…and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and In The Bleak Midwinter, and O Come Emmanuel, not forgetting the listical Must Be Santa, of course, and our new song, Rain And Snow, out for just its second airing.
The Yuletide Serenaders sans Massed Choir (Thanks to Gerbo for the pic)
Yes, The Yuletide Serenaders played and sang all their Christmas hits on Saturday, and, in just over an hour, managed to collect £67 for the Crisis charity, which helps those without homes to find some shelter and food in what has been a fairly cold December.
Many thanks to Jill and Gerbo for being the Yuletide Serenaders Massed Choir.
If the weather plays ball, we’ll be back for a last pre-Xmas outing sometime next weekend.
A small but merry band of Serenaders will be singing a few Christmas songs in the streets of Lichfield. Do come and join us (songbooks provided) between 10.30 and 11.45 on Saturday. Look out for us either in Market Street or Dam Street.
Kazoos to the lips, some Christmas songs in the playbook and rain that passed just in time – what more could we ask for as we launched our festive campaign for 2024.
The atmospheric picture above was taken by a young girl passing by with her parents. It looked like a toy but was clearly a polaroid-type camera which gave an instant print-out. Who needs fancy phone cameras, eh? Surely a future Annie Leibovitz who will go on to photograph the next generation of the rich and famous! Many thanks to her and I’m sorry we didn’t get her name.
Meagre pickings due to having to play next to Minster Pool – there were ominously loud noises coming from a giant TV screen set up in Market Square which prompted us to move from our usual Dam Street spot – but every little helps, as some supermarket will have it.
The Rev J. Olly Glum ventured into the centre of Lichfield this morning to buy bread and drugs, and was assailed on at least two occasions by unnecessarily amplified buskers.
One was outside the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum, a middle aged man playing tunes like The Sounds Of Silence on the violin which would have been quite pleasant were it not for the pick-up attached to the violin and the slightly distorted and far from silent accompaniment emanating from the amplified speaker at his feet. Another was a child outside McDonald’s, playing the trumpet, and playing it very nicely except that he was accompanied by a man (his father?) playing a keyboard or accordion (The Rev averted his eyes at this point) again loudly amplified.
Behind the Black Country Fish & Chips van beside Boots The Chemist there was a man playing steel pans. These may or may not have been amplified or accompanied by a backing track… the Rev had by this time lost the will to pay any attention at all to his surroundings, and was intent upon reaching his drugs dealer (otherwise known as the Touchwood Pharmacy) further unassailed.
The beautifully made seasonal stick-on designed by Andy P and which did us proud for many a December but which was damaged irreparably last year and so will never see active service again.
Which all acts as a preamble for the announcement that, should the gods of weather smile upon us, our merry band of totally acoustic and shamelessly incompetent musicians will be playing in Dam Street tomorrow (Sunday) from 10.30am to 12 noon. The band will feature not only a new player – James Saddened (vocals, kazoo and guitar) – but also a new piece of equipment – a loudhailer (though never as loud as bloody electric amplification!).
As it’s December tomorrow the band will be appearing under their alias The Yuletide Serenaders. Do pop along to smile with us, drop a quid or two into the hat box (all proceeds go to the homeless charity Crisis) and perhaps do a little hop, skip and jump of joy.
The Rev J. Olly Glum left alone to ponder the advantage of placing Dead Skunk before Dream A Little Dream Of Me in the second set while the Serenaders queue for tea at Bednall Pick Your Own Pumpkins farm on the last Sunday before Halloween. Thanks to Kate Sluggish for the pic.
An eight… sometime nine-strong Serenaders managed to dodge the damp at Lichfield Folk On The Farm last weekend by playing for the punters on their way to the main field from the shelter of a small barn full of hay and tractors.
A fine time was had… many thanks to LFOTF for having us. And thanks to Andy P for the pic.
For the third year running the Wayside Serenaders are delighted to have been invited to fill the spaces between the real music provided at Lichfield Folk On The Farm. We’ll be setting up in various spots and might even have a couple of new songs to share with festival goers.
It’s a lovely day out in the country for the whole family and we hope you’ll be able to join us. Tickets for over 12s are £15 which includes the hog roast or vegetarian option. Under 12s have free entry but must forage for food, unless their parents are prepared to pay for their lunch. There is a bar.
Lichfield Folk On The Farm is from 12 noon to 6pm on Sunday 15 September at Woodside Farm near Whittington. For more information and to book, just click on the image below.
When the Wayside Serenaders are not attempting to make music on the street, they are mostly to be found with their noses in books, so when one of the volunteers who run the lovely Shenstone Library asked if we’d like to play outside, we jumped at the chance.
The Serenaders, rather severely dressed, at a previous special event. The chicken will not be appearing at Shenstone due to a previous engagement.
The occasion is the Shenstone Village Festival, a biennial event in this vibrant village just to the south of the A5 from Lichfield. The organisers are promising it will be “bigger and better” this year. Events will include flowers displays in the churches, a pet show at the Trinity Church, and more than 15 open gardens.
The festival is on Saturday and Sunday, 29-30 June, and on Saturday there will be stalls, children’s events and games on the Glebe, while Sunday’s programme includes a classic car and bike display. There will also be a number of exhibitions, including art works in the library.
The Serenaders will be playing either in front of or behind the library on Saturday between 2pm and 4pm, and there is seating in both areas just in case you are able to stand more than a few moments of our random noises.
A £5 programme gets you entrance to the open gardens and other things, though of course the Serenaders come for free… who would possibly pay us, other than to go away?
WAYSIDE SERENADERS 