12 th July: a joint rehearsal with the wonderful Spinnaker Chorus and their MD John Palmer. 
A much more energetic physical warm-up than usual (thanks to the athletic Nicky Best) that left most of the guys gasping for breath, followed by a vocal warm-up with our own Steve Morris.

Each chorus then took turns on the risers. Great to hear Spinnaker in action - one of the country’s top barbershop choruses. Pleased to say they enjoyed listening to Solent City as well, and our comedy number “Blew by You” went down a storm. 
And then to the pub next door where both choruses worked their way through their repertoire!
A really fun evening – lovely singing, lots of humour and banter….and cake as well! A real privilege for us to share the risers with such a terrific chorus for a couple of joint numbers.
 

What an evening and what a concert! 
Solent City and special guests the Queen Bees performed to a full house at Portchester Methodist Church on 21 st July. Although entrance was free, a raffle and donations by the audience raised £444, which is being split equally between the Church and the Mountbatten Hampshire Hospice.
Both choruses were in sparkling form and received a great response from the audience. Solent’schoice of songs ranged from the beautiful Maori anthem “Pokarekare Ana” to “This Is Me” and “A Million Dreams”, both from the movie The Greatest Showman. And the hilarious “Blew by You”, featuring soloist Philip Davies, brought the house down.


The Queen Bees also featured a terrific range of songs: from a beautiful version of “The Sound of Music” to the tongue-in-cheek “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”, and a saucy rendition of “Hey Big Spender” as an encore.



Our thanks go to the amazing Queen Bees for coming over from Southampton to join us, and to help make it a wonderful evening’s entertainment.