forward to resuming our practice sessions at the Langport Arms on Monday 18th September 2022 - 7pm to 9pm. Please do email should you like to try a free practice session with us - langportcommunitychoir@hotmail.co.uk


Winter 2021

Returning to our practice sessions on a hot and steamy September evening, it was impossible to imagine that we would ever be cold again!  Now in the depths of winter with Chrismas behind us, the winter lights that continue to twinkle in the main street in Langport gives a very warming welcome.

And here we are on that first balmy autumn evening sampling a bit of DIY social distanced singing for size in our new practice space. To hear each others voices again in real time was just fabulous, albeit a little less clearly than before.  A cappella singing is very much about team work and how each of us sings as individuals is very connected to the hearing the wider group. 

The title of one of the first songs we learnt with our leader Pete was very fitting for our singing return.  Written by Gary Bonner & Alan Gordon, Happy Together was first recorded by The Turtles in 1967.  While it's words do have sad undertones, this song's catchy and upbeat tune made it much fun to learn and sing.

As the colder days and dark nights began, our return to Christmas carols commenced.  With tunes more often firmly entrenched from a young age, learning harmony parts for carols can take a bit of doing.  Our set this year included the one of the oldest Christmas carols, While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night was based around a poem written by Poet Laureate - Nahum Tate in 1652 - the only Christmas hymn authorised to be sung by the Anglican Church before 1700.

Our Christmas performance for 2021 came around at speed and supported by Tescos in Langport, our musical director Pete Linnett led our fun and festive sing in front of the store.   We were also delighted to raise £167 for Langport & Huish Episcopi Youth Group towards creating their amazing summer street flags.  We are so grateful to Pete for making our performance happen and helping us to end our singing year on a very happy note, despite all the challenges.

So as we tentatively approach 2022 and a new year of raising our voices, we wish all who love to sing harmonious hours in the weeks and months ahead.  Some things take a little time to get going again in the winter months, however, as many will agree, they are very much worth waiting for.


Spring & Summer 2021

The vibrant fluttery flags have returned to Langport in 2021 and with them has come many blue sky Spring and Summer days.  This colourful and creative Summer spectical by Langport & Huish Youth Group has brightened the main street in Langport for many summers and to see their return this year was so very welcome.


We continued with our weekly Zoom sessions until the end of May and are most grateful to Pete Linnett for supporting us through the winter lockdown.  Thank you to all you took part over the lockdowns and helped to keep our choir alive through unprececedented times.  


After so many months of remote singing, what a great joy it was to finally sing together again one sunny summers evening on Cocklemoor.  In kindly weather we found our voices with surprising ease and it was amazing to hear them combined again after so many months.  Even better, that others in Langport enjoyed listening to us and watching how we learn.


All of this has only been possible with the continued support and skill of our Musical Director Pete Linnett.  We marvel even more at his abilities and it was wonderful to see him in action again in person.


And of course our members too - each of us having many stories to tell of our lives over the past year.  To make another happy evening hosted by our Bass Ed in his garden was another huge pleasure.


And so as we approach the autumn, the River Parrett continues to flow into Langport and reminds us that life goes on.  With a careful and considered plan to return to indoor practice from 6th September, we give thanks at being able to sing together again and remember those who will be unable to join us.




Winter 2020

And so despite our dearest hopes, we still await the happy day of being able to sing together again.  We did our very best to make our last Zoom session of 2020 a happy and jolly occasion and to end what was without question a challenging year on a positive note.  

As we start another year with even greater restrictions, keeping contact with like minded others is a huge blessing.  Our Zoom sessions commence again for 5 weeks on Monday 11th January at the continued price of £3 per session.  We are doing our utmost to support Pete and retain his services as our Musical Director and will do all that we can to continue singing until the time we are able to safely sing together again.