Your feedback
Dear Singers -
This is the place for you to leave your feedback for the National Street Choir Festival 2010 – just go to ‘leave a reply’ below, fill in your details, add a comment then press ‘post comment’. Or you can email us at streetchoirsheffield@googlemail.com if you prefer. Your feedback is really welcomed – for our own evaluation of the event, and of course to pass on to next year’s organisers. Many thanks to those of you who have already been in touch.
You can also reply to each others’ comments of course, so let the debate begin! What is good about the festival? What should change? What could be added and what should remain the same? The event belongs to us all, and is bigger than all of us too. So please have your say!
14 Responses to "Your feedback"
July 12, 2010 at 3:19 pm
What a wonderful weekend we all had in the East Lancashire Clarion Choir. Thank you for all your hard work and the fine weather too. I had no idea Sheffield had such an impressive city centre!
July 13, 2010 at 7:39 am
My first time at the festival – what an experience! Wish I’d made it in time for the massed sing rehearsal – but the closest people (Leeds) are always last! At least I got there to hear the rest of you and it was great. The concerts were wonderful, with such a range of sounds and subjects.
And Sheffield really was one of the stars. A great city centre!
July 13, 2010 at 9:07 am
Thanks to all at Sheffield – to wonderful organisers and to the wonderful helpers and volunteers who made things run so smoothly. It was a great weekend – magic to bond with other choirs and to share our singing. Thanks to Val for the cool massed songs rehearsal. We had a great weekend, singing and dancing – what more could you want?!! Have a great summer and we look forward to next year’s festival – I wonder, where will it be?
Thanks again
Lorna, Hullabaloo Community Quire, Brighton
July 13, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Hi Val and the rest of the team
I wanted to say what a wonderful weekend we all had in Women of Note. The event was so well organised and you had all worked very hard to make it the success it was.
The massed sing was excellent. I thought the way you addressed the spectating crowd was brilliant, Val. This helped to put the songs in context. And what an unforgettable ending to the Saturday night concert.
We all think Sheffield is a beautiful city – so European!
We now wait to hear about 2011…
Well done everyone.
Thank you.
Maggie Ellis – Cambridge
July 14, 2010 at 9:19 am
What an absolute delight to share this event with so many brilliant people. Hard to list all the high spots, but they have to include, good teamwork, dancing my socks off to the Free Radicals on Friday night, singing about Nana taking on City Hall, in front of City Hall, the polital focus delivered with passion and joy, standing on the big stage in a posh frock, the times when the audience sang along with us and some of us cried..and more
July 14, 2010 at 12:57 pm
It’s taken me this long to work out how to put the feelings into words!! I’m still wearing my wristband…it does need to come off by Friday though 
What an amazingly well planned, well run and well attended event! Unsure of what to expect (being a reletively new choir member and it being Purple Cats’ first time at the festival) I was overwhelmed by the feelings of friendliness, community and a shared passion for singing. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the weekend and was constantly impressed by the high level of organisation and the calm way it all seemed to be executed!
Bring on next year! Let’s hope Purple Cats continue to be part of this amazing event, a trip away from our home town would enable us to fully emerse ourselves in the music and forget about domestic chores and distractions 
Val Regan is my new heroine!! How soon can I join Out Aloud??
Thank you again for such a wonderful experience, it felt like coming home xx
July 15, 2010 at 9:21 am
Thank you for the lovely comments Anna. They’re much appreciated. If you or anyone you know wants to join Out Aloud you can come along to Sharrow Performance Space (Sharrow School, Sitwell Rd.) on September 8th, 7.30-9.30pm
July 15, 2010 at 6:12 pm
FAB FAB FAB weekend, well done to everyone who took part, & especially for arranging such great weather.
Only one teeny thing that we forgot to feed into the meeting.
A few of our choir members noticed that some of this year choirs were singing their performance songs within their busking slot. This seemed a bit of a shame as it takes away from the anticipation of what each choir is to perform, especially as we love to listen to the other choirs & they are equally appreciated as an audience.
Thanks Ana
July 18, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Dear Street Choir Festival Team,
Thank you all for everything you did to make the weekend such a wonderful experience. It was so great in so many ways, it’s hard to pick particular things out, but for me the statement of the purpose of the festival, which was written in the programme, guided and influenced the whole event. The vision of a society free from all forms of exploitation, exclusion and violence was borne out throughout the weekend. Sheffield seemed a truly delightful place to be. The enjoyment of and by the members of the Hands and Voices Choir challenged me to think about how we make the festivals more truly inclusive in the future – they were a joy. As were the choir from Moenchengladbach, whose young people demonstrated not only enormous commitment, but a delight and skill in singing with people of all ages – another challenge for us I think. I’d like to pass on to the next festival organisers that the Sheffield event was a resounding success. Perhaps a lesson in striving for greater accessibility and making this a publicly available policy will encourage more diversity and real access. The young people from Germany had a lot to offer, and I hope that the festivals in the future will harness this energy and enthusiasm too.
Fially, thanks to the members of Out Aloud as well, for their fantastic singing and general gorgeousness throughout the weekend.
Well done to you all,
Love from Lisa, Sheffield Socialist Choir and Body of Sound
July 20, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Greetings!
There were a few bits of feedback I heard during the weekend and I’m not sure if they’ve been passed along to you or not.
Apart from the generally glowing and enthusiastic comments that everyone has been sharing, there were a few specific points made:
One person said that it would be great if a list of the songs performed during the concerts could be created. (For example, using this year’s Performing Rights info. The list could be used for general info or for people who are interested in doing more research into the songs – whether for learning/singing or personal education.)
Another person expressed surprise that there had not been more publicity about the fact that such a huge group of singers would be coming together for an amazing festival. Perhaps something to keep in mind for future fests in getting the general public more inspired by what we do.
It was a great weekend!
Margaret
(Protest in Harmony)
(On a personal note, I agree with what someone said about how great Val’s comments to the crowd were during the massed sing. Really informative and inclusive!)
August 13, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Does anyone know yet where the 2011 Festival will be held?
So sorry I wasn’t able to attend this year.
August 19, 2010 at 9:53 pm
Hi Nona – we don’t yet know about 2011 but we will be appealing for volunteers in September! Any information will be posted here as we get it. Hope to see you next year!
Joy x
August 14, 2010 at 2:24 pm
It was a great weekend from start to finish. Really well organised – thankyou organisers and volunteers – and lots of fun. I loved Out Aloud in their fairy lights what a treat. I agree that it would be great to try and get more publicity for future festivals. The mass sing was great and I agree about Val’s introductions to the songs, brilliant.
See you all next time
Angela
July 12, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Well done Sheffield! Really impressed with your friendly and efficient organisation – fitting us all on the City Hall steps springs to mind! Good venue/busking spots/ concert/workshops too. Small suggestion for next year – we liked having allocated seats for our concert in the afternoon but, as not everyone could stay for the evening, those of us who did were sitting in half-empty rows – which must have looked a bit bare for those on stage. We left at the evening interval – did folk move forward later?
Thanks very much for a great weekend of music and fun.
Kathleen Illingworth (Otley Singers/Noteworthy Women)