Our last rehearsal before Christmas gives us the opportunity to let our hair down after a very busy festive sing-out season. The tables were laden with delicious food, cakes and drinks and MD, Gail Grainger, organised the Secret Santa and a quiz or two. Needless to say, our Baritone Laureate, Cynthia Sherry, was on form as always, with the following poem tribute to the Spangles year:

CYNTHIA’S POEM

This year the Spangles went for gold and had to sing with panache
So they all rehearsed tirelessly and never went out on the lash
Their husbands went without dinner, their pets without exercise
Their whole life was taken over by the need to win the prize
When standing on the risers they were afraid to speak
And woe betide them if a comfort break did seek
And was all this sacrifice worth it, did the judges all agree?
Yes they certainly did, and the buggers did it without me!

The spangling zone in the wardrobe is gradually starting to grow
and yet another new costume means hubbies have to go
His shirts and trousers and scruffy underpants are taking up too much space
Our blue sequined costume and high heeled need to take pride of place
His crummy old stuff can go in the shed, there’s no room for it any more
And if he complains about us singing all day then he might be shown the door

It’s nearly a year since the medals were won and things are getting a bit lax
We’ve turned up late or not at all, feigning illness to cover our tracks
There’s lots of injuries in the group and dangers lurk on the risers
If one of us loses our balance it could cause a bit of a crisis
Someone could fall arse over tit which would make us look like losers
And it wouldn’t do for a gold medal chorus to look like a bunch of boozers

There’s broken toes and painful joints and ops on knees and hips
We’re like a group from an old folk’s home out on a weekly trip
We’ve got to get fit for our next performance and for a new arena
We don’t want to show ourselves up when we go down to Benalmadena

So here’s to a Merry Christmas with lots of food and wine
But next year you had better be sober and prepared to toe the line
Or the management will be angry and throw their dummies out in a fit
And we will all be made to suffer and feel like a load of ………