Well it’s been a while since I’ve been in touch, but a fair few things have been going on and there’s more coming as well.

Like the rest of you I’ve been living every day hoping that soon things will change and we could get back to normal, or at least some semblance of normal. But it seemed like one step forward and two back.

However, the vaccine has changed everything. At last we have the possibility of things getting back to the way they were. Not immediately, but sometime in a future not too far away. We have to plan for next spring and the hope that we may be able to perform Pirates of Penzance in front of a live audience. This will depend on a number of things. Initially we won’t be able to rehearse in person so we may have to do some blended work there, combining Zoom with limited face-to-face. Where we rehearse will also be an issue. Finally, we really need all our members on board if we’re to have a viable chorus of sisters, pirates and police, so get thinking about any possible new members or members who haven’t been around for a while.

Those of you who have been taking part in our regular weekly sessions will know that we had a really good, fun, performance of The Merryman and his Maid. A great evening was had by all, including our guests for the evening from other societies.

A huge thank you must go to all who made this venture possible, Robin, Martin, Willie, Ellen and all the soloists.

Our next project is a Zoom performance of The Mikado which we had hoped to perform live last year. We are putting a cast together and hope for even more numbers to join us for this venture. We will have the same incredible technical and musical geniuses, Martin and Willie, who, building on their experiences in the last performance, will be waiting for your recordings.

We continue to have social evenings whilst we rehearse for our performances and these will continue as we go on in Zoom. Amongst the plans is to have a Desert Island Disc evening, a ‘What got you into G&S’ members selection, quizzes and chats.

But above all we want to keep all our members singing and meeting as much as possible. I hope the next time you hear from me, it’ll be to announce our Pirates of Penzance plans.

Keep singing!

The Mikado Prize Draw has now been drawn and Anne Dolbear, our Treasurer and the draw promoter, would like to say a big “thank you” on behalf of the Society to the businesses and people who so generously donated the prizes.

First prize of a Weekend for Two at Peebles Hydro went to Jim Robinson: thank you to the Hydro for giving us this at a greatly reduced rate.

Second prize of an Amazon echo dot went to Moira Melrose from Dunfermline: thank you to Sinead for donating this.

Third prize of a ukulele was won by Fiona Crook, c/o Sharon Edgar: thank you to Macintosh Musicroom for this, and to Rae for obtaining it for us.

Fourth prize of a voucher for Camera Obscura was won by Carol Osborne: thank you to Camera Obscura for this, and to Lindsey for obtaining it for us.

Fifth prize of a hair and beauty voucher was won by Sarah Alexander: thank you to The Den in Dunfermline for donating this.

Thank you too to the members who sold these tickets, whether to themselves or to other people – we managed to raise over £700, not bad for a first attempt at this.

If you have any queries, contact Anne Dolbear (01383 823083).

Unfortunately Pooh-Bah’s famous line applies to two of our chorus members who’ve been with us throughout rehearsals, and appear in the programme, but aren’t able to have the fun on stage that we’re all enjoying.

Ann Duly (a member for 40+ years) has had recurring back trouble; Jo McBrearty took a tumble at the orientation rehearsal and is nursing a sprained ankle. Commiserations to both of you, and we wish you a full and speedy recovery.  So do the Kirkcaldy G&S Society, where Jo is one of their team of pirates!

We are sorry to report that Bill Tulloch, father of Alison Pendlowski and a founder member, life member and a great supporter and friend of Dunfermline Gilbert and Sullivan Sullivan Society, died early in the morning of 3 January 2018 in the Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy.

Bill’s funeral will be held at St Leonard’s Church, 2 Brucefield Avenue, Dunfermline, KY11 4SX, at 12.45pm on Tuesday 16 January, followed by a short committal service at Dunfermline Crematorium at 2.00pm. Anyone wishing to join the family afterwards will be welcome to do so either directly after the church service or after the committal service.

Our thoughts are with Alison, Mike and Helen at this sad and difficult time.

John Allen writes:

I was very pleased to receive the Scottish NODA prize for the Ruddigore programme at this year’s Scottish NODA conference in Peebles last month. There are three categories of programme into which any NODA society can enter its programme and there are first and second prizes for each category and commendations as well.

The middle category into which our programme falls is for the Standard Programme which limits its number of pages to 16–20 including cover. It’s all quite scientific – smaller programmes have a category of their own and larger programmes go into the ‘Souvenir Programme’ competition.

Dunfermline G&S came first in 2015 with our programme for The Gondoliers and second last year with our programme for The Yeomen of the Guard, so it was good to win again this year.

Many thanks go to Martin for helping me with the design and layout of the programme. His input just tips the balance, turning it from being a good programme to being truly stunning and a competition winner. The programme now goes forward to the National programme competition and let’s hope we can carry off the UK prize as well as the Scottish!

Our Honorary President invites us to Dunfermline Abbey at 4.00pm on Saturday 6 January 2018, for a programme of seasonal music and recitations relating to the entire Christmas journey, but with a lot of Epiphany music. The programme will last for about 65 minutes, with mince pies and mulled wine (or non-alcoholic alternatives) after the concert included in the ticket price. Tickets are £10, and will be available during December at the Abbey every Sunday, at both Royal Marine Band concerts (13/14 December), and at Sew Yarn Crafty!, 61 High Street, Dunfermline. More details from Mary Kidd.

The PDF file at this link has Issue 1 of Rae’s production schedule for chorus members. Page 2 is a list of the scenes in Mikado, which will help you interpret what we are doing each session. The bits to look out for are those in bold, which highlight the Sunday/Monday rehearsals and any sessions where specific groups have been called. There will be a small supply of printed copies at the rehearsal tomorrow.