Top night in AK topping £1,000 raised

A Big thank you to everyone who made our return to the Ashton Keynes Village Hall such a HUGE success with well over £1,000 raised towards the funds to repair the hall floor.

It was an emotional evening for many of us, not having sung in front of a paying audience in the hall for more years than we can remember, but the blokes sounded on top form, in part because of the inspiring performance given by our fellow Ashton Keynes singers, the lovely ladies from Siren Sisters.

And what troopers they are!  They were missing one of their regular members and then on the day one of their key ladies was too poorly to perform, but the remaining Sirens still managed to pull out a superb set of close harmony and vibrant vocals, ably assisted by Heather Milnes on piano and with a guest slot from Caroline Harper singing a spine-tingling version of Skyfall.

The hall was rammed, the bar was busy and the "Afters" Pub Singing was one of the best and longest for quite a while.

A final thanks to all who came along to support us and to the Village Hall Team who beavered away behind the scenes.

All in all a rather Magnificent evening.  

Magnificent Pow Wow & Party

What a way to celebrate a truly Magnificent 10th year after all the hullaballoo and the immense event at Bristol's St George's Hall, than to return whence we came, back to our roots in dear old village with a "Very Ashton Keynes" evening, full of ale, singing and cheese!

We held our Pow Wow (Annual General Meeting) in the Village Hall that was resplendent with huge amounts of memorabilia dangling from the ceiling and mounted on boards to remind us of so many of our  mini-man adventures over the years. 

Some wonderful memories of gigs, tours, days out, daft places we have sung and so much of the bonhomie of lurking in pubs, and camaraderie of singing pretty much everywhere we go.

And this event was no exception as we were joined by many of the Blokes' significant others to thank them and celebrate being allowed to do this stuff as much as we are.  Many of the ladies already know it each other from various gigs and events, such as Folk East, so it was a chance to cement friendships and be serenaded by the fellas.

But it was not just blokes singing, we were also graced by the presence of many of Ashton Keynes' finest ladies singing group, Siren Sisters, who enthusiastically enjoyed helping us devour the mountains of cheese and barrel of ale we had on hand, before delighting us with some of their finest ditties.

All in all a lovely way to celebrate (the first) 10 years of this thing known as The Magnificent AK47.

Thank you to all who make it possible, in particular Chris Samuel our Belovéd ChoirMeister, Big Chief Bill and the team in the Inner Circle and Neil B for much doing of things including the general organising, decoration and exhibition.

Beer & Carols & beauteous harmonies

Another year, another crackingly good Beer & Carols - a fruity, solid body, with added fizz from the ladies of Siren Sisters, and some lovely top notes from other ladies of the village.  A fine vintage!

Seasonal songs were sung with great gusto and in some cases more than a little finesse, Away in a manger and Ding Dong Merrily being particularly fine examples, as well as a very hearty Hail Smiling Morn, and a rousing O come all ye faithful.

Big thanks to:

The Reverend Shirley Danby for encouraging such behaviour despite having almost completely lost her voice, Pete Tuck for managing to stop coughing long enough to do reading the, er, readings, the Belovéd Chris Samuel for waving his arms in an attempt to keep the unruly revelers in check, providing the starting notes and general great gusto, Neil Burston for providing PA & MC, the (few) ladies of Siren Sisters for singing so sweetly, the ladies affiliated to the AK Choir for singing some lovely harmony lines and to everyone from the village and beyond who joined in such a heart-warming community event (some people got there over an hour early to secure their seat!), and lastly to Abbie and Rob and staff of The White Hart for supporting all the goings on - not like they do it in Canadia...!

Wishing you all a very merry Yuletide and a Happy New Year!

Beer & Carols & Sirens...?!

We are pleased to announce that Beer and Carols this year will have an extra sparkle from the singing belles of Ashton Keynes, the ladies of Siren Sisters.

Come along to join in the singing from about 8pm onwards at The White Hart, Ashton Keynes and experience the joys of singing in the community.