Thanks for checking out the Maynooth Gospel Choir! The college choir, i.e. the NUI Maynooth Gospel Choir is on a break for the summer (don’t worry, it won’t be long until we are back!). New recruits can join at Fairs Day in college at the start of the new term, watch out for us!

The Maynooth Gospel Choir Group that cater for weddings and corporate events however is available all year round and can be contacted here.

How are ye all keeping? I miss choir so much, its ridiculous. I find myself ordering people around and asking randomers to sing various things of a Wednesday evening! I hope everyones exams went well and no one is too worried about the results!

Anyways, I know its short notice but I am wondering if anyone is around this Sunday, the 23rd June… We are presenting the money we raised to the senior citizens, at 3pm in the GAA Club, Moyglare Road, Maynooth. I thought that it was the 23rd of July and realised yesterday its this sunday. I will be presenting a cheque to them and the liffey champion will be taking a photo etc. If you are about and would like to come that would be great, we could all go for a drink after, sing a few songs and catch up!!

Let me know if you fancy it,

Eimear

How are we all? Thanks to everyone for the gig in Naas, it was lots of fun! We got to hold pythons, sing, meet celebrities, dance and have a few drinks!! Maria made me this wonderful present, its a beautiful doll that is hand made, its just gorgeous, thanks again maria! Some interesting photos can be seen there!!

So this saturday… It should be fun!! There is a bus leaving rye hall car park at 8.30pm. We are singing from 9-10 and then we are chilling out. We will probably be asked to sing later in the night again, but if you want to go at 10 there is no problem and a lift will be provided. The venue is literally 3 or 4 minutes from maynooth. There are other things going on during the night, a sing song, a guitar player and Claire will be playing and singing a few songs. As well as that, my friend Martin who is a poet will be performing some of his stuff, he is incredible and well worth hearing! It should be great crack! I will be having a party back in my house afterwards which shall be lots of fun, hopefully!

So I shall meet ye at rye hall car park at 8.30pm…any questions just shout and please let me know if you are coming. Daddy Kul and my mam say thank you to everyone, they are so excited about the gig and really appreciate us doing it, I am delighted we can do it and I really appreciate ye all coming, thanks guys!

Send me email or text (0861757636) to confirm if you coming…

Thanks guys!

Eimear

PS: Forgot to say, if you would like to bring your girlfriend/boyfriend/other half/ friend/cousin/sister/etc on Saturday night, there is no prob x

So the bus for the celebrity fashion show gig leaves rye hall car park at 5.45pm this friday evening. I am not 100% sure what time we will be coming back home but it wont be too late. There are a few people driving so if you want to come home straight after we sing that might be an option to get a lift, just let me know so I can organise it. Wear smart black, no sleeveless tops if possible girls and shirts and slacks for the boys. I didnt get all the scarves back after the last gig so if you have one of the choir ones, please bring it along, or if you have a similar material scarf yourself, please bring it!! We are low on them. I am not 100% sure on what we are singing yet, definitely Hallelujah and Shackles, maybe this little light, put a little love, oh happy day. We shall see, gotta wait to hear back from Sharon. Oh by the way, for any of ye that watch hollyoaks (this goes straight over my head), there is two of the guys from it, two of the main actors, modelling at the gig and we’l get to hang out with them at some point! It should be fun!

If you have any friends who would like to go to the whole night and see the show etc tickets are €15. There are various buses going from Dublin, Maynooth etc to the event, I think they all leave at 8pm from various locations. This bus are free buses organised by the people running the event for members of the public who want to go to the fashion show etc. If you have any friends who would like to go to the gig they can book a place on this bus by calling 0857253885.

I cant wait guys its going to be great fun! If there are any of the guys in the choir who had said they cant go but theres any way any of you can, please let me know as we are really short on guys!

So onto the gig on sat the 31st…we will have a bus leaving the rye hall car park at 8.30pm. It is going to be a great night guys and I really appreciate the support of the choir for this. I need as many people as possible for this..(not least because we are having a party in my house afterwards!) It will be great fun - everyone will be finished exams and the stress will be gone, it will be a great laugh!! So make sure you keep it free okay, need as many as possible to make it work, I really appreciate and ‘Daddy Kul’ says thankyou!!

Any questions you know where to find me!!

Eimear x

Hope you’re exam preparations are going well! Best of luck with all that business…

Anyway, here’s some stuff to brighten up your long nights:

• Recording from the Night of Hope. I’m rather fond of the recording, as it’s in pretty good quality, and we did an awesome job that night anyway Now, there are two versions: Small (95 MB) for your MP3 player, and Large (246 MB) for burning CDs from. (The latter has just in higher audio quality.) The files are zip-files (i.e. a compressed folders) that you need to unzip (decompress) with whatever tool you have at hand. Then, you’ll find a folder with the mp3 files of all the songs.
• Photos from the Night of Hope. I’m sure there are many more photos out there, but here is what I’m aware of: [1], [2]
• Newspaper article about the Night of Hope from the Liffey Champion (3 May 2008)
• Video of amazing Nuala singing “Song of Hope”, accompanied by Claire
• Photos from the night out after the Music Soc event

Alright, that’s it. Sorry it took so long to get all this out to you, but here it finally is.

So good luck with whatever you’re up to, miss you all already,

Floz

So I need numbers for the gig on the 23rd! This gig is one of the biggest we have done yet and will be full of models and [Irish] celebrities! We all get our hair and makeup done for free and there will be tv and press there. It is on in Time in Naas and we will have VIP access back stage and access to the live bands and djs after we sing. I will send ye an itinerary of the night as soon as I get the finalised draft. What I do know is that there is a fashion show with Irelands best models and a few English ones, an auction of 4 female and 4 male models (no Simon, you cant be auctioned off!), performances from members of this years you’re a star including our Sharon Condon, as well as a few others such as Micky Joe Heart. These are followed by a band and a dj.

The bus will be leaving the college at around 5.30pm going to Naas and will be coming back around closing time. It will be a great experience and a super way to round off the year. I need numbers asap as I have to tell the hair and makeup people how many people we have. There is also a discount offered to us for staying in the hotel, I am waiting to find out what that cost is. If there is enough interest in staying the night there the choir might be able to subsidise this and we could make it an all nighter. Even if some people want to stay, there will be a bus coming back to college that night, at around closing time. If you are under pressure with exams or have one the next day, you can make your own way up to the venue as long as you are there for 7, and you can leave as soon as we are done, which will be by 9.30.

Please email me back ASAP and let me know your availability, I need to have a number for them as soon as I can,

Miss ye All!

Eimear

What can I say, last night was just incredible. I really cant thank each and every one of ye for your time, energy and commitment. The night was amazing - to think that we did that for all those people is just incredible! The feedback is superb, everyone absolutely loved it, seriously. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Wednesday night, meet at aula maxima at 7pm (south campus). If you dont know where it is just gimme a text and I’ll give you directions. Wear all black and if any of ye didn’t give back the scarves please bring them. We will be going out afterwards for our end of year night out, yay! We will be having food in the Roost at 10pm and lots of drinks followed possibly by dancing upstairs… hmm should be fun!!

Shout if ye have any questions….

Love Eimear

I can’t believe how quickly time is going by, it’s crazy! Here we are and its almost the end of the gospel trains journey, it’s almost unbelievable! But enough of that for now, let’s enjoy what’s left guys!! The good news is that there are 320 tickets sold for the concert so far! This is brilliant news and makes the event so much more exciting to know there should be a full house!

So well done last week first of all, it was a long rehearsal and we got through a lot of stuff, so good work! Everyone is putting in such a huge effort, it is brilliant and I am so happy to be part of it, I hope ye guys are too!!! This week we will reviewing everything and running straight through the set list for sunday. I cannot stress how important it is that everyone attends!!! This is our last chance to get everything right for both Thursday and Sunday, not to mention the following Wednesday!! The Maynooth Family Mass Choir will also be there from 7:00-7:15 to run through the song they are singing with us (Down to the River), so please try to be on time! The itinerary for Sunday night can be found here. Have a look and let me know your thoughts or shout if you have any questions. This is not set in stone yet but it is a rough idea of how the night will run. Please familiarize yourself with words of songs guys!!

Next week is very busy with the rehearsal and two gigs, please make sure you attend everything — this will be the last of gospel until after the summer so everyone can get their fix this week with loads of it! I appreciate all the dedication so thanks guys. So the plan for next week is as follows:

Wednesday: 7:00-9:00pm rehearsal
Thursday: Meet @ Glenroyal, 6:30pm sharp — wear all black
Sunday: Sound check 3:00-5:00pm in Church. Meet back at church at 7:00pm for concert

Even though Sunday is our proper end of year gig, Thursday night is still of huge importance and the fashion show will have 400 people in attendance and it is vital that we have as many people as possible singing so don’t let me down guys!!

That’s about it. Anyone who hasn’t ordered tickets yet, please do so ASAP as they are selling very fast. And those of you who have ordered tickets I will give them to you wednesday, if you could pay for them then that would be super.

Shout with any questions or queries, and please let me know if you are going to miss rehearsal, or either gig, ASAP — that applies to everyone, ok?!

It’s all so exciting!!!

Eimear xxx

Well done on Wednesday night, it was fun and Sharon Condon was lovely! She was very impressed with us and has asked us to work with her on the 23rd of May. More about that in a minute..

First things first. The set list for the gig on the 27th is as follows:

• Oh Happy Day
• Your Love is My Love
• Higher and Higher
• Song for Hope
• Amazing Grace
• Be Not Afraid (aka “Raindrops”)
• I almost let go
• This Little Light
• Shackles
• Swing Low
• Something Inside So Strong
• Hallelujah
• Let it Be
• Bridge over troubled water
• As
• One Love
• Total Praise
• Heaven
• We are Marching

All of these lyrics are available over at the Lyrics page. Please make the effort to learn the words guys! We only have two rehearsals left before the show so we really need to know the words asap.

The next two rehearsals are extremely important and I expect everyone to attend - please let me know if you cant make it!

With regard to the show on the 27th, I will have tickets on sale at rehearsals next Wednesday. Please buy as many as you can — this is the last chance this year that your family and friends will have to see you perform so make sure they all come! The concert will only work if every member brings support to it — we need the numbers to make it a good night. On top of it being a good cause and a chance to see us, it is also going to be a lovely concert that everyone will enjoy — people will leave feeling uplifted and happy and full of hope, so make sure you get loads of support going!
There are 400 tickets available as of today, so shout in the orders! Let me know how many you want. If you can’t pay for them all next week that is no problem you can collect them on Wednesday and pay for them any time before the gig. They are €10/ €5 children and O.A.P.s. As I said, what’s important is that we know how many tickets are going to be sold and how many people are going to be there, so make sure you get the word out. We can put up loads of posters etc. but word of mouth is the best form of advertising so keep promoting the gig — we’ll finally get a chance to show everyone all the hard work we have been doing!!!
We are putting together a booklet that will be distributed on the night — this will have information about the choir, about who’s helped do what, about each of the churches and the rest is made up of ads from the locality. If you have a family business or are on close terms with a business that you think would take an ad please ask them and let me know! Ads are €90 for half page or €150 for a full page. This is a really important part of the fund raising so please try and think of companies that could take part — it is really important!! Let me know!

So Sharon Condon asked us to perform at a charity concert on the 23rd of May. This is in Time in Naas and will be amazing. Full of Irish Celebrities and a really good chance to get our selves out there! It is also going to be filmed by the Network 2 Program Expose so it will be super! There will be a bus organised on the day to leave the college in the evening and come back after the show. I realise that this is in the middle of exam time and it wont suit everyone, I am just hoping there will be enough of us to do it! Please let me know if you are available asap so that I can let Sharon know.

That’s about it for now. Ye guys need to let me know the following:

1. How many tickets would you like
2. Do you know any businesses who would take an ad in the booklet
3. Are you available on the 23rd of May?

Please don’t forget to learn lyrics guys. And I will see ye on Wednesday, where we will be recapping a load of songs we havn’t practiced in ages, polishing off some others, learning a new one — Total Praise and looking at Song for Hope again.

Thanks for your time,

See ye wednesday,
Eimear

PS: Email me back with info a.s.a.p.!! Thanks guys!!!
PPS: I just read back over this email and saw part with “There’s only two rehearsals left” and I feel all sad inside! After our gig we only have one night of choir left, in 3 weeks, choir will be no more. I may cry a little bit

Whats the crack. First of all, well done to everyone who auditioned, the standard was really high and I was delighted with everyone! I will tell ye all next week what the story is with solos.

Last week saw us running over One Love and As, before learning a totally new song I Almost Let Go. It was fabulous guys, ye blew me away with the sound, well done! Am totally loving it and can’t wait to perfect it this week!

As well as running back over that we will be doing two new songs — My Love is Your Love and Higher and Higher. (Thanks mick!). Auditions will be on again on Wednesday (for whoever couldn’t make it last week). Please let me know if you would like to audition so that I have an idea of numbers. They will prob start at 6:30 pm.

So thats about it for now guys…

Don’t forget to let me know if you wana audition so I have an idea of numbers! See ye on Wednesday,

Eimear