On October 6, 1971, eight ladies met at Sally Osborne’s house to discuss the formation of a choir as had been suggested by a newcomer to Rye, one Lesley Brownbill, who I found I had known from school. Four of them still sing with the choir: Lesley, Sue, Carole and me.
That same year, a reunion of the Rye Methodist Junior Choir had been held and many members of this realised how much they had enjoyed singing – and so joined Ryesingers.
What a journey it has been for – now 51 years. We first met in the upper room at the newly acquired Community Centre, then the Methodist Lower Hall. Next we moved to Thomas Peacocke School as we had become an ‘evening class’; our next destination was to Syskon College up Rye Hill for a short time, before moving back to the Methodist Hall. Here we stayed until 2020/1 when we heard it was going to close. Since then, we have met at the Sea Cadet Unit on Rock Channel.
Our first outing was to what is now St Mary’s Centre to sing for the original Rye W.I. in December 1971, entertaining them with carols and two songs, All Round My Hat and Mists Before the Sunrise Fly.
As more ladies joined and we got more experienced, we entered competitions in Hastings, Canterbury and Folkestone. Lesley then decided we would enter the much more testing International Llangollen Eisteddfod in 1975. This meant a weekend away and a big deal for some. What stories are told of that visit. We went again in 1976 and gained the first place English Choirs in our class.
Blackpool Festival was the next venue, and we went there about six times. Seeing the illuminations, wonderful fish and chips and dancing on the beach were all tales of the Blackpool visits.
When Blackpool changed the date of their festival, we arranged to attend the one at Cheltenham and we went there several times. It was a very tough but enjoyable competition.
Practicing in the coach and early mornings were the norm! Our accommodations gradually changed from taking sleeping bags and sleeping in church halls to B & Bs and then guest houses!
We competed in the Cleveland Inter-Tie – the Teesside International Eisteddfod – staying in Fryup Dale Village Hall. One unforgettable group was a magnificent ladies choir from Bulgaria, dressed in flowing maroon kaftans.
Men joined us in 1978 as Rye Chorus, before all becoming Ryesingers, and this allowed our repertoire to be greatly increased.
From 1979-1982 Ryesingers were appointed as official minstrels to the mayor of Rye. As such they sang on many occasions – at Mayoral services and functions. One of the performances in this role was for such an event, Trial by Jury in the town hall, then a real court room.
The ladies choir accompanied the town hall party to Bad Hersfeld in Germany in 1980. We performed several concerts for their Easter Festival including Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, were hosted by families in the town and had several receptions. We were also taken to see the East German Border – only ten kilometres away from the town where we were given a briefing by the NATO General in charge of this quarter of the line.
A most memorable occasion was when we sang for the Queen Mother when she came to Rye as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports also in 1980. We had chosen a song as old as the Cinque Ports to sing – Summer is i Cumin In. The rain poured down! Queen Elizabeth saw the joke and came across and talked to members of the choir in the Buttermarket.
Later we visited Ghent and Bruges to give concerts, and the following year Amiens and Lille.
We combined with Howard Rooke’s choir, the Cromer and Sheringham Choral Society, to sing the Berlioz Requiem in Norwich Roman Catholic Cathedral. Later we returned to Norwich and Bury St Edmunds to perform Mahler’s 8th Symphony, again with Howard’s choir.
We sang the Berlioz Requiem in St Mary’s Church, Rye, when there was such a large choir that scaffolding for seating was erected over the altar at the east end of the Chancel.
Other wonderful works we have performed were the Verdi Requiem, Hayden Creation, Handel Messiah, and Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony, all under Howard’s direction.
In 1990 we sang Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius in Pershore Abbey, the composer’s home territory, joining with Pershore Choral Society.
We attended a workshop with the BBC Northern Singers conductor, Stephen Wilkinson. Our most recent away visits were to Dartmouth and Sheringham.
We also were performing locally: the regular East Guldeford Church carols which we loved doing, on the Sunday afternoon before Christmas, since 1974. We put on many, fully staged, Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Other concerts have been given in aid of charities of all sorts.
Ryesingers appeared on Radio and Television several times, from Down Your Way, Countryways, Songs of Praise, Highways’with Harry Secombe, and Meridian and Southern TV News.
We have given concerts for all sorts of special occasions – two Sing or Listen Messiah’s; with an augmented choir we became ‘Rye Harmonic’ to give the Jubilee Concert in 1977 with Charles Proctor, and a concert under that heading each subsequent year; for years we sang in the Rye Festival Service; we have sung for many funerals and weddings and we have performed under the Town Hall in the Buttermarket, most recently for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
We have made three records, the first with piano duet accompaniment by Howard and Elisabeth Rooke. We later made several CDs.
We must, before finishing, make mention of our constant, faithful audiences and supporters. One such was Priscilla Ryan, who aged 90 plus, attended our last concert before Covid, and before the Methodist Church closed its doors.
We’ve had, however, a huge amount of fun – parties, theatre trips, meals out, swimming parties, jumble sales, coffee evenings at many homes, and the 24-hour sponsored sing to raise money for the Berlioz Requiem concert.
What fifty-one years! The friends we’ve made and kept and memories, sadly, of those we have lost. It’s almost an extended family, for me at least, and I am proud to be a Ryesinger.
However, none of this would have been possible without Lesley who came to Rye “and wanted to start a choir” all those years ago.
Image Credits: Rye Singer .