The rehearsal weekend is about new stuff: new music, finding new things in an established piece, meeting new choir members you don’t know and learning something new about singers you thought you knew quite well. The informal entertainment mirrors this with new pieces or a different slant on a piece that’s been sung before. Even The Red Lea Hotel had a new fitness suite. Then there are things that never change like the afterglow in The Highlander on Saturday night, or the nithering icy wind off the North Sea. I slept in double pymamas.

The new music pieces were The Deadwood Stage, What a Wonderful World, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, You Raise Me Up and Singing in the Rain.

The informal entertainment included Emilio Zamberlan (Let’s Do It), Howard Samuels (Hava Nagila), Geoff Gill (When the Boat Comes In), John Senior (Aldi-Lidl), Alan Greaves Quartet (If the Sergeant Steals Your Rum Never Mind), Ibbo (Busy Bee), Tom Ashworth (One Fine Day, Madame Butterfly), Steve Davies (Season of Peace), Graham Dawson (Summertime) and Alan Hicks (Huron Indian Christmas Carol).

The star of the weekend was Elizabeth. Well-prepared, organised, cheeky feedback, empathic and so on. I’ve often wondered whether Eddie is reaching for another slice of pie.

On Sunday morning Andy Johnston outlined current thinking on how the information on the April concert was to be disseminated and asked for support in contacting organisations. He stressed that our guest was a good all-round entertainer.

Over the weekend Terry Dean didn’t get a warm, not to mention a hot shower. He finally managed something like a soak in the room next door.

I am not the only choir jailbird.

Ibbo got locked up for sleeping

rough on bales of hay in Lansdowne

Road, Dublin.

Rupert’s presence is ubiquitous.

Ged is a member of a posh bowls

club in Ilkley. Something about

the quality and price of beer. One

of his pals played golf

against Woodsome and

guess who he sat with

at dinner? A whitehaired

bloke who told

jokes.

Clive has lost so much weight, can he claim to be still a bass?

Steve

Flynn left school

in the1960s

after ‘A’ levels

and recalls his

first IT job where

a few kilobytes

were contained

in a room the size

of The Red Lea dining

room, complete

with

tapes and

air-conditioning.

Having celebrated

his kids’

graduations, when

he completed his

degree as a mature

student at Huddersfield

University, they

celebrated his.

Has anyone

noticed Adam’s

broken

nose?

It’s a brute

when he

takes his

glasses off.

Charlie Turner got

hooked on sailing

boats during a holiday

in E Anglia. He joined

the Thames Sailing

Barge Trust in Malden, but now

prefers to crew with Classic Boats

of Falmouth. It’s a good match

with Margaret’s passion for yoga

and allied disciplines.