Glee abounds with Guernsey Glee Singers at National Trust Guernsey Courtyard Concerts 2018
Under the dynamic direction of Lydia Pugh, The Guernsey Glee Singers lived up to their name with a wide-ranging repertoire of delightful pieces, merrily performed under yesterday’s canopy of blue skies and brilliant sunshine at The Courtyard, Saumarez Park. In these days of consistent heat, when parts of the UK are approaching a hose-pipe ban, the mid-performance interval was accurately described by Lydia, as her choir taking ‘a shade-break', but not before the audience had enjoyed Lydia Pugh’s own composition, ‘Celebration of Song’ especially written to celebrate Guernsey Glee Singers’ 90th Year Anniversary, in 2017. Followed by ‘The Lord is My Shepherd’, the choir then performed a moving rendition of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ which, going by the poignant end-of-piece silence and then applause, was a firm favourite with spectators. We were hooked. Feel-good nostalgia came flooding in with firm favourites ‘Singin’ in the Rain’, ‘Fly me to the Moon’ and ‘You’ll never walk alone’. These pieces belong to times, people and places that are fondly remembered and our thanks to Guernsey Glees for giving us a sentimental shot of the past. The same goes for the choirs’ rendition of classics ‘You’ve got a friend in me’, ‘Moon River’ and California Dreamin’ - although the skies above, felt about as California-esque as Guernsey has known since the summer of 1976. Finishing jubilantly with ‘This is the Moment’, The Guernsey Glee Singers left an embedded sense of joy and happiness on The Courtyard. As the audience left and the clear-down started, we found ourselves humming ‘Hallelujah’ or outright singing ‘Fly me to the Moon’ and were left with a sense that we are not the only ones taking some of The Guernsey Glees home with us. This, the third concert in 2018’s series of six Summer Courtyard Concerts, was enjoyed by Islanders, visitors to Guernsey and National Trust of Guernsey members. Some of our audience have attended all of the concerts so far and, Members are definitely enjoying free-entrance Member benefit. National Trust of Guernsey extends heartfelt thanks to the audience and most especially, to Lydia Pugh and The Guernsey Glee Singers, for a concert, most warmly appreciated and affectionately remembered as honest music, in a heritage place. Guernsey Glee Singers will perform the same musical set at Visit Guernsey’s Sunday Concerts, taking place at Candie Gardens, St. Peter Port on Sunday, 23rd September, 2018