Hello Ladies of Region 16!

I can't believe how quickly the time has flown since our Regional Convention and as usual, summer is a very busy time for our choruses; we're performing in festivals, having open houses, conducting director searches, organizing fund raisers, preparing for shows, having social events, finalizing International packages, attending educational events and even taking some well-deserved summer breaks!

With all of that going on, I wanted to give you an update on the Region as a whole.  In case you missed seeing it in last month's newsletter, Rochester Chorus has dissolved, and I'm sorry to announce that Skyway Connection has also dissolved as a Sweet Adelines chorus.

We know that declining membership has been a concern in the past few years, and in addition to supporting your chorus membership initiatives to attract new members, we're looking at some ideas and tools at the Regional level that will help make it easier for singers to find our choruses.

While it's always sad to lose a member or a chorus, we must also ensure we are addressing the needs of the existing 947 strong members (including CAL) in 22 choruses.

Our Region is friendly, well educated, consistently high achieving, financially sound and has excellent musical and administrative leadership. We are continually improving and evolving, in a Region that covers a large geography in 2 nations.

Membership fluctuates.....it's a fact of life, but the best thing you can do to help your chorus and  the Region to grow is to remember why you joined and why you stay.

If you have passion for this art form.... if it has changed your life, then spread the word and help other women find the joy that you have found as a member of Region 16!

In Harmony,

Andrea Thorne-Percy

On August 12, 2016 all Sweet Adeline's were sent a message from International President Paula Davis providing further clarification of how to obtain arrangements in order to meet your musical needs.    To ensure that all of our Region 16 members received that message, we are including a link to Paula's message below.    If you have any questions, please let us know.   Click HERE to read the message from Paula Davis

Although we are on break for the next few weeks, there have been some very exciting things going on at GKC!!

After all the chorus competition results across the entire organization were tabulated, and decisions made by some 600+ scoring choruses regarding which International contest they wished to compete in, GKC learned that we had been invited to compete in the Harmony Classic, Division AA Chorus category in Las Vegas in 2017!!! Needless to say, we are thrilled by that news and rarin' to go!! (More on that later on!)

On the first Saturday in June, as we do every year, we entered a team into the annual Relay for Life walkathon and raised money for that extremely worthy cause for cancer research. Our team is known as 'Deb's Divas', in memory of our long time member and friend, Debbie Lloyd. The team had a great time and so our thanks go to Linda Steinberg, Phyllis Vaughn, Hazel Douglas, Faye Hoadley, Denise Kingsbury, Emi Nakazawa, Karen Harmen and Suzie ThomsonLafosse and the pledges they received for a job well done!! They even enticed a new prospective member to come out to rehearsal!

We also had a very successful show on June 18th, this time in the form of a BBQ dinner, interspersed with performances by the chorus and our two great quartets, Splash and Walkin' on Sunshine, as well as a silent auction with an assortment of wonderful things to bid on. Co-chairs Sue Easterbrook and Michele Weaver and their team did a fab job. It was also the last performance by our co-Master Directors Paula and Nancy! We got the chance to thank (er..roast!) them a week or so later at our annual end of June pot luck/pool party, at the lovely home of one of our members, Lindy Zywot. Always tons of good food and lots of fun!!

And now for the really BIG NEWS.... GKC is very excited and happy to announce that we have a new Director!! We are thrilled to welcome Andrew Carolan, a newly arrived, young dynamic 'Aussie' who comes to us from Brisbane, Australia!!  Andrew sang baritone in the multiple medalist AND champion quartet 'The Establishment', was baritone section leader, and was also assistant chorus director. His girlfriend is a Kingstonian, so sadly for Australia, their loss is our gain! Welcome to Canada and to GKC, Andrew!  We can't wait to work with him and see where he will lead us!!!

Such exciting times!!

Submitted by Marilyn O'Connor

We Missed Syracuse!!

That's right - Pineridge Chorus did not travel to Regional contest this year, but we still were able to be evaluated on our performance. How was this done? Here is our Director's message about how it all works.

 

But we missed the whole Sweet Adeline experience! Making the video was good, but not as enjoyable as actually being with all our sisters in person. Our Director, Linda Morrison, went to contest, with her quartet,

S. L. A. M!, who had also helped us in making the video. The rest of us watched the telecast, live, on a big screen TV at the home of one of our members. We laughed, we cheered, we ate, we drank, and almost felt we were part of the festivities. We sang with the audience, and enjoyed our own camaraderie, but are definitely looking forward to being in Syracuse next year.

In June, we held our annual Spring Tea, (see photo), which was well attended, and appreciated by friends, family, and community members. Of course we sang, but also got to listen to S.L.A.M! Serenade our guests. We are so fortunate to have their support, as well as the support of our local community at this fun event.

In this photo, the gal on the right (with the white fascinator) is Miriam Dorriesfield - our new Sweet Adeline of the Year!! We also welcomed new members Kim Stokes, Cydele Fadeeve and Lara Newman, who are all embracing the spirit of Sweet Adelines.