This week in class I announced my intention to retire from running choirs.

I have had some wonderful times with the Secret Singers Choirs since I started them in 2010 and I have wonderful memories of things we have done and songs we have sung together but I am ready for some new adventures now and looking forward to that.

It will be very sad not to see any of you anymore though. The loss of people is really the hardest. I will miss you.

HOWEVER, THE CHOIR WILL CONTINUE! ( whilst ever you all keep coming 😄)

I have secured 2 new leaders, introduced here.

Liz Powers, is an extremely well qualified and accomplished choir leader and I am so thrilled to find such a safe pair of hands to pass on the Todmorden choir to. I have worked with her myself and I can be sure that they will have a great time with her. She has sent an introduction to herself which I will put at the end of this message.

 

Annelie Leinhos, will take both the Marple and East Lancs choirs. She is much younger than me and is very keen and excited to take the job . She is much nearer the beginning of her career having done her Natural Voice Choir Leader training just a few years ago. I am sure that her energy and enthusiasm will be wonderful for taking these groups forward to a bright sustainable future. Her introduction is below too.

Now for practical matters. I have 3 weeks remaining , finishing on 30th March. I hope to make my last session a bit of a celebration and sing through  the things we have been learning and perhaps any old favourites that you might suggest that we polish up in the next couple of weeks. Just message me any ideas please.

( what a goodly thing/ waters of the world/ all shall be well and remember the little things have already been suggested along with my plan to do Let the River Run!)

 

If anyone would like to join us during this time it would be so lovely to see you before I go. ( Annelie will come to Marple and ELSS on 22nd to meet the choirs and them meet her)

 

I cannot pass on my mailing list to the new leaders because of my data protection promise to you and so a new list must be created. To do this you must either message me to put you on the list for passing to them or you message them  yourself on liz.powers@yahoo.co.uk for Todmorden or annelie.leinhos@outlook.com for Marple or East Lancs

 

I may do some workshops in the future or have information to pass on about other events I hear about which may be of interest and so plan to keep my mailing lists open. However, if you would rather not be included on that list please just reply – remove.

 

I hope we will have some great singing in the next 3 sessions and look forward to seeing any of you there

Olwyn x

 

Hello! I’m Liz Powers.

 

Bringing people together to sing is *absolutely* my reason for being on this planet. I can hardly believe my luck that I get to do this for a living, so I’m delighted to take on a new group of singers. I’ve been doing this for twenty years and it’s still a complete thrill.

 

I love that together we can make something that we can’t make alone, I love the feeling of connection and sharing that comes from singing in harmony with others, and I love the way that group singing can create opportunities to experience feelings. It’s an honour to stand at the centre and conjure this magic with my hands.

 

We’ll feel our way through this transition together (I know how keenly you’ll feel the loss of Olwyn!) and make sure that we hold on to songs that you love, and ways of working that feel safe.

 

I’m looking forward to getting to know you,

 

Liz

 

Hello Secret Singers,

 

I’m Annelie and I’ll be leading the East Lancs class from 19 April. Getting a new facilitator can be worrying, so I thought I’d introduce myself. I’m 34 years old and live in Sale, South Manchester, with my husband and my cat. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t sing and I’ve been singing in groups since primary school.

 

I completed the Natural Voice Network’s voice leader training in 2018 and started running singing and vocal improvisation workshops in 2019. From September 2021 – January 2022, I led the u3a Davyhulme’s monthly Singing for Pleasure. During the first lockdown, I ran a weekly Zoom sing until I went back to Uni in September 2020.

 

Before becoming a self-employed singing and workshop leader, I worked as a carer for five years. During that time, I developed, planned and lead a six-week singing and vocal improvisation course for adults with learning disabilities and their assistants.

 

If you would like to know more, you can like me on Facebook, find me on LinkedIn or subscribe to my YouTube channel or my mailing list.

 

Now you know a little bit about me. I can’t wait to meet and sing with you.

 

With very best wishes,

Annelie