Fair Thee Weel!

"Sit on the east side." I was told, "You can see much more of the British coastline". It was 7 a.m. and far too early to give much consideration to the geography of seating. Still, nearly half the Pink Singers had shown up at King's Cross and were waiting to get onto our London to Edinburgh train. Ben P, with his clip board, was in his natural school marm element, and the rest of us were much like school children, with our packed lunches and Kelly's ukelele.

The ride up to Edinburgh, apart from being very hot, was very enjoyable, and in true Pinkie fashion, there was considerably singing in the carriage. Kate N started off with songs from Oliver then Sally-Ann took over with her rendition of Fiddler On The Roof. None of this was from our repertoire, but at least it got some of the non-Pinkies in the carriage singing along. The other half just wondered (loudly) whether we were all drunk.

Our arrival in the Scottish capital meant that we had enough time to deposit our bags and take a quite rest before showing up at the concert venue for our rehearsal. This was a delightful Methodist church called the Central Hall in West Tollcross. It was there that we got to properly meet Loud & Proud, our Scottish equivalents and our hosts for the weekend. We'd already met some of them at Various Voices (I have the St. Andrew's tie pin to prove it!) so it was more of a gathering of friends than of strangers.

Although Loud & Proud were of a similar size to our delegation, and they were also a mixed choir, there were enough differences for us to be quite complementary. Led by their phenomenally talented MD Karen Dietz, Loud & Proud are principally an a capella choir, and a very accomplished one at that. Furthermore, their repertoire tends more towards folk songs, which they sang with the spirit, conviction and honesty which is so necessary, yet so hard to achieve. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to them perform, and we were fortunately given the opportunity to sit in the balcony to watch their second half. I especially loved the urgent emotionality of their rendition of I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free.

The Pinkies performed in the first half, and our set was essentially the songs that we did at Various Voices. Since, on the Friday of the festival, Loud & Proud were rehearsing while our concert(s) were going on, most of them never saw us, so I guess it must have been a bit of a surprise for them. I think we did well, and I felt much more relaxed this time round which helped. The acoustics of the hall were great and helped mold and amplify the voices, so it sounded very good from where we were on stage at least!

After the concert it was time to party! Loud & Proud had laid on a spread at a pub called the Counting House, and because of the Scottish summer, it was still bright when we made our way there. There was a slight glitch with the beer taps at the upstairs bar, and it delayed our drunken revelry by about 15 minutes as everyone then rushed to the downstairs bar. Once the much needed beer started flowing though, it was time for chatting and mingling. Made some new friends such as Jonathan and David, the latter of whom had just come from the Highland Festival, and in the bright sunshine had acquired a farmer's tan.

As you might imagine, there was a considerable amount of singing as well, we kicked off with a number, followed by Loud & Proud, and there was then a succession of songs, performed in groups and solo. Kelly's ukelele made an appearance, as did a guitar, and loads of Scottish songs. Right into the wee hours.

Sadly, it all had to come to an end though, and we made the trip back down to London with heavy, but contented hearts. I can honestly say that Loud & proud were one of the friendliest choirs we have ever performed with, and we are really looking forward to hearing them sing with us in the future.