Sweet Adelines Women’s barbershop chorus

Press, 1 September 1986, Page 14

Sweet Adelines Women’s barbershop chorus

Making it happen

“I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony"ccv.ld well be the theme song of the Sweet Adelines, a group of Christchurch women who have formed a barbershop chorus. Traditionally, the barbershop quartet, from which barbershop choruses have developed, has been for men only.

Now, with the Sweet Adelines becoming the fifth women’s barbershop chorus in New Zealand (and the first in the South Island), all that is changing.

So catchy is their singing that the group has grown from five to 42 members in only a year. “Many of the women have sung in choirs in the past and are delighted to get back into singing as a group again,” says one member, Heather Mayell. The women are aged from 20 to 60, and while some are highly trained musically, others are not able to read a note.

The chorus is a prospective chapter of the American Sweet Adelines, an international movement started in 1946 and dedicated to spreading the joy of barbershop music throughout the world. As a community based group, Sweet Adelines of Christchurch sing at senior citizens’ clubs and homes, hospitals, conventions and in shopping malls.

With their long red skirts, white shirts, striped sashes and ties, not to mention their unaccompanied four-part harmony, they certainly present themselves with style and pizzazz.

Women’s barbershop choruses sing bass, baritone, lead and tenor — just like the men’s groups. Within their chorus, the Sweet Adelines have four accomplished “quartettes.”

In September next year, a Sweet Adeline International Convention will be held in Hawaii, one of the highlights being a grand showcase in which New Zealand Sweet Adelines have been invited to perform as a unit.

To raise funds for the event, the Christchurch Sweet Adelines are hold-

ing their first public performance at Hornby High School on successive Saturdays, September 13 and 20.

Tickets are $5 each and can be bought from the Town Hall or Hornby High School, or at the door. Performances start at 7.45 p.m. Y.W.C.A. shelter Christchurch’s first night shelter for homeless women opens today — the result of an idea mooted nearly four years ago and a lot of hard work.

Efforts to open a shelter were redoubled last year with the publication of a report on women and homelessness in the city. The need for emergency accommodation was clear.

Finding a suitable house took some time. Then there was the tricky business of raising funds. Furniture and other essentials were collected

and the final step taken a couple of weeks ago with the appointment of a second live-in woman.

The shelter, in Opawa, will be open from 4 p.m. today to women over 16, unaccompanied by children or partners. Women needing a bed can phone 31-786, or the Y.W.C.A. at 63-063. Cost is $6 nightly — for those able to pay. The Night Shelter for Women group hope to have an official opening for the house in midOctober.

Giant jumble sale

There will be bargains galore at The Clothes Shop’s annual jumble sale on Friday, September 19, at the Horticultural Hall. Good second-hand clothing, unsold end-of-lines, shoes books, jewellery and a variety of other goods will be on sale as usual.

The Clothes Shop is a charitable organisation of

women who donate the proceeds from their huge jumble sales to different charities in the community.

Last year’s sale, raised more than $lO,OOO, most of it given to the Foundation for the Blind for heating costs and towards building extensions. Money was also given to H.0.P.E., a support group for parents of terminally ill children, Save the Children Fund and Cholmondeley Home. . Any firm, shop or individual who would like to contribute to the jumble sale can leave items at the Foundation for the Blind in Bristol St, or phone the Foundation for collection. The number is 559-005.

The sale begins at noon.

Creche to re-open

The St Alban’s Community Creche, whose kitchen was gutted by fire in July, only months after

opening, hopes to reopen at the end of this month. The creche, on the corner of Westminster and Thames Streets, had just extended its hours to cater for increased numbers of children when the fire took hold.

Set up by local groups and individuals, with help from the Christchurch City Council, the creche is an excellent example of community initiative. Donations of good used children’s clothing, kitchen utensils, a teapot, crockery and toys in good condition are still needed before opening date. Anyone Who can help is asked to phone Andrea Dawber at 523-158.

Compiled by Glenys Walker

Items for this column should be sent one week ahead of publication date to Glenys Walker, Making It Happen, Rome and People Page, The Press, Private Bag, Christchurch. . „