Sussex dates for the Bexley Phoenix Choir

The Arundel Festival and a date in Haywards Heath are on the calendar for the Bexley Phoenix Choir this summer under their founder John MacKenzie.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon. My name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspaper. It's lovely

00:06this afternoon to speak to John Mackenzie of the Bexley Phoenix Choir. Now, John, you're

00:10bringing your choir on tour to Arundel and Hayward's Heath in August, and this is a choir

00:16that goes back a long time with you, doesn't it? So the predecessor as well. It's a choir

00:20you founded because you weren't able to walk away from the previous one.

00:24Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, I ran Bexley Phoenix Choir for 20 years. And when I finally

00:33came to retire in 2007, I couldn't bear to leave them.

00:38The youth choir, of course.

00:41The youth choir, yeah. So I said to those who were leaving the same time as me and some

00:47who'd left years before, how about, because most of them had gone on to university, how

00:53about we meet every holiday time and learn a programme and do a tour like we've always

00:58done? And they were up for it. And so we started in 2007, went on our first tour in 2008.

01:08And here we are 17 years later. Originally you thought give it five years, but clearly

01:13again you are failing to walk away from it. But the point is, you enjoy it, don't you?

01:19Absolutely. And I just feel that the love of music I have for myself, if I can impart

01:26that on to these youngsters and instil some of that into them, that'd be great. And so

01:33it is. And they're very, very loyal. There's one girl in particular who has been with me

01:40since 1987, when I first went to Bexley Music Centre. And she has been in my choir ever

01:48since then and done every tour that we've done.

01:51Oh, that's a fantastic record, isn't it? And just give a little idea of the programme

01:55that we can look forward to in August in Arendelle and Hayward's Heath. What sorts of things

02:01have you got coming up?

02:03Yes, well, what I usually do is to make a serious first half, sometimes church music,

02:13sometimes secular music, madrigals, early church music, going through romantic, classical

02:21romantic periods. And then in the second half, I lighten up and we do gospel stuff and things

02:29by the Beatles, things by Billy Joel, Carpenters. And we always end up with the rhythm of life.

02:42And it's great fun. But in Arendelle, we'll probably keep to a more sort of church music

02:52and serious music. We won't put in the Carpenters and the Beatles, stuff like that. And it's

03:00a shorter programme in the Cathedral. And we're there as part of the Arendelle Festival,

03:05actually.

03:07Brilliant. Well, lovely to meet you. Good to speak to you. And I hope you have great

03:12dates then in Arendelle and Hayward's Heath with the Bates Phoenix Choir. Thank you, John.

03:18Hayward's Heath is the Methodist Church on August the 17th at seven o'clock.

03:25Perfect. Thank you.