Women of Note choir celebrated 30 years of making music and friendship with an alumni party at Lions Hall on Aug. 15.
Eighteen of the almost 100 women who’ve been part of the choir since 1993 came to the potluck, including three who now live in Horsefly and Quesnel, B.C., and Petawawa, Ont. Two others “zoomed” in for the occasion.
Janice McLean has been a Women of Note member for the entire 30 years, and organized the celebration with current director Linda Quinn, (who has only missed one season in the last three decades).
The choir now consists of seven singers, Quinn said, but was originally a larger ensemble, initiated by Patricia MacFarlane and Dawn Penny Brooks, with Brooks as director. It was first called Cantabile Women’s Chorus before the Women of Note name was adopted in the spring of 1994.
The choir did initial performances at various events, with its first full concert called To Music . . . To Life! held at the United Church on June 9-10, 1995.
At the Aug. 15 celebration, messages sent from women who could not attend were shared by Quinn, and names of those who had passed away were read out and they were honoured with a song. The group also sang some of their favourite pieces from across the decades.
Judy Ellis, who attended from Quesnel where she now lives, told Quinn how much she enjoyed the gathering.
“It really was a special time being with you all and other choir members that I knew, meeting members who had been part of the choir before my time and meeting members who have joined the choir since I left.”