Hi everyone – after a 3 year break - The Big Concert & Quiz is BACK !
It will be on Thursday 23rd April 26 (6 – 10.30pm approx. TBC ) at The Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone. Historically this has been our biggest fund raiser. The last one was 2023, where we raised over £2,000 each for our 2 nominated charities. The format of the evening is an AS! Choir Concert, followed by a fun quiz.
We are happy to be collaborating again with the team at The Leas Cliff Hall and Folkestone & Hythe District Council and despite all best efforts to secure a weekend date (as in past years) unfortunately this simply has not been possible. However, we hope as many of you as possible will be able to arrange to take part.
All proceeds from this event will be shared equally between two charities - Pilgrims Hospices and Holding On Letting Go. Pilgrims provides the best palliative and end of life care across East Kent and many of you may have experienced their wonderful support for a loved one. HOLG is a small charity, offering specialised support throughout Kent, helping children and young people to cope with grief after the death of a loved one; enabling them to move forwards with greater understanding, coping strategies, hope and positivity. HOLG have helped families within our choir community in the past, so we really appreciate the work they do.
The BC&Q is an amazing chance for us all to perform and get the full "experience" with professional theatre lighting, visual effects and staging. The concert is followed by a Quiz that will challenge you but isn't too tricky that your brain hurts. It's a fun way to share an evening with friends & family and raise lots of money for our nominated charities.
IMPORTANT * Booking Tickets: Tables do get filled quickly and the Leas Cliff Hall only allow a max of 34 tables. Our choir family has grown in number so demand may be greater than before!
You can book your tickets/table from Monday 16th February. As before we prefer online booking/payment for tickets - however Jan will be around on Sundays with her laptop to help anyone who is a bit worried about doing online stuff – as long as you have your bank card with you, we can help. But it's really easy to do and will be exactly the same process as booking for other church or choir events in the past.
Here's what you need to know – lots of info here to read but it's all useful to refer to up to the event -
· Please sign up for the BC&Q on the sign-up sheet at the back of Sunday rehearsals – this DOESN'T book you a ticket (see how to below) – it helps Chris to know how many in each section are coming.
- · Doors open for guests: Exact timings TBC – we will try to make these as convenient/user friendly for a working day as we can whilst still keeping a full and fun evening for all.
- Full choir ""uniform" - Black AS! T-shirts, black trousers or skirt, black shoes. Jan will be putting in another clothing order early March (cut-off date Sun 8th March) if anyone needs AS! t-shirts.
- PLEASE invite your family & friends to see the Concert and as part of a Quiz team.
- The choir will rehearse on stage from about 5.45pm (again, exact time TBC), your guests will get settled at tables from approx. 6.30pm, watch the Concert, then you join them for the Quiz afterwards – or you are free to head off if you're not staying.
- IMPORTANT: As a choir member, we always ask that you ALSO book and pay for a ticket for yourself to take part in the concert and quiz – this is because there are essential costs associated with the event and we are keen for all the proceeds to go to our two charities. Like everything, some of those costs have increased since 2023 but we have tried to keep costs down as far as possible and to offer an incentive to choir members.
Therefore, ticket prices are as follows:
- £8.00 pp: Choir £10 pp: Guests £5.00 pp: Children (this is for the Concert AND Quiz)
- £5.00 pp if you (or guests) are only coming to the concert OR the quiz (anyone only coming to see you sing will be allocated "circle" seats upstairs in the theatre).
- Please, if there is a problem at all with payment, do approach Nic or Chris as there is always help.
- The link to use for online booking and payment for tickets https://pneumachurch.churchsuite.com/events/66x0ihsz
- There are options to buy different types of tickets and numbers of tickets when you go to this event page.
- Each table has a maximum of 10 seats. We would obviously like to fill these if we can. If you know you have smaller groups who wish to all sit together on a table, it would be great if you could perhaps plan for one person to book and pay for a group, or a whole table?
- There will be many of you who probably can't fill a whole table – that's fine of course. Just book online for the number of people you want and we will place you on a table with others. (Naturally keeping your own 'booking group' together).
- If you DO have any special requests about your quiz table etc. there is a notes/comments box within the online booking – we will do our very best to accommodate you and get back with an email reply.
- After you've booked and paid for your tickets, you'll get an e-mail confirming your allocated table name and number. Your actual tickets will be in a named envelope available for you to collect at Sunday rehearsals. For any later bookings there will be a ticket pick-up table on the night at the theatre.
- REMEMBER, guests WILL need a ticket to get into the auditorium – so please bear in mind that as the choir rehearses slightly early at the theatre, you will need to have given tickets to your guests beforehand. Guests will be met at Reception and helped to locate their seats.
- Refreshments: There will be a licensed bar - we are NOT permitted to take in our own drinks. LCH staff may do bag searches as part of the theatre's own security measures. With apologies for the inevitable disappointment, guests/choir also CANNOT take their own nibbles/snacks – this is a policy from the theatre around potential issues with allergies and is unavoidable. We will be providing some bowls of snacks for each table. There will also be some light snacks available to buy over the bar if you wish, just as you would at the cinema/theatre.
- · Grand Draw: We will have a fabulous printed Grand Draw with some big and interesting prizes, which gives a boost to the funds raised. There will be more details about this in the coming weeks. If you know of an individual, relative, business or shop, hotel, restaurant, leisure setting etc. who might donate a prize/ voucher etc to the Grand Draw, we would be delighted to give them a mention in our event listings. Likewise sponsorship for some prizes for the quiz winners & runners up, or a cash prize?
- · HELPERS! We are keen to recruit a small team of helpers – especially those who may be free during the day of the event to help set up and dress tables, as well as help to store and display raffle prizes. Plus other key roles on the day such as runners and markers for the quiz – please let Pam or Jan know if you can help on the day and we can explain more. We would be really grateful!
Thank you for sticking with all of this. Please get booking for two worthwhile local causes and a really great evening.
Useful numbers/ contacts: General queries about the BC&Q:
Pam Meller (altos): 07784 722 310
Jan White (sop 1's) : 07765 693 923 (Ticket sales & allocation) e-mail tickets@ashfordsings.org
