Well, what a weekend! Ever since 2010′s BABS Convention in Harrogate, May Bank Holiday Weekend 2011 was written in the diary in heavy pencil and the NBYC have been working hard towards developing a fun and cheeky showing on the big stage.

First up was the small matter of the BABS chorus finals on the Saturday, where a large proportion of competing choruses had either a current or one-time member of the NBYC – Mum nearly shouted herself hoarse cheering her boys on all day! Special mention should go to those NBYCers who helped their choruses into the medals – there was a NBYC presence in all of the top 3 choruses.

After many a tag in an extended Saturday night after glow, NBYC were asked to meet bright and early at 9am on Sunday to start rehearsing, and to say there were a few bleary eyes would be a bit of an understatement. To this end, an extended warm-up was called for, and it was done with the usual inventiveness and good humour which is quickly becoming NBYC’s trademark: My personal favourite was a twist on an old favourite when we took a visit to ‘Llandudno Zoo’ to visit the penguin and shark enclosures…

Then the real work began – all three of the performance songs had been learned in a relatively short space of time, so a good thorough working over was required to make sure we were all singing off the same hymn sheet, as it were.

We were afforded a break in rehearsal to watch the BABS quartet finals, and it was well worth a watch! Special mention needs to go to gold medallists Crossfire and Duncan (one of the founding members of NBYC) and bronze medallists VOX with Rich Fisher (long serving NBYCer).

Eventually we thought it was our time on the big stage… but not yet: there was even more waiting! We were held in the corridor behind the stage for about 10 minutes, in which time Tim received a strange request: however, when none other than Fred Farrell, Tenor from international gold medal-winning quartet Crossroads, asks to borrow your shoes, you consider going onto stage in your barefeet I tell you! There was a definite feeling of being starstruck, but many people feel like that when they meet NBYC…

Tim got us off to a flyer with his Usain Bolt pose, which set up the tongue-in-cheek arrogance of our first number, Star Medley. A particularly fun song to sing as we get to talk about how great we are!

Next up was Full Time Job which again displayed us at our cheekiest best, making a great sound with a relatively small chorus.

We then had the opportunity to thank those members who have made the NBYC what it is today, but given the definition of the youth chorus have since become too old and decrepit to sing with us anymore. So, we sent off to the ‘Shiny Badge Factory’ (Antoine, what were you thinking?!?!) to get them a souvenir ‘Alumni’ badge to remember us by – hopefully you will have seen some floating around on Sunday evening, proudly displayed on some puffed out chests.

We then had a chance to end our spot in style with ‘Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair’: an old classic which is absolutely beautiful, especially given that it was dedicated to someone special.

We all had such a great time, and want to extend a huge thank you to BABS for inviting us onto the performance stage for another year, and to everyone who saw us throughout the weekend – your support was appreciated as ever. And as for whether we enjoyed ourselves? All I can say is well, what a weekend!

(Taken from the summer edition of ‘Harmony Express’)

Note: BABS are the British Association of Barbershop Singers, and are the national body that represents men’s barbershop in the UK. For more info on them, visit their website.

Minutes of NBYC AGM meeting held on 7th November in Telford

Apologies received from Joe Knight, Dan Course, Richard Fisher, Dave Moffatt.

Chairman’s report: The chairman was pleased to have Derek Parmenter in attendance and spoke of the closer alliance that had been forged with BABS in recent months. We had a high point at the funded retreat in Lincoln at the start of the year and there was some hope of another such event being run again next year in June or July. BABS Convention show had been a great success, although the start of a new era with Rob leaving and Joe taking over as MD.  Joe was now shaping up to be an excellent director. There had been some problems with entering for chorus competitions as people were reluctant to commit to attending. Andy thanked the committee for all their support during the year. He reported that it had been a great year and thanked everyone who had been part of the team.

Treasurer’s report: Most of the work this past year had been concerned with expenses claims. If we accept funded singouts we must commit to putting the whole chorus out.

Musical Director’s report: We sang at LABBS last October on the Sunday show and must commit to a more professional approach if we are on stage the day after ‘party night’. Some singers had indelible make-up visible from the night before! Thanks to Tony Chapman for organising retreat in Lincoln. Peterborough had been Joe’s first outing as MD and he felt he had learned on the job. The BABS Convention performance had been one of the best we’d done.  The chorus was moving forward with a new vision and many new singers to meet the needs of. Next year Joe intends to concentrate purely on the music and to avoid any committee decisions. He asked for ideas for a new ballad. He proposed a vote of thanks to Rob and suggested that we should get something to show our appreciation.

BABS Vice Chairman: Derek confirmed the plan for NBYC to be on next year’s Convention show on Sunday afternoon. (The same one as Crossroads!) He was pleased to see so many newer guys on the risers. BABS want to support the NBYC and will offer what we feel the need for. They could help with organisational issues-rehearsal venues etc. They don’t want to interfere but to offer their time and experience. NBYC is a representative of the BABS organisation and we need to put out the best chorus that we can. Alan Goldsmith (Ali G) will be our first point of contact in future in his new role of Musical Services Director. Discussions were underway with Zac about Harmony College having a Youth Stream.
Before electing the new committee retiring chairman thanked Shirley (chorus mum) for what she had done during the year.
A.O.B. :

• Duncan Appleby resigned as section leader due to coursework commitments.
• Alessandro McCarthy  asked about keeping links with Rob Barber and asking him to come to rehearsals as a coach. After discussion it was agreed to do so in the future after a break.
• Tom Knight suggested working with a team of coaches at rehearsals but after debate this was ruled to be organisationally difficult. He also asked for clarification on age limits as the chorus was also a group of good friends who wished to meet and sing. After discussion it was agreed that older guys could sing when it was appropriate but noted that some competitions were age-limited. It was also felt important not to lose the expertise that had been built up – older members were good mentors and also took positions of responsibility. It was also important that younger members didn’t feel overwhelmed.
• David Taylor/John(dad): Suggested a more regular schedule of rehearsals to be announced in advance. Suggestions- ask your own chorus if they would host us for a rehearsal and build up a bank of places. Next planned sing: Jan 9/16th Sheffield, courtesy of Andy Allen’s chorus.

Elections were held:

The National Barbershop Youth Chorus have had a busy few months, singing first at the LABBS convention in Cheltenham, then at the Manchester Choral Competition where  some new  singers  from the University joined us and swelled our numbers.

Bass section coaching

Many of these lads were back with us at the latest rehearsal, a weekend retreat held in Lincoln and smoothly organised by Harmony Lincs., using a Lottery grant. The weekend offered approx. 40 lads (and Rob) an absolutely focused and fun weekend with coaching from Martin Ford in conjunction with Pete Kennedy, Ian James and Duncan Whinyates. Monkey Magic quartet arrived a little later as they had to see Simon Cowell earlier in the day! Also present and having their own coaching from Nicky Salt was the girls’ youth chorus, the Ivy League.

In complete contrast to the previous years’ retreat everyone was put up in a hotel and plenty of food was laid on. (Certain helpers were heard to remark that it made a pleasant change from frying 30 eggs in 2 frying pans on Saturday morning!)  Many of the lads came great distances to be part of the fun and the weekend saw much tagging and teaching of polecats to newer members plus a very successful bowling evening.

Chorus doing moves

Sunday saw the presentation of chorus awards (Rolls of Honour) including ‘Most Improved Afro’ (Alec),’Most Improved Singer’(Jake aged 8), ‘Quote of the Seek’ (David aged 9), ‘Most Improved Coach’, (Martin!) and ‘Most Improved Presentation’(……….). The weekend finished with a mini-show featuring “Saltwater”, “I have Dreamed” and the popular, ”Don’t stop me now”, featuring some radical new choreography!

We have noticed that we are running out of official NBYC t-shirts and feel that this is an extremely healthy sign!