Last Friday was one of the best Côr y Gleision fun nights ever! Such talent and so many highlights. The evening was the brainchild of Sarita Marshall, our choir Karaoke Queen. It was held in the Liberal Club, Cathays Terrace: a perfect venue with a stage, a great seating area and a bar which sold drinks at rock bottom prices. We all brought contributions of food so we had a scrumptious feast of quiches, pizzas, sausage rolls, cake and much more.
In the very best karaoke tradition, the bravest of us gave Sarita the songs titles we said we would perform, and then went to the bar to boost our Dutch courage. But we didn’t need to worry because we were with friends and it was brilliant fun. By the end of the evening just about everyone in the room had had a go and they were all amazing. Here are some of the highlights:
Norma singing “When I’m 64” followed by us all singing Happy Birthday afterwards, as it really was her 64th birthday; Harriet singing “Poison” and brilliantly ad-libbing the end because the karaoke music wifi went down; and the room going silent as Meilyr sang “Stars” from Les Mis. Lucy then sang “Bridge over Troubled Water” and we all joined in, thinking of the victims of Grenfell Tower.
Other highlights include Sarita and Frank singing “Islands in the Stream” while Lucy, Anne and Mel attempted some disastrous line dancing; Ann Williams singing “Stand by Your Man” and Wyn Williams singing “Can’t help falling in Love”. Harriet cried when he sang..
There was also something different: a beautiful Portuguese song “Meu Fado“, sung by Delyth, a friend of Gwenno Dafydd’s, (we’re hoping she’ll join our choir) and “Du Hast” by Miranda Morton. Totally crazy and brilliant.
Julie Donnelly sang a great rendition of “Angie Baby”; Mary and Dave Simmonds sang a lovely duet of “You’re so Vain” and Gwenno D sang “All that Jazz”. What a voice! And who can forget Melanie’s “I’ve Got a Brand New Pair of Roller Skates”?
Steve Cross, one of the newer members of the bass seciton sang two lovely Sinatra songs, and Jon Smith and Jon Haberfield both sang some great numbers.
Vicky “the voice” singing “I will always love you” was another highlight: so beautiful, as well as Kath Edwards with one of the best Carpenters songs ever: “Close to you”. Anne Derbyshire performed Blondie’s “The Tide is High”, Lynne Cronin sang “Downtown” and choir friend Beccy performed “Summertime”.
Last but not least: the finale. Cath “Cazz” Green discovered that it “takes 6 gins, a pint of lager and some fantastic company” for her to be persuaded to get up and do a rendition of “Paradise” by the Dashboard Light with Norma. It was hysterical because they acted it out and it was a great ending to a great evening!
The evening was so packed that we actually ran out of time. I wanted to mention everyone because the fact they were brave enough to stand up on that stage and sing made the evening very special. And we raised £365, all of which is going towards our Canada Tour next year
Well done everyone. A brilliant evening and what a wonderful choir to be a part of.