Old Wives Lees Community Choir

10/12/2025

Just a reminder that the WVCC Christmas Concert is tomorrow! Why not come along?

28/09/2025

We are performing at a Free Autumn Music Concert at All Saints Church, Boughton Aluph, TN25 4EU on Saturday 4 October 2025 starting at 1930.

It's a free concert with Refreshments, Raffle and plenty of parking. There will be a retiring collection in aid of the Boughton and Eastwell Cricket Pavilion Fund.

20/07/2025

A great time was had by all at the Summer Song event at St Peter's Anglican Church in Canterbury where we and Wye Village Community Choir performed a variety of fun songs in aid of Catching Lives. We raised over £400 thanks to the generosity of everyone who attended.

Wye opened proceedings with sentiments that summed up the day in Pastime with Good Company. We then took over with some of our old favourites: Do You Hear the People Sing, California Dreaming and Siyahamba. The two choirs joined together after that in a new piece for all of us, Sting's Fields of Gold, and then another familiar fav, May it Be. Wye then took the floor and gave us the warm, spiritual turn of Down in the River to Pray, English folk in the form of The Water is Wide, and then a different pace with Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time, which rounded out the first half.

After some fantastic refreshments (thank you everyone who provided food and drink), Wye opened the second half with a sea shanty, Row On, which included an excellent solo first verse by Stevie. This was followed by the gentle stylings of Rutter's The Lord Bless You and Keep You, and then another change of rhythm into Nina Simone's I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free (otherwise known as the theme tune to Barry Norman's Film TV series). We all came back together then with a combined arrangement by Mark Harding, OWL's musical director, of Over the Rainbow and White Cliffs of Dover, and then we moved on to the contemplative Tebe Poem. Next, we were up again, doing another new piece for us, James Bay's Hold Back the River, followed by Billy Joel's And So It Goes. We then left pop behind in favour of a good old fashioned sea shanty, Sloop John B. And finally, both choirs and our ukulele players sang us out with John Denver's Country Roads.

The event was a lot of fun with smiles and song. Below are some highlights from the concert.

20/07/2025

A great time was had by all at the Summer Song event at St Peter's Anglican Church in Canterbury where we and Wye Village Community Choir performed a variety of fun songs in aid of Catching Lives. We raised over £400 thanks to the generosity of everyone who attended.

Wye opened proceedings with sentiments that summed up the day in Pastime with Good Company. We then took over with some of our old favourites: Do You Hear the People Sing; California Dreaming and Siyahamba. The two choirs joined together after that in a new piece for all of us, Sting's Fields of Gold, and then another familiar fav, May it Be. Wye then took the floor and gave us the warm, spiritual turn of Down in the River to Pray, English folk in the form of The Water is Wide, and then a different pace with Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time, which rounded out the first half.

After some fantastic refreshments, Wye opened the second half with a sea shanty, Row On, which included an excellent solo first verse by Stevie. This was followed by the gentle stylings of Rutter's The Lord Bless You and Keep You, and then another change of rhythm into Nina Simone's I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free (otherwise know as the theme tune to Barry Norman's Film TV series. We all came back together then with an arrangement by Mark Harding, our music director, of a medley of Over the Rainbow and White Cliffs of Dover, and then the contemplative Tebe Poem. Next, we were up again, doing another new piece for us, James Bay's Hold Back the River, followed by Billy Joel's And So It Goes. We then left pop behind in favour of a good old fashioned sea shanty, Sloop John B. And finally, both choirs and our ukulele players sang us out with Country Roads.

The event was a lot of fun with smiles and song. Here are a few highlights of the concert.

14/07/2025

OWL Choir will be singing with Wye Village Community Choir this coming Saturday 19 July at 3pm. At St Peter's Anglican Church in Canterbury.

Come and enjoy our mix of old and new songs.😀

Summer Song 2025!

It’s nearly time for our annual concert fundraiser for Canterbury’s brilliant homeless charity Catching Lives. Why not come along for an afternoon of great singing in a lovely setting? £5 includes refreshments and all proceeds go to the charity! See you there!

13/07/2025

The banner is up for our concert on Saturday!

10/07/2025

Summer Song 2025!
It’s nearly time for our annual concert fundraiser for Canterbury’s brilliant homeless charity Catching Lives. Why not come along for an afternoon of great singing in a lovely setting? £5 includes refreshments and all proceeds go to the charity! See you there!

07/07/2025

On Saturday, we sang at a Garden Party in Chilham in aid of The Friends of Chilham St Mary's. We had a great time, singing old favourites like May It Be, and new songs for us, like Fields of Gold and Hold Back the River. Here are some pictures of us and the OWL Ukulele Group who regaled us with their talents, plus Mark rocking the banjolele.😎

08/05/2025

The choir is singing as part of these celebrations, see you there at 8pm!

🇬🇧🇬🇧All welcome 🇬🇧🇬🇧

07/04/2025

A great time was had by all at the Old Wives Lees (OWL) Community Concert on Saturday 5 April evening at OWL Village Hall. Thank you to everyone who came to listen or perform, it was an evening packed with fun and laughter and, thanks to generous donations, we raised £385.06 for Catching Lives.

We and Wye Village Community Choir opened the proceedings together with a lovely light rendition of the round, White Coral Bells, from both the stage and the audience, which led us into an evening of wonderful performances. We were lucky to have three choirs, two music groups and some brilliant soloists entertaining us.

We (OWL Community Choir) then provided a selection of songs from choral music to sea shanties, with great soloists and accompanists (Jon Hopkins, Mary Bartlett, Peter Bartlett, Ray Huntley, Guy Netley. David Christian, Alan Baker, Mark Harding, Steve Rushin, Caroline Mortlock). A change of pace was provided by the breathy stylings of OWL Recorder Group, who gave us three pieces, finishing with the joyous Sloop John B. Three of our solo performers came next, Emily Hutchinson sang musical theatre, Naughty, from Matilda, accompanied by Vanessa and Audrey Hutchinson; Evelyn Wood gave us a lovely classical guitar solo and then showed us her versatility by playing and singing a Taylor Swift encore; finally Jane Steves, also a member of OWL Community Choir, sang two pieces, a soulful version of Feelin’ Good and graduated next to an operatic aria! And to finish the first half, we enjoyed some fabulous close harmony singing from East Kent Chorus, who gave us an appetite with a mixture of popular classics.

After a delicious spread of both savoury and sweet refreshments, our second half commenced with the catchy strummings of OWL Ukulele Group, who also introduced us to a bajolele, a combination of a ukulele and a banjo, whose sound was intriguingly new to all of us. Wye Village Community Choir followed them with diverse pieces including an African-American spiritual and the Beatles! Three more incredible soloists then took to our stage. Mary Bartlett enchanted us with her classical guitar and reminded us that The Condor Passes is based on traditional Andean folk music from Peru and is not merely a song by Simon & Garfunkel!😜 Beverly Smith sang sweetly for us, including a duet with Guy Netley. Caroline Mortlock, who so generously accompanies OWL Community Choir on the piano, then wowed us all, dancing over the ivories with Für Elise Reimagined by Alexander Joseph.

And finally, OWL and Wye Village Community Choirs joined together to sing us out with the Elven poetry of May It Be from Lord of the Rings and delicate glory of John Rutter before sending us all on our way with An Irish Blessing.

The Old Wives Lees Community Concert 2025 was a fabulous evening. Thank you again to everyone who supported the event in all capacities. We came together for a good cause and showed off a wondrous variety of local talent.

25/03/2025

We have great news, we're hosting a community concert at OWL Village Hall on Saturday 5 April 2025 at 1900. Everyone is welcome, entry is free. There will be a collection for Catching Lives, a great Canterbury charity, during the interval when we will be offering refreshments.

It's going to a be a great event, we have lots of local performers who will be entertaining us: of course, we'll be there, and Wye Village Community Choir and East Kent Chorus, plus OWL ukulele and recorder groups, and some fantastic soloists too! Come along and join us for a fun musical celebration

08/01/2025

OLD WIVES LEES COMMUNITY CHOIR (OWLCC) – NEW TERM

When: Saturday 11th January 2025 4:00pm – 5:30pm

Where: Old Wives Lees Village Hall, Long Hill, Old Wives Lees, CT4 8BN

We are starting our Spring term this coming Saturday and would love you to come and join us! We meet every other Saturday afternoon, at the Old Wives Lees Village Hall. We are a Community Choir, so anyone can join – there are no auditions, and you don’t have to be able to read music. We sing a wide range of genres, from pop right through to the occasional light classical piece, and we sing in three- or four-part harmony.

We’re a friendly group, and rehearsals are relaxed and fun! We’re proud of our achievements, and regularly sing at local events, raising a lot of money for charity along the way. We were very busy before Christmas, as you may imagine, but the Spring term is an opportunity to take a breath, revise some of our old pieces and learn some new ones. This is the perfect time to join, so why not give it a go? You can even come along for a free try-out session, if you like, to help you decide!

If you would like to join, or if you have any other questions, please leave a reply below – or email to [email protected]