Author: Admin

Bangor Mini-Fest and New Season

Post author By Admin
Post date 01/09/2022
No Comments on Bangor Mini-Fest and New Season

Bangor Mini-Fest:

The festival was held on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th August at The Hamilton Hub, Bangor. We had 17 participants including guests from Dublin, Galway and Dundee. The venue was excellent. Sean was our tutor on Saturday. It was great hear him back playing again after a long break. Brian, insightful and artistic as always, was our tutor on Sunday. Following an inform members recital the festival concluded with a short but most enjoyable recital by Brian.

The New Season Begins!

The first regular meeting of the society will be on Sunday 11th September at 3pm at the Ulster College of Music. All the COVID restrictions have been lifted, so there is no limit on numbers attending. Membership subscription will be payable on or before this date. (Thanks to those who have already paid.) Please see below.

Membership Subscription:

We are reverting to normal fees this season. The good news is that the committee has agreed to keep the membership subscription unchanged – now for more than 10 years – and despite current inflation:

£20.00 for individuals
£25.00 for families
£15.00 concession

Paul has requested members to pay by bank transfer, if at all possible, as this cuts down a lot of administration hassle for him.

Regular Society Meetings:

The subsequent autumn meetings are planned as follows:

9th October
6th November
4th December

There will be two Zoom meetings, mainly to accommodate those members who are overseas or just cannot travel to regular meetings. But everybody is welcome to sign in. The dates are 23 rd October at 3pm and 27th November at 3pm. More details including the Zoom link to follow closer to the time.

Christmas Lunch:

The Christmas Lunch has been booked for Sunday 11th December at Rockmount Golf Club. As usual the function room will be available after lunch for an informal members recital and associated seasonal craic. Again, more details to follow closer to the time.

Ensemble:

So far, eight members have signed up for the ensemble. Everybody is welcome to join, so if you are interested, please contact Keith.

Best wishes for the new season!
Robert

announcements ensemble festivals meetings worksshops

July 2022 Newsletter

Society Barbecue

The barbecue will be held at the home of Edwin and Joy Mitchell at Raffrey, probably late July or early August. We cannot confirm the date just yet, but we shall let you all know as soon as possible.

Derry Weekend (in lieu of the City of Derry Guitar Festival)

The Derry Weekend has been booked in Bangor! This is most exciting news, as we had it all arranged in 2020, only to be scrapped because of lockdown.

Let’s call it the “Bangor Mini-Fest” for this year.

It will be held on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th August.

We are delighted to inform you that two highly talented NI guitarists – Sean Woods and Brian Keenan – have agreed to provide tutoring and workshops during the Mini-Fest. Please mark your diary now – details to follow soon!

Membership Subscription:

We shall revert to normal fees this coming season. The good news is that the committee has agreed to keep the membership subscription unchanged – now for more than 10 years – and despite current inflation:

£20.00 for individuals
£25.00 for families
£15.00 concession

Fees will be payable at or before the first regular society meeting in
September. Paul has requested members to pay by bank transfer, if at all
possible, as this cuts down a lot of administration hassle for him.

Regular Society Meetings:

The autumn session of society meetings is planned as follows:

11th September – 9th October – 6th November – 4th December

As usual these will be held at the Ulster College of Music, Windsor Avenue Belfast on Sundays at 3.00pm.

There will be two Zoom meetings, mainly to accommodate those members who are overseas or just cannot travel to regular meetings. But everybody is welcome to sign in. The dates are 23rd October at 3pm and 27th November at 3pm. More details including the Zoom link to follow closer to the time.

Brian Keenan Recital:

The committee has agreed to sponsor a recital by Brian Keenan on a date of his choosing, preferably in autumn season. This is in part to thank Brian for his excellent coaching for the ensemble, and because we think it is vital to celebrate local talent at every opportunity. We need to book a venue and date that suit Brian, so we shall let you know details when it’s all sorted.

Christmas Lunch:

Ensemble:

So far, eight members have signed up for the ensemble. Everybody is welcome to join, so if you are interested, please contact Keith.

Best wishes for the new season!

Robert

announcements concerts ensemble festivals performances

Ards Guitar Festival 2022

Post author By Admin
Post date 07/03/2022
No Comments on Ards Guitar Festival 2022

Happy to report that the Society will be performing at the Ards Guitar Festival again this year for the first time in a while.

Find out more at here.

announcements meetings

December 2021 Newsletter

I am delighted to inform you that Paul has volunteered to convene the first meeting at the college…..Truly an historic event! No more fitting stalwart member to be in the lead on that day. You are now invited to book in for the meeting on ~~Sunday 9^th January 2022~~ (NOTE this meeting is now fully booked). This will be on a first come-first booked basis. We are able to accept 12 members in addition to Paul as convener. It may be necessary to ask members to step aside from subsequent meetings (from time to time) so that we can provide equity of access.

The dates of subsequent meetings are planned as follows:

6^th February

6^th March

3^rd April

8^th May

5^th June

Membership Subscriptions: So far seven members have paid their 2021-22 subscriptions. I want to remind the remaining membership (except for honorary members) to please make a contribution of £10-00 to Society funds.

Best wishes for the New Year and here’s to a successful meeting on 9^th January!

Robert

announcements ensemble meetings

Message from the Chair – Meeting in Person

Post author By Admin
Post date 14/12/2021
No Comments on Message from the Chair – Meeting in Person

Dear Members,

First and foremost, I trust that you are all well, and I wish you all a Happy Christmas!

You will be interested to know that Paul, on behalf of the committee, has negotiated a return to “f2f” society meetings at the college. The current proposal is to have a meeting in the college on Sunday 9th January 2022. Unfortunately, because of the room size, we shall need to restrict the number of members attending to 12.

It will be necessary to employ a protocol, as attached, to comply with (viral) safety rules, with the intention of protecting members and other users of the college.

Please be on the lookout, in early January, for an invitation from the convener to book a slot for the meeting, notwithstanding any new restrictions that may appear with respect to the Omicron variant.

(I have to say, being a medic who has had a career in molecular pathology, that it is fascinating to know that the general public are learning about viral mutational activity, and the Greek alphabet!)

May your God go with with you,

And all the best. Robert

announcements meetings

AGM

Post author By Admin
Post date 21/09/2021
No Comments on AGM

Members – the AGM will be held as a Zoom call this year. It will be held on Sunday 17th October at 3pm with the primary aim of selecting a new committee, which will then be in a position to negotiate with the UCM regarding possible timing of reconvening at the college in person. Please give some thought to the possibility of standing for committee membership, and if you have ideas of that nature please let Robbie know beforehand.

If you wish to take part, or cannot take part and want something to be raised at the meeting, please contact Robbie and he will send you the invitation if desired.

announcements festivals

Bangor Mini-Fest Cancelled

Post author By Admin
Post date 02/08/2020
No Comments on Bangor Mini-Fest Cancelled

Hello folks,

We are sorry to inform you that it will not be possible to proceed with the Bangor guitar weekend at the end of August (29th / 30th). The venue, Hamilton Halls, is not going to be open until September at the earliest, and the committee is not in a position to find another venue. In fact, the general view of the committee is that postponement until more suitable times ahead is the correct action at this time.

I hope everybody is well and still enjoying plenty of guitar activities, albeit in the midst of social distancing, etc. Just a reminder – there is an active society WhatsApp group, founded during lockdown. All sorts of things get discussed – fingernails, strings, performance practice, gardening, poetry….. even molecular virology! If you want to join the group, please contact the secretary. Only recognised members will be able to join.

Chairman

announcements meetings

BBQ Cancellation

Dear Members,

We were originally scheduled to have our June meeting this Sunday, 14th June. Since we are not allowed to meet indoors as a group, and only small cohorts may meet outdoors, it is not possible to have the meeting. At this stage the barbeque is also off the list. I do not know as yet whether our Bangor weekend will be possible, but if it does go ahead we shall have to work out all the social distancing and hand hygiene logistics, etc. Valerie Hartzell will not be coming as she is in “shielding” mode and has no intention of travelling or performing on this side of an effective vaccination programme. Sorry for the gloomy news.

On a brighter note there is an active society WhatsApp group, which I believe has a had a couple of virtual meetings using Zoom. Members of the group have posted little videos of their own home performances, and there has been lots of discussion on a wide range of topics from nail care to Leo Brouwer and even on growing leeks! If you are a member and are not signed on to the group and wish to do so please get in touch.

I have attached a little article about the society below, recently published in Making Music’s magazine.

MakingMusicJune2020

All the best for a bright and musical summer.

announcements concerts ensemble festivals meetings

Coronavirus Cancellations

Post author By Admin
Post date 21/03/2020
No Comments on Coronavirus Cancellations

Dear Members and Associates,

I don’t think anybody will be surprised to learn that we are going to have to cancel our forthcoming meetings on account of this virus proliferation.

The committee has agreed the following:

Sunday 5th April: Portstewart meeting – cancelled

Sunday 3rd May (originally planned for Sunday 10th May): AGM – cancelled. Until we can rearrange the AGM, the committee has agreed to continue in a caretaker capacity.

Sunday 14th June: Regular meeting – to be decided later, but unlikely to go ahead

Sunday 28th June or Sunday 4th July: Barbecue – to be decided later, but unlikely to go ahead

Also – Wednesday 1st April: Ards Guitar festival – cancelled; ensemble rehearsals – cancelled.

At this stage we intend to proceed with the Bangor guitar weekend at the end of August, so if you have not done so, please contact Keith or any other member of the committee, to register your interest.

Best wishes to you and yours. Keep well and keep playing your guitar!

festivals performances

Bangor Mini-Fest

Hi Folks

This year the CGSNI are supporting a weekend guitar festival in Bangor, Co. Down over the late August Bank Holiday weekend, 29th and 30th August (please see the flier below). The artists will be American guitarist Valerie Hartzell, Sean Woods and Brian Keenan. Please let me know you would be interested in attending this event.

Keith
(on behalf of the Committee).