Singers and dancers come together for Iain 

November 16:  CMVC joined the Madder Mill Molly Dancers and the Sandilands ShantyMen on Saturday in a memorable evening raising funds to help Iain, recently diagnosed with motor neurone disease.   Croham Hurst Golf Club generously provided their capacious hall free-of-charge for this worthwhile cause. 

Madder Mill Molly Dancers strut their stuff for Iain (photos from Helen Sharp and MMMD) 

It was standing room only as Iain’s close friend Steve Lloyd welcomed everyone with a statement from Iain and his wife Rachel.   

"We want to express our sincerest gratitude for all the efforts people have made to organise this event and to attend it. We are really touched that Iain is so highly thought of that his friends have gone to such lengths to help us when we need it the most. It is times like these that you realise the true meaning of friendship and how important friends are in your life.

"This evening would be too emotional for us to deal with which is why we are not here with you all. We have close family who are in the audience tonight, who felt it was important to be part of this event and we look forward to hearing them tell us all about it."

The choir opened with the dramatic Battle Hymn, followed by the introspective Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen and a celebration of the last full moon of the year with Van Morrison’s Moondance. 

This was followed by the ShantyMen, of whom Iain is a keen supporter, and choir sub-group Octet(ish), of which Iain was a founder member. The choir returned to finish the first half with two popular classics including Robbie Willliams’ Angels.

The Shantymen sing out for Iain

The second half started with the choir’s thunderous premiere of Divine Brahma from Bizet’s Pearl Fishers opera. The set finished with the traditional hymn Gwahoddiad, dedicated by MD Andrew Moore to the CMVC’s long-term chorister George, who died recently.

The Madder Mill Molly Dancers, another of Iain’s great loves, took the stage.  Brandishing brooms, and accompanied by three accordions playing Steptoe and Son, their first dance was Hercules Revenge. Then followed equally energetic performances of Betty's Hop and College Hornpipe. They concluded with Make Mine a Pint, involving much waving of tankards, which was particularly appreciated by the admiring choir.

CMVC MD Andrew Moore does his best to conduct Song of the Jolly Roger, before a packed  audience

The choir's last set concluded with Song of the Jolly Roger. This was MD Andrew’s first experience of trying to conduct an unruly bunch of pirates wearing eye patches, hats, parrots and interjecting unscripted “aarrs” throughout. He survived and handed over to CMVC chair Kim Ormond to thank everyone for supporting such a memorable event.

Then followed the most affecting moments of the evening. In the letter read out at the start, Iain had said how moved he was when leaving rehearsal a few weeks ago to hear the choir secretly practising his favourite Flower of Scotland. Andrew now invited the audience to sing it with the choir to close the performance. Afterwards Iain's father-in-law Ray stood to make a statement on behalf of Iain and his family, saying how much they appreciated the love and fellowship shown during such difficult times.  After listening intently, performers and audience applauded loudly to emphasise their support.

Events were far from finished as the packed hall crowded against the bar to purchase drinks in order to slake thirsts and repay the golf club for its hospitality. Tombola supremo John Parker stood on a chair to wring the last few pounds out of all and sundry.  For the next hour the hall resounded to après singing and Molly dancing.  It had been a brilliant evening, enjoyable and worthwhile.  The total raised on the night, plus donations, was around £7,000, which will do much to help Iain and his family to meet the unforeseen expenses caused by his cruel disease. 

Report by Dave Bannister