Richard's new book, "Think You Can't Sing? Think Again!" is available to buy from Amazon. Aimed at dispelling the myths about tone-deafness that permeate society, this book will take the reader on a journey to discover their voice, aided by over 40 online companion videos. Illustrated by choir member Rachael Dunstan, this book is perfect for people who were thrown out of the school choir or asked to "just mouth the words".
December 2023 - Take a look at what we've been up to
As usual, LCV have been very busy in the run-up to Christmas. We've performed at many events, including our own five (yes, five!!!) Christmas concerts, and raised a record-breaking amount of money for charity.
Singing at the Tower of London with MD Brunch
On Sunday 3 December LCV were delighted to take part in another weekend of singing at the iconic Tower of London. We joined several other choirs from around the country to provide some Christmas songs for sightseers visiting the Tower. It was a bit wet, but who cares when you're singing everyone's Christmas favourites.
LCV Community Arts Day
On Saturday 9 December we held our inaugural LCV Community Arts Day, organised by the tireless Neil Clive Fowler.
LCV is full of creative people, and we thought it was about time everyone got to show off their other skills apart from singing. We had stalls selling Christmas cards, decorations, artwork, glass pieces, baked goods, and, of course, Richard's book!
Mike and Rosalind ran a very successful "paintalong" with some great results. Who knew we had so many arty folks in our midst! Maybe the Tuesday art group will find a few new members.
Isabel brought a fabulous selection of goods from her tiny artisan bakery - Oakfield Bakery. Those went down very well indeed!
All these stalls, along with the cafe, raised over £750 for our charity this year - Sarcoma UK.
Christmas Open Mic
We held our final open mic night of the year straight after the Community Arts Day, so it was a very full day indeed. As usual we set up the church with lights and mics, and enjoyed some fabulous performances.
Paddington Station Charity Collection
This year we only did one charity singing session, also for Sarcoma UK. It was at Paddington station on 14 December. Our Christmas repertoire was greatly enjoyed by the enthusiastic collectors, and the commuters, of course.
Christmas Concerts
On 15, 16 and 17 December we held our Christmas concert marathon. For the Friday and Saturday we took over St Mary-at-Hill Church - our Wednesday home - to put on matinee and evening concerts. Our original three concerts sold out weeks in advance, and we loved performing to a packed house of our family and friends. These concerts were streamed so they could be enjoyed by audiences far and wide.
Our theme this year was American Songbook Christmas, and our dress code was 'all your finery". Of course, no one in LCV needs much encouragement to dress up, so the concert was a sea of sequins, satin, djs bow ties.
As usual we held a charity collection at all our concerts. Everyone was very generous, and we even had an anonymous donor pledge to match the donations made at Saturday's concerts up to £1000!
Having sold out our first concerts so quickly - 24 hours! - we decided to put on another couple of concerts, this time at our favourite summer venue, Tobacco Dock. It was a very different atmosphere from the church, but as the audience enjoyed their mulled wines and fizz, we still made it very festive...
... possibly helped by Richard's hat and nose combo!
...and finally...
Hackney Food Drive with Aisling Bea
On 20 December we were delighted to be invited back to this annual charity event. Like last year, we sang outside the Bill Murray pub in Hackney to an audience that filled the street and included many famous faces. After performing all our Christmas songs, Richard played for a special rendition of Fairytale of New York by Nish Kumar and Aisling Bea. The drive collected a roomful of donations for the Hackney food bank.
As usual, LCV have been very busy in the run up to Christmas. We've performed at many events, including our own two Christmas concerts, and raised some much-needed money for charity.
Singing at the Tower of London with MD Brunch
LCV were very pleased to take part in another weekend of singing at the iconic Tower of London. We joined over a dozen other choirs from around the country to provide some Christmas song for the sightseers visiting the Tower.
Wandsworth Christmas Tree Festival
Our next Christmas gig was the tenth annual Christmas Tree Festival at St Magdalene church in Wandsworth. The church was adorned with 25 Christmas trees decorated by local families and businesses. Residents came to admire the trees, enjoy cake and mulled wine and be entertained by us.
London Irish Centre
One of our favourite gigs of the year is the London Irish Centre's Christmas celebration. There is abundant mulled wine, Guinness (of course), mince pies and good craic.
Station Charity Collections
This year we raised money for three charities - St Mungo's, Health Poverty Action and MENCAP. Our first gig was at Waterloo station where we entertained commuters and staff alike. The second was at Surrey Quays - where we were very glad to be inside! And the third was at Paddington, where our Christmas repertoire was greatly enjoyed by the enthusiastic collectors.
Additional One-Off Performances
We were also delighted to provide some entertainment for the IMPA's Christmas conference at the QEII Centre in Westminster, and to take part in Voices of the City providing some Christmas cheer to city workers.
Christmas Concerts
On 17 December we took over St Mary-at-Hill Church - our Wednesday home - to put on matinee and evening concerts. These events were sold out weeks in advance, and we loved performing to a packed house of our family and friends. These concerts were streamed so they could be enjoyed by audiences far and wide.
...and finally...
Hackney Food Drive with Aisling Bea
On 21 December we were delighted to provide some entertainment at this annual charity event. We sang outside the Bill Murray pub in Hackney to an audience that filled the street and included many famous faces. After performing all our Christmas songs, Richard led a singalong from the roof for the enthusiastic audience below. The drive collected a roomful of donations for the Hackney food bank.
We'll be starting our autumn term with some fantastic pop, then easing into old and new Christmas favourites.
Along with some fascinating workshops and awesome open mics, we'll be holding a fabulous end-of-term concert - details to come. So get your sequins and santa hats ready.
We'll be going to back to the swinging sixties for our summer term.
Think Dylan, The Beatles, the Kinks, Simon & Garfunkel, Dusty Springfield, and so many more.
Start planning your costumes for our end-of-term concert - flower power, Mods and Rockers, Austin Powers, Mary Quant...
Our amazing Inquizitors are back!
Save the date: after rehearsal on Wednesday 25 May, St Mary-at-Hill
It's sure to be the same kind of fiendishly fun evening that kept us all entertained during lockdown.
We may be able to livestream the quiz so that Out-of-Town members can enter a team too.
Teams of 8, £10 per team
BYO nibbles and drinks (white/clear only, please)
Welcome to Autumn 2024!
This term our theme will be LCV Christmas Actually. It's 21 years since the film Love Actually was released in UK cinemas, and although it's not specifically a Christmas film, a lot of it is quite Christmassy. So we're going to celebrate this film by singing some of the best songs from the soundtrack, leading up to some of our Christmas favourites.