St Edyth's, a fantastic end to a fantastic term!

So, the GGCC concerts are now over. But what a time we had! On Wednesday last week we performed our songs at St Edyth's church in Sea Mills and even though the building was a tad on the cold side, we soon warmed it up with beautiful harmonies, stonking solos and lots of clapping! We had another full house even though it was such a cold night.

We have some video of us! This time I did manage to film a bit of the choir so if you would like to see us sing 'Beautiful One' click here

Here are some pics I took as well.

Singing Beautiful One

The whole GGCC choir!

Thanks so much to everyone at St Edyth's for hosting us, the building has such great acoustics so we love singing there!

So, that's it for GGCC until the New Year. Term will start again on Tues 15th Jan for Westbury GGCC, Wednesday 16th Jan for Shirehampton GGCC and Thursday 17th Jan for Easton GGCC. Shirehampton GGCC will be meeting in a new venue still yet to be confirmed so watch this space.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Electric Atmosphere at House of Praise!

So on Sunday night all three GGCC choirs sang their hearts out at House of Praise Church in Easton. The church was packed out and right from start we knew it was going to be a special evening. The audience were treated to heart felt perfomances of songs including 'Bridge over troubled water' by Shirehampton GGCC, 'You never let go' by Easton GGCC and  'Magnificent and Holy' by Westbury GGCC. All our soloists and small groups were brilliant! We're so thankful to all the folk at House of Praise who made us so welcome, worked really hard to get the church ready and provided lovely refreshments. 

Look how many of us there were! Such bright colours too!

Again we are accompanied by the wonderful Carey Luce

Marsha sings solo in 'Never let go'.

Shirehampton Bridge over troubled water small group (plus Angela who has disappeared out of shot!!!)

A wonderful evening was had by all...WELL DONE GGCC!

Cairns Road Concert Is A Cracker!!!

Wow, what a fantastic start to our concerts we had at Cairns Road last night! All those weeks of hard work really paid off. Right from the first song "Beautiful One" we had amazing solos, wonderful small groups, big big smiles, great stage presence and dynamic diction!!! I had a hunch it was going to be good as we began to rehearse and three choirs that rehearse on their own suddenly became one big wall of beautiful sound, you could almost see the confidence growing note by note. Well done everyone!

Westbury GGCC sing 'Magnificent and Holy'

Rehearsing on the stage, it's a tight squeeze now!

Shirehampton sing 'Bridge Over Troubled water'...beautifully

Funk It Up!

On Friday 30th GGCC went to 'Funk It Up'! We were invited to open the dance show for Funk It Up and also sing in the grand finale. It was so great to be there and see so many children and young people dancing with such passion and skill. They were all really confident performers and it was an honour to be able to encourage them and share our Gospel songs in a new setting. When we were about to sing for the finale one little boy asked "are you going to dance?"...we declined! Thanks to everyone from GGCC who came, it was a lot of fun and you were great!

We now look forward to our concerts! First one is this Friday 7th, 7.30pm @ Cairns Rd Baptist Church, BS6 7TH...hope to see you there!

Time to Socialise!

Well, I'm sitting in the warmth of my house, hearing the rain lashing against the windows and the wind howling all around! It's been a mixed week, we've had a lot of torrential rain which has left many people struggling with floods, the Queen has visited Bristol and we've had our first choir social!

On Wednesday there was an unexpected turn of events when poor Geraldine was stuck in terrible traffic due to a river bursting its banks and a 50 mile journey ended up taking 4 and half hours! This meant that Em (who had been thinking she wouldn't be doing much that night!) ended up taking the whole evening but it was a joy and we raised the roof of the Beachley Walk Centre! Then we had a lovely hour munching on cake, cheese, crisps etc and sipping our tea. These "choir socials" are always a great chance for people to talk to people they haven't really talked to before. 

The lovely Shirehampton GGCC family.

Now well and truly in the last stages of rehearsals for our concerts, the songs are really coming together and everyone is up for working hard and making them sound the best they can. Solos and small groups are being finalised and next week we have Westbury GGCC social, followed by Easton GGCC the following week.

First concert is two weeks today!!!

Week 5!

Well it's now November, we are in week five of our GGCC term and the concerts aren't far away! All the plans are coming together nicely and I should be emailing out posters for all three concerts any day now, just putting the finishing touches to them.

We have been asked to sing at the term shows for 'Funk It Up' dance school on Friday 30th November and Saturday 1st December over in Filton. We'll be opening the show and helping with the finale! Both shows are 7-8pm. I've seen some pictures from previous shows and they look great, should be a good night out.

Geraldine is away working in Malaysia this week. So, Em & Naomi are leading all this weeks rehearsals. They did the Westbury GGCC last night and had lots of fun, looking forward to Shire tonight and Easton tomorrow!

That's it for now! Stay warm

Week 2!

I've just got home after the second Easton GGCC rehearsal at House of Praise. We had a great time and had more new members, here we all are:

We took this picture so we could send it to our good friend Barbara who has been in Easton GGCC since the start but has gone back to her home in Paris for a year, we miss her!

So this week all choirs worked very hard, lots of new harmonies and words to learn. We were able to announce the concert dates...Friday 7th December @ Cairns Rd Baptist, Sunday 9th December @ House of Praise (Easton) and Wednesday 12th December @ St Edyth's (Sea Mills). There's already a buzz in the choirs about the concerts, we always have such a great time!

In Shirehampton GGCC we celebrated Pat's birthday...it was her first time at choir and was also her birthday!

I'm hoping to take some pictures from all the choirs over next few weeks so watch this space!

See you soon!

And we're off!!!

It's official...GGCC Autumn term has now started! Great, great first rehearsals for all three choirs. There were new faces in all three choirs, Easton & Shirehampton were especially glad that they each had a new man join! New songs are going to be amazing if first week is anything to go by.



Easton GGCC had their first rehearsal at House of Praise church and received a very warm welcome there (Em had to take her scarf off she was so toasty warm).

Plus, Geraldine had some very exciting news for us all...she's decided to start shopping at Asda instead of Morrisons...NOT! No, she's ENGAGED!!! We're all so thrilled for her and Carey and GGCC have been asked to sing at their wedding...yippeeee!!!

Autumn Term starts...this week!

Well Em, Geraldine & Naomi met for their traditional curry and planning meeting last week. This must mean choir is about to start...THIS WEEK!!! It's been 6 months since the end of our last term which is crazy but the wait is now almost over. Songs are being chosen, literally as I type and we are excited!

So, Westbury GGCC will be back at Cairns Road on Tuesday (6.30pm) and Shirehampton GGCC at Beachley Walk on Wednesday (6.30pm). Easton GGCC have a new home, cue drumroll....House of Praise Church, 2 Tudor Rd, Easton. We'll meet there on Thursday (11am) for the first time...we know we'll be very happy there.

Let the fun begin!!!

Dates for Autumn Term!

Well it's still officially Summer but we have the start dates of the GGCC Autumn rehearsals for you! Drum roll please...

GGCC Westbury Park - Tuesday 2nd October, 6.30pm-7.45pm @ Cairns Road Baptist Church
BS6 7TH

GGCC Shirehampton - Wednesday 3rd October, 6.30pm-7.45pm @ Beachley Walk Centre,
BS11 9PU

GGCC Easton - Thursday 4th October, 11am-12.15pm @ NEW VENUE House of Praise Church, Tudor Road, BS5 6BW

All are welcome to all of the GGCC choirs! If you have any questions then contact us gospelgen@googlemail.com

Maybe see you in October then, in the meantime, enjoy the rest of the Summer!

Sunny End To Tour!

Well, once again GGCC had the sun come out for them last Saturday! Amazing! The day before was tipping it down but when we all gathered at the Stoke Lane Community Garden opening we were accompanied by glorious sunshine.

A lot of hard work had obviously gone into transforming a fairly derelict piece of land into a beautiful garden for the local community and so it was a real joy to be able to lead GGCC in singing songs of hope to all who gathered. Thanks to Steve for inviting us and for providing rehearsal space in his garden (the neighbours got a bit of a treat!).

Em had a blast leading you all, thanks so much for coming!!!

So, that's the last of the GGCC summer tour dates...we've had so much fun! Have an awesome summer everyone and we look forward to seeing you in the Autumn term...dates coming soon. 

A Diamond Performance!

Well I'm so glad the Priory Road Street party was on Monday and not yesterday!!! Yes, GGCC were on the road again for the Queen's Bank Holiday Jubilee celebrations and really did give a "Diamond" performance of songs old and new. In true GGCC style some of the songs were learned on the day! Was so great to see everyone in their red, white and blue, especially when we all squeezed into Nikky's back garden for rehearsal!

Here are a couple more pics...

Geraldine getting us into position and Em totally focussed...on the camera!!!

S-ooo-n and very soon!

Thanks so much to everyone who came from GGCC and to the wonderful residents of Priory Road for giving us such a warm welcome and hosting such a great street party!

Next stop...Stoke Lane Community Garden opening, wahey!!!

We're in Speedwell!!!

Well, it's a glorious sunny day in May and we had a great morning at Speedwell Methodist Church...here we all are! (Em is hiding in her 'm' bag!!!)

Em was so thrilled when she arrived to see so many happy GGCC faces there, we were literally spilling off the edge of the stage as you can see.

Everyone sang their hearts out and we managed to do loads of songs, both old and new ones. After Geraldine was left with no voice on Sunday at Boiling Wells, Em turned up today with no voice...such a healthy bunch this GGCC team! But, with back up last minute small group for the verses of Blessed be the name and beautiful sponateous humming from the whole choir when Em sang the verses for Here is Love, there was all the support she needed...thanks guys and gals!

Thanks to Wendy for inviting us to come to your church and do pass on our thanks for the yummy breakfast.

So, next stop on our summer tour is the Priory Road Street party on 4th June...can't wait!

Boiling Wells May Day Celebrations

Well I've just got home after a lovely afternoon with the GGCC gang at Boiling Wells May Day Celebrations. I think most of us had never been to "Boiling Wells" but I think we all agreed it's quite a find, a beautiful outdoor venue, tucked away in St Werburgh's. I was certainly glad we had Cliff in the car to point us in the right direction!

We arrived to hear the end of a brilliant Samba band which was followed by a Capoeira display. The weather was good to us all, no rain and the sun even came out for a fleeting moment while we rehearsed! We had a great warm up and rehearsal at the end of the tunnel, dodging traffic and departing Samba band members.

Then we headed off to the ampitheatre to perform

 

Geraldine and Emma were so thrilled to be joined by well over 30 GGCC members (I know that cos I ran out of free drinks tokens and was given 30...cunning!!!)

Even though Geraldine's voice was fading fast she managed to still lead us all in songs including "Soon and very soon", "Steal Away", "Blessed be your name", "Swing Low" and "Happy Day" and Em led "We magnify" and "Nobody Knows".

All in all, a really fun afternoon, spent with lovely people in a beautiful place! It's such a joy to be able to give away something of the adventure and blessing that is GGCC. Looking forward to next Saturday when we're at Speedwell Methodist!

Summer Term off to flying start!

Wahey, it's the GGCC Summer term! It's so exciting because we now have five performances booked where we can share all that we have done with the good folk of Bristol.

We had an amazing refresher rehearsal on Wednesday night at Cairns Road...what a great turnout from Westbury & Shirehampton GGCC! Easton GGCC have a rehearsal next week but there were a few there on Wednesday who did a great job singing Nobody Knows.

It was lovely to see how much everyone was enjoying being back together and even though we've had a 6 week break since our concerts, the songs all came flooding back easily and sounded fab. Some of the songs Geraldine taught were new to folk too but they picked them up so quickly...like a bunch of pros!

Looking forward to our first Summer concert on Sunday at the Boiling Wells May Day celebrations, we'll try and get some pics to put up here.

Cairns Road Concert - What a Finale!

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! Last night's concert at Cairns Road was the perfect end to the most amazing GGCC term. I actually found myself waking up in the night last night, remembering that we'd done our last concert til the Autumn and felt really sad! It has been such a joy to journey with all three GGCC choirs over the last nine weeks, seeing friendships form, confidence grow and being overwhelmed by everyone's total commitment to the choir.

So, highlights from last night then...where so I start? Well I guess for many in the choir it was the first time they got to sing with a live band! And what a band they were! At the start of rehearsal faces in the choir were looking a bit concerned about being with the band but as they sang more and more I could see smiles appear in abundance as it became a joy to be accompanied by such top musicians!

Plus we had an amazing sound engineer for the night who brought all his own kit, set it up in the afternoon and then packed it all up afterwards...thank you John-Marc!!!

Another thing that was really apparant last night is how big the GGCC family is...

...this was in rehearsal and we were still missing quite a few!

The evening got off to a cracking start with "Happy Day/I will sing praises" and "We magnify your name"

There were many moving moments including Westbury GGCC singing "Everlasting God"...actually managed to get a pic or two of them this time, here they are in action

Easton GGCC finally got onto camera as well singing "Nobody Knows"...once again the audience spontaneously joined in clapping along!

The "Our Father" quartet did a fab job...

As did the "Hosanna" posse...

And it was a joy to me (Em) to be able to sing "I just can't give up now" again with my two lovely friends Geraldine & Naomi...

Plus the medley at the end of the three spirituals "Steal Away " (Westbury GGCC), "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" (Shirehampton GGCC) and "Nobody Knows" (Easton GGCC), was once again the perfect end to the evening, all three choirs, singing their own song but together as one. A fantastic sign of a new community from three different parts of the city.

So that's it for GGCC for now. We will be singing at a few community events in the summer which we'll put up here on the blog. Rehearsals will start again in the Autumn so watch this space!

St Edyth's concert...A-MA-ZING!

Well, it's a beautiful sunny March morning, again! Still can't get my head round this 'June like' weather but am loving it!

If you were at the St Edyth's GGCC concert last night, then you were in for a treat! Such an amazing evening, I'm sitting at my computer this morning with so many lovely memories and highlights buzzing in my head. Right from the comedy double act that is Emma and Geraldine setting up the staging trying not to break nails (!), through to the brilliant "secret" finale again. I did manage to get some photos although not all brilliantly in focus (of course it's the cameras fault not my bad photography!) but they hopefully give an idea of what we did. Sorry there are still no pics of Easton GGCC...it's hard for me to take any when I'm leading so if anyone else out there took any can you email me a copy, ta. Same goes for Westbury GGCC actually. One day I might have some actual sound bites to include who knows. So here are some pics...

The combined choirs of GGCC...looking and sounding lovely.

Prizes for guessing what Geraldine is signalling here!

See anyone you know?

Shirehampton GGCC singing "Swing Low"

The colour co-ordinated Shirehampton altos!

And the sparkly Shire sopranos...plus some men!

What a first concert!!!

Well, it's about 10.45pm on Sunday evening, I've just got back and am too excited to even contemplate going to bed so thought I may as well update the blog!

We, the three choirs of GGCC have just done our first Spring 2012 concert at St Mark's Baptist in Easton and it was just amazing!!! I have so many highlights whizzing round in my head, I'm sure I'll keep on recalling new ones over next few days. For those of you reading this who weren't able to be there, here are some pics (most taken by my eight year old...I'm quite impressed!) to give a feel for the evening. So, here we are first of all, rehearsing beforehand.

The men of GGCC and it appears that Geraldine has turned into a music stand!

The soloists at the front for "Here is Love"...what a grand job they did!

Nearly ready to start the concert.

The "Hosanna" small group

"We did it...can you believe it!"

We didn't get pics of so many other great parts of concert...will try and get some from our next two concerts! To everyone who sang tonight, you were awesome, I'm so glad we get to do it all again...and again! So, next stop on our tour is St Edyth's, Sea Mills, Wednesday...maybe see you there!

Concert on Sunday!!!

Well, this week is our last week of rehearsals and it's our first concert on SUNDAY...yippeeee!!! So, looking forward to kicking off our Spring concert season at St Mark's Baptist Church, Easton, 6.30pm.

If you're part of the choir and looking for answer to competition I set...here's a photo to prove I haven't eaten the eggs...yet!!!

Keep reading and you'll find the answer!

Hope you enjoyed the pics from the Westbury social in the last post. I did actually manage to get myself organised and take camera to Shire & Easton rehearsals after that so have some pics of them which I'll include below...what a lovely bunch they all are eh! First it's the Shirehampton crew:

Some of our lovely Altos!

The Men!!!

And some of our sparkly sopranos!

Some more altos...wave hello!

And some more sopranos!

Our soloists rehearsing, first time singing in front of us all and they did a fab job!

We have fun in the choir!

A lot of fun!

Ok, now for the Easton gang:

"Yay, it's choir time!"

Some of the lovely sopranos.

 "Bonjour, tout le monde!!"

Some of the super altos!

The Easton gang!

 We're all looking forward to seeing you at our concerts...25th March @ St Mark's, 6.30pm, 28th March @ St Edyth's Church, Sea Mills, 7.30pm and 30th March @ Cairns Road Baptist, 7.30pm.