Last Saturday, The West Bridgford Liberty Singers were invited to sing in the foyer before the Nottingham Panthers Ice Hockey game against the Sheffield Stealers. We had a limited number of seats available to us for the game afterwards so we took a sprinkling of our full choir along.

It’s quite nice to work with a smaller group sometimes – people get the chance to talk to people and perform along side them when they perhaps wouldn’t usually meet at bigger choir rehearsals (where around 120 meet every fortnight). We had a good balance of colour in this group – and by that I’m talking about the different vocal parts. In our choir, the sopranos are REDS, the altos are YELLOWS, there are more altos with a low harmony who are GREENS and the tenors are BLUES – this includes our Tena-Ladies!

The acoustics were really lovely and people soon started to stop and listen for a little while. These gigs where we have ‘passing trade’ audiences are interesting. We sing a loop of songs (6-8) as people rarely stand around watching for longer than a couple of songs. Some people join in a little while, some film and share on social media. Some just smile and soak up the songs. I have to rely on the singers’ faces to tell me what’s going on behind me as I conduct – I’ve often got no idea what’s going on!

We were joined by the Panthers mascot Paws! He danced and stayed with us for one of the favourite songs ‘Just can’t get enough’ which many people joined in with. It really boosted the atmosphere for us all.

It’s good to get out and sing for no particular reason. We weren’t raising money nor were we being paid – it was a gig for the total joy of it.

And we hope to return one day…..