Advertisement
Manchester Sacred Harp warmly invite you to join us for our 2024 All-Day Singing. Day 1: Saturday 12 October
10- 4pm at Withington Methodist Church
Book: The Sacred Harp
Bring and share lunch
Please click 'going' to confirm attendance
Day 2: Sunday 13 October
1-4.30pm at The Whitworth
Book: The Christian Harmony
No food or drink permitted in the gallery
To find more info about Day 2 and confirm attendance, go to the specific event page: https://fb.me/e/28I3q848x
------------------------------------------------------------------
IMPORTANT:
To protect the wellbeing of singers and their loved ones, stay home if you have ANY cold or flu-like symptoms, or have been in close contact who have transmissible respiratory illness (e.g. if your housemate or child has a cough or cold)
Our Covid policy is currently being agreed by committee. Please check back before you attend to ensure you know what you're agreeing to.
------------------------------------------------------------------
SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER
10am Registration
10.30am Start
4pm Close
Venue
-------
Withington Methodist Church,
439 Wilmslow Road, Withington, Manchester M20 4AN
www.withingtonmethodistchurch.org
Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/6Q6MThGWX7ZM9dpo9
Lunch
-------
There will be a bring-and-share lunch. We will ask you to manage your own dish. Please bring it ready to serve with a utensil and collecting leftovers and crockery at the end of the event. We'll ask you to label it and list ingredients when you arrive.
Slow cookers welcome.
If you feel happier bringing your own packed lunch, please feel free to do whatever best meets your needs.
Refreshments
--------------
We'll provide the usual tea/coffee/water including some decaffeinated and dairy-free options.
Access information
--------------------
The venue is level access and has wheelchair accessible toilet facilities on both floors. There is a lift to the first floor where the singing takes place. There are two blue badge parking spaces near the rear entrance of the church.
Getting there
--------------
Withington is a suburb of Manchester, about 4 miles to the south of the city. The church is on a busy main road (B5093), surrounded by shops and places to eat. It is opposite Queen Street West side street and The Victoria pub.
Parking
--------
There are 16 parking spaces available in the Church’s car park at the rear of the building (including two blue badge allocated spaces). There is a one-way system to access the car park from Wilmslow Road. Turn onto Swinbourne Grove. At the top, turn right onto Parsonage Road, then first right onto Edgerton Crescent. The Church car park is the first turning on the right, just past the Post Office.
To exit the car park, turn right onto Edgerton Road, taking you back to Wilmslow Road.
More parking is available on side streets nearby.
Public transport
-------------------
Wilmslow Road is a major bus route. Numbers 42, 43, 142 & 143 buses all stop at Withington Library Stop E, practically at the front door. The bus takes around 20 minutes from the city centre.
There are several bike racks in front of the Church.
The nearest Metrolink tram stop is a 20-minute walk from the Church.
Please check beforehand whether any roadworks or service changes will affect your journey. You can use the journey planner here: https://tfgm.com/plan-a-journey
Post-event Social
-------------------
TBC
ATTENDING AN ALL-DAY FOR THE FIRST TIME?
======================================
If you've not been to an all-day before, there are a few particulars you might find useful to know:
Booking:
No tickets or pre-booking is required, just turn up on the day. There's a registration desk where you sign in, tell us if you want to lead a song. If you're completely new, this is a good time to tell us, so that we can introduce you to what goes on, advise where to sit, lend you a book and make you feel welcome.
Cost:
It’s free to attend. The whole thing is reliant on goodwill. Costs are (hopefully!) covered by donations, which are gathered by passing a hat around all the singers partway through the day. If you can afford to contribute, we'll be very glad as this will help to cover venue hire and associated costs. If you can't, please come anyway.
Food:
We will have a 'bring and share lunch'. This means everyone brings something to contribute to a communal feast. Between home-cooked and shop-bought, sweet and savoury, meaty and vegetarian, there's always a wide range of food, though it's obviously unpredictable. We task contributors to label their dish for allergens and special diets. If you have particular dietary requirements or anxieties around this arrangement, you may feel more comfortable bringing your own packed lunch. Otherwise, just bring something to share, and don't forget to collect the serving dish/leftovers at the end.
Drinks:
Drinks and snacks are provided for tea breaks, and all crockery etc is provided. Some people like to bring flasks or drinking bottles to refill.
Song books:
Loaner books are available to borrow for the day.
Any questions?
Drop us a line: [email protected]
New to Sacred Harp?
================
Sacred Harp is accessible, communal and participatory, not performative. So there's no 'choir practice' - you just turn up and sing. It is open to people of all faiths and none, and you need no experience. You might find it a bit intense if it's your first go, but you'll be made very welcome.
Sacred Harp is a singing tradition that originated in America in the late 1800s, drawing on the hymns and folk tunes of the time. It is sung in four part harmony, with no instruments accompanying the singers.
Manchester Sacred Harp is a friendly group who get together for the love of singing. We're a small group - numbers fluctuate each time, depending on who can make it (there's no expectation to always attend). It's not a fixed group - it's open to anybody, so you're welcome to just come along and try it.
There is a mixture of abilities, and the voices of the most experienced singers help you to follow the tune. You won’t be asked to sing alone, and there’s no audience. It’s all about power of many voices joined in harmony.
Participants sit in an open square, the singers in each of the four sections facing towards each other. Each section sings a different part of the harmony.
First of all, everyone sounds out the tune together using just the shape notes. Then we sing it through with the words in our tune book. Shapenotes were designed to make it easier to follow a tune for people who don’t read music. But there’s no real need to follow the notes - you simply need to listen and join in - you’ll pick it up as you go along.
This lovely short video gives a useful explanation of Sacred Harp:
___________________________________________________
*** photo used with kind permission of Joyce Smith ***
Advertisement
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Withington Methodist Church, 441 Wilmslow Road, Manchester, M20 3, United Kingdom,Manchester, United Kingdom
