On a very cold and frosty morning on Thursday 28 April 2016, more than 50 members of the Station Singers Tour Choir set off on the road from Richmond via Winchester, Portsmouth and Brittany Ferries, to Caen via Granville to St Aubin du Cormier in Brittany, Richmond’s Twin Town.
We arrived at the Champ de Foire early evening on Friday to be met by our hosts from two local choirs, the Saint Aubin School of Music Choir and an A Capella choir called Opus from St Ouen des Alleux, a neighbouring town to St Aubin.
Carol (MD) had ‘coached us on the coach’ in our opening medley of regional songs and our hosts were warmly greeted by us in several languages–the ‘entente cordiale’ had begun!
We saluted our new friends with Kir Breton before retiring to the host families or hotel, excitedly looking forward to Saturday’s tour of St Aubin, rehearsals and our first performance.
Next day, we enjoyed a delicious home-cooked lunch with our French choirs before rehearsing our solo set with Carol and our joint songs with Jean-Michel and Eleonore , the two French conductors. Jean-Michel gave us a totally new and emotional interpretation of ‘Quand on n’a que l’amour’ and Eleonore encouraged us to ‘Sing Alleluia, Clap your hands’ in unison.
Our first joint concert at the Espace Bel Air was a fantastic modern venue and the big stage with lighting and contrasted with our usual rehearsals in the Station cinema or the Town Hall!
Looking professional in black with a touch of lilac, we wowed the crowd with our 30 minute set of songs in English and French. We knew we’d made it when the French audience sang along heartily to our Beatles’ medley – word perfect!
Afterwards, we shared ‘un moment convivial’ with lots of nice comments and thank you’s.
Sunday 1st May found us discovering the delights of medieval Fougères prior to another convivial lunch before arriving at the main church at St Ouen des Alleux, the venue for our second and last concert. Finally the sun was shining and we sang with joy and sunshine in our hearts in this lovely packed church, feeling very much at home as we sing here in St Mary’s. We were on the circuit now and there was nothing stopping us – standing ovations for ‘Love changes everything’ and many a tear wiped away with our ‘excellent French pronunciation’. What a wonderful end to our magical musical long weekend. One choir member described it as ‘the best experience of their lives’.
We are planning a Tour Celebration Reunion for the ‘Tourists’ in September to share lovely memories, great photos and videos and perhaps a glass to salute the success of the inaugural Tour Choir this year. We’re all looking forward to St Aubin’s return visit to Richmond in two years’ time.
Thanks must go to Carol, Brett, Doreen, Graham and the Twinning Committee and all the helpers for making this so special – not forgetting all the singers who laughed and cried and sang and danced and ate and drank and socialised and made new friends and most of all, had really good fun!
Angela Wall - 05 07 2016
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