Dear All,

I'm now in proud possession of a ton of music very kindly donated by the
Latin Mass Society, consisting of reasonable to excellent settings of the
Mass (Ordinary) from composers including Viadana and Palestrina.

Naturally, I'm keen to use these at some stage in the future - Brinkburn has
already been spoken for (Monteverdi - Messa a 4 a capella)

We have received another invitation to sing in Pickering. Again it would be
Solemn Vespers & Benediction, as the Mass in Latin, even the Novus Ordo, is
frowned upon by the Middlesbrough Diocese.

We also have an invitation to sing again in Sheffield on All Souls Day, Nov
2nd. Currently the idea is to sing Duruflé's Requiem, but we will need more
upper voices S/A to do this justice. We need more upper voices anyway, as
quite a few have dropped out for various reasons. New members will be made
most welcome, so if you know of anybody who wishes to sing 'real' music,
invite them to join!

Bernadette has suggested a weekend sing in the York area later this year, to
look at the music for Brinkburn/Sheffield. In principle, I'm all for this,
and would welcome any comments/suggestions as to its viability. One other
thing is until we know the Date of Brinkburn this year (I know it's still
only January!), we won't know which motets to sing - that's just a small
problem!

The possibility of singing for weddings has also been raised. I can't see a
problem here, provided we can get an SATB group together, and the venue is
within reasonable travelling distance for us all. Again, comments would be
welcome.

One invitation that I'm personally reluctantly unable to accept, is from Fr.
Elkin to sing for one of his monthly Masses at Barnard Castle. The problem
is that they're on a weekday (Tuesday) evening, and it's a long way for any
of us to go, considering most of us have to work the following day....

And finally, I'm looking for another rehearsal venue to use from time to
time other than York, but within reasonable travelling distance for
everyone, as I'm very much aware, of the distance covered by all of you from
the North-East. I have a possible location in Sowerby (near Thirsk), which I
intend to follow up, which could be ideal, as it would be no more than 60
miles, for any of us. I promise to report back, when [1], I have asked about
the possibility of occasional use, and [2], I have received an answer! Any
other ideas would be welcome.

That's it for now, may I wish all those whom I haven't seen yet (and some of
those whom I have, and forgotten to mention it), a very Happy New Year!

Mike

The Home of the Rudgate Singers
http://www.mike4b.free-online.co.uk/rudgate/index.htm