INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS! 22/10/07
Back in May 2006 the Lace City Singers won the Region 31 national championships, awarding us the privilege of representing our ever growing region; England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Netherlands, in the 2007 International Sweet Adelines Championships in Calgary, Canada. Final preparations underway; 84 singers? Check! A lot more suitcases? Check! Costume in hand luggage? Check! Director? Check! The Lace City Singers boarded the plane, excited and hoping to improve our score from two years previous at the International Championships in Detroit! After all the tremendous support we received from all our Barbershop friends, panicking about the mexican wave of coughing flooding the chorus, and the sadness of not having a few chorus members, special to us all, on stage with us, not only did we jump 11 places achieving 18th out of 34 chorus's, we also achieved the title of 'Highest scoring British chorus EVER!' A title that we are extremely honoured to hold!
The chorus were also thrilled be in the audience to see fellow Lace City member, Ellie Mills onstage with her quartet Luminous giving a stunning opening performance for the quartet-finals as the 2007 International Rising Star Quartet Champions!

ALYSON CHANEY RECEIVES ANN GOOCH AWARD 22/10/2007
Alyson Chaney (Lincoln Sounds, Lace City Singers, RMT) received the Ann Gooch award at International Convention in Calgary in October 2007 . Ann Gooch’s curiosity and wanderlust led her from continent to continent and, as a result, barbershop was introduced in cities, towns, and villages far removed from its American roots. In recognition of her commitment to the growth of the organization internationally, the Ann Gooch Award has been given annually since 2001 to a member of a worldwide region or satellite area for her outstanding contributions to her chapter, region, or area. Previous recipients are Elise Van Ruth, Region 31, 2006; Åse Hagerman, Region 32, 2005; Kate Veeder, Region 35, 2004; Britt-Heléne Bonnedahl, Region 32, 2003; Inger Lundstrand, Region 32, 2002; and Cathy Rainey, Region 34, 2001.
Upon Alysons return from Calgary, the UK Regional Management Team, represented by Eileen Milne, presented Alyson with a crystal globe in recognition of all of Alyson’s hard work in raising the profile of barbershop andregion 31.

WAY DOWN SOUTH IN TEXAS 14/08/07
At the end of July, 4 intrepid young barbershoppers from Lace City headed off to take on the world in the International Rising Star contest. Here, our own resident reporter, Gemma Hyde and bass of the Topaz Young Women in Harmony quartet, tells us about her experience.
Texas in July- HOT, rainy and overrun with Barbershoppers as Trinity University holds the 2007 International Education Symposium: "A funny thing happened on the way to Alamo". With Barbershop greats including Dale Syverson, director of the four-proud International gold medalist champion chorus, the Richtones; incredible coaching duo Jim Arns and Renee Porzel famed for their dedication to the Melodeers chorus - the only Sweet Adelines chorus to ever win four consecutive International Championships and renowned master arranger and proud owner of the 2002 lifetime achievement award, Nancy Bergman amongst the many, this was certainly an experience not to be missed!
Travelling across the pond to take in the sounds were many Region 31 representatives including Lace City Singers own Alyson Chaney and Deborah Wheeldon, Master Director Glenn Chaney and TOPAZ. TOPAZ quartet were funded by the region and eager to represent the United Kingdom in the Rising Star Championships for the first time since 1999, and what a competition!
The standard of each Quartet was breathtaking, with many extremely talented Quartets, including some previous medalist, all competing for the title of 2007 Rising Star gold medalists.
TOPAZ secured a magnificent 7th place for Region 31, showing us Britts know exactly how to do it! While Region 31's very own Ellie Mills, joint member of Lace City Singers and St Louis Harmony competed with her American-formed quartet LUMINOUS and stunned the audience with an International sandard set achieving them the well deserved title of 2007 Rising Star gold medalist quartet! The first ever international gold medal for the UK.

RETREAT....IS AN ADVANCE 25/06/07
8-10 June was the Lace City Singers first ever retreat weekend at Swanwick in Derbyshire, and what a weekend that was! Not only were we priveleged to be in such wonderful surroundings and with beautiful weather, but we were amazed by the presence of the divine Sandi Wright and pitch-perfect husband David - feel free to bow! Sandi took us on a journey of discovery, showing us the difference between first and fifteenth places at International and explaining that the best part of achievement is associated with self-belief. She provided us with the energy and uplift we have needed to boost our chorus to the next level as well as her incredible Hula Hooping routine, proving that she is an extremely talented lady in many ways as well as a best friend to most of us! As an A* bonus, David worked on our sound, blending the chords and perfecting the intervals as the chorus were stunned by the talent this coaching-duo revealed to us! David did however refuse to Hula Hoop, one has to wonder if he is hiding something? By the end of the weekend, completely exhausted and emotional wrecks having to wave Sandi and David home; it's safe to say the Lace City Singers truly believed! We can't thank you enough Sandi and David for the talent you bestowed on us, but sure enough we'll showboat it in Calgary! Here we come! Gemma Hind~Bass.

BACK FROM BRUM20/05/07
The Lace City Singers have outdone themselves again, singing for evaluation in the 2007 Sweet Adelines, region 31 convention, in Birmingham, this May and what a convention it was! The Birmingham symphony hall created the perfect atmosphere for the weekend, with competitiors feeling both comfortable on stage, and in the bar, however distinguishing between the two was a little easier! Friday night's Quartet competition was infectious and oh so emotional, with Cornish Lace, UpBeat, Breakthrough, Topaz, Chantilly, Just THEM and 4 Tune all doing an incredible job of showboating their talents and representing our chorus perfectly! A massive congratulations to our resident warm-up coach, Aly and her Quartet Cornish Lace, who brought home a fantastic 3rd place medal, despite having rehearsed very little before the competition! We knew you could do it Aly! Also to UpBeat who brought home the shiniest 4th place medals proudly placed round their necks-extremely well deserved ladies! Saturday's Chorus competition was not to be missed, and judging by the sound of the crowd, it wasn't! Energy poured off the stage, emanated in everyone's faces as pride at the standard of performance region 31 has now reached! The top four chorus's all scored above 600 points giving the title of 'master director' to four more directors and making our region very special indeed! A fan of the bronze, Aly managed to secure her 3rd place in the Division AA, Midsize chorus results, this time as a director with her chorus Lincoln Sounds. A massive barbershop clap to Aly and Jan, we are so proud of what you have achieved! Although the Lace City Singers were singing for evaluation only, with our score of B+ across the board, it is clear if we were competing it would have been a very close competition! For our show package, Glenn donned his best wig, baton (we won't go into the true meaning) and velcroed trousers while strutting his stuff infront of thousands of women and lets face it the men enjoyed it too! The audience loved it, shouting for 'more' when we had finished, yet something is telling me they enjoyed Glenn's flailing trousers a little too much! With an 'Oh Yes!' from Renee Porzel and 'They love you!' from Jan Gervais, Calgary here we come!

THE NEW RIGHT WAY 10/04/07
Over the weekend of 31 March to 1 April, the Lace City Singers were delighted to welcome Master Director of the Rich Tone Chorus, Dale Syverson, to Nottingham to provide us with a new level of expertise as we strive for barbershop excellence. Below is an account of the experience from one avid fan:When I first heard the amass of money we we're giving Dale for her talent, I will admit it threw me back slightly, (no excuses-I'm a student)! But then to be proudly stood donned in our Bright Green Chorus jumpers, complete with Gold medals, in front of the God-like, all-American Dale herself; I was already considering just how much I should tip, 99%? Seeing master director Dale Syverson put everything she had into directing the wonderfully successful Richtones chorus on stage in Plymouth in 2005, was awe-inspiring. It certainly made my first ever Regional convention go with an all mighty bang!
As you can imagine we all had expectations of what we hoped Dale would help us to achieve, but by Sunday afternoon, tear-soaked and tearing ourselves away from the most generous and avidly enthusiastic coach I have seen in my short barbershop lifetime, my expectations had been completely surpassed. Looking around, it seems I wasn't alone in this thought! Vocal Production, forward placement and showmanship were but few of the things we worked on with Dale, but there's no doubting that our "new right way" is here to stay! The Lace City Singers seem to ooze a new level of 'ooh look at me' and pure energy, that we simply didn't have the confidence for a few years ago! With the help of many inspirational coaches, our wonderful management team and our ever so enthusiastic Master Chorus Director Glenn Chaney, we have reached our latest milestone of unity both vocally and emotionally. Here's to the many many miles ahead, we hope to Dale and our other coaches proud. Gemma Hind (Bass)

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