The BABS Northern Chorus Preliminary competition was held at the Octagon Theatre in Sheffield on
Saturday 1st December. Anvil Chorus, with 34 singers plus director, scored 60.2% (1084 marks)
and were placed 6th on the day. In the consolidated results from the north and south we were
placed 13th, thereby easily qualifying in the top 20 for the chorus finals in Bournemouth in
May 2002. You can read a transcription of the
judges evaluation of our performance.
The top three choruses on the day were as follows:
The results from the north and south are combined into one consolidated scoresheet of all
choruses ranked by their score. The top twenty qualify to sing in the chorus finals at the
convention in Bournemouth in May 2002. A zip file containing the full scoring analysis of all the prelim contests including individual scores per judge
per song is also downloadable from the Guild of Judges website.
Our photos
In addition to our excellent performance and superb result another highlight of the day for Anvil Chorus
was to see our newest (and youngest) member Sam Durk receive his BABS membership certificate. BABS chairman Ron Willis
presented Sam with a framed version of the certificate in front of the assembled audience at the end of the
competition.
Phil and Chris presented badges as a permanent record to all the past recipients of the Sides Family Trophy for
Barbershopper of the year (voted by the members) and the Joe Riseborough Rosebowl for Club Man of the Year (awarded by the
management committee). Recipients who have left the club will also receive a badge, as will the families of those who have
since passed away.
On the journey up to Sheffield we had a little incident where the coach ventilation hatch decided that it would be more fun
for us if it departed company with the coach roof. Without any warning one side of the hatch became detatched and it started
flapping in the wind. We managed to grab the hatch before it flew off completely. We stopped on the hard shoulder to take a
look at the broken catches, but there was no way to fix it as the driver did not carry any tools.
Phil therefore galantly volunteered to keep a firm hold of the hatch until we reached Tamworth services. Following a wait
of nearly half an hour the replacement coach arrived and we all piled in.
This sign was spotted at
the service station coach park.
