By Anneke Loubser, Lead

The acoustics of the beautiful St. Peters' Church, Cranbourne, left me in awe as we rehearsed a few songs before our scheduled performance on Saturday evening. Taking in everything leading up to this moment was such an exquisite and surreal experience: from joining a Learn To Sing session with the Barberettes in April this year, where I was immediately made to feel so welcome, to passing the audition and joining this wonderfully warm and inclusive group of ladies, to now a big and splendid sing out in this wonderful location (as part of the Binfield, Warfield & Winkfield Arts Festival). Definitely a moment worthy of quite a few excited butterflies in the tummy!

With an appreciative and welcoming audience, who gladly joined in with some of our warm up songs and the well known sea shanty, What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor, we ended up having a tremendously good time. We sang our way through unspoken love declarations (A Thousand Years) and other songs from movies (Holding Out For A Hero, The Greatest Show, It's Raining Men, How Deep Is Your Love), The Boar's Head Carol (to which Angela does a fabulous introduction) and even some Barry Manilow (One Voice). We have it on good authority that good vibrations could indeed be felt throughout the church when we sang Good Vibrations! Our two quartets, AlphaWaves and Cantare Lunedi were absolutely brilliant in their renditions and had us all swaying along with their singing. We all thoroughly enjoyed this sing out and had a great fun doing it.

It truly does take a collective effort to make it all come together- the Barberettes are incredibly welcoming, friendly and inclusive. So many of them work consistently very hard behind the scenes in various capacities to ensure that we have a varied and fun selection of songs to sing, that us newbies have the right music sheets, that we have gorgeous outfits and that our risers are up and ready. Our friendly and knowledgeable section leads are always on hand to help us and welcome all questions. Then there is Lorraine, who creates and so patiently teaches us fun and exciting choreography. Emma, our Musical Director, is brilliant- besides for really (and I do mean really) knowing her stuff when it comes to music and singing, she is a bundle of fun and energy. She leads with warmth, compassion and authenticity, always encouraging and inspiring us. Then there is our PRO Jo who is constantly looking for places where we can sing and entertain audiences.

This is such an incredibly special group of ladies and there are not enough words to truly express the immense gratitude I feel for being a part of the Barberettes, sharing the vibrant joy of music and singing together.