Dear FMCA members and supporters,

Thank you for continuing to support FMC and please continue to ask anyone you know who plays an instrument or has played in the past, to join our community music group! Thanks also to those who played at The Chatteris Music Society – we had lovely comments about the standard of playing and £70 was donated. Grateful thanks to March Rotary who donated £225 to FMC last term and to members and friends who have donated the money for running costs, the website and church concert hire.

Covid restrictions – these have been lifted by government but please consider wearing a mask if someone you live or work with has Covid, as cases are high. Hand sanitiser is still available to use in the church.

Membership fees – please remember to pay promptly by bank transfer if you have online banking using the player’s name as a reference, otherwise please put cash or cheque into a named envelope and give it to Harriet – cost is £20 student, £30 adult and £50 family.

Diary Dates

22nd April	FMC returns for summer term.
24th April	St Georges Fair 11am – concert band only. Please arrive at 10.40am at the Broad St stage in the marketplace. We are playing for 20 minutes. Please remember to bring a stand, pegs and instrument.
2nd May	FMCA concert committee – meeting time TBA.
18th June	Coffee Concert 11am with String Ensemble & Recorder Consort. Free 40-minute informal concert in St Peter’s Church. Concert dress – all black with brightly coloured tie/scarf.
24th June	Concert Practice 6pm onwards at St Peters Church.
25th June	FMC Concert 7pm at St Peters Church. Concert dress – all black with brightly coloured tie/scarf. Help from friends/family members appreciated on the door/selling raffle tickets/helping with refreshments.
1st July	AGM 7.00pm at St Peter’s Church. All members and parents/carers and supporters are welcome. Followed by an FMCA full committee meeting.
16th September	FMC Autumn term begins.

Social Media – please check this website regularly for updates to information on FMC news, policies and engagements/concerts. Please remember to subscribe, follow and spread FMC news through social media so that more people know who we are. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Photographs – If you take any photographs or video at FMC events, please can you email copies to us at fenlandmusiccentreassociation@gmail.com to use for our social media accounts, website and publicity? This will also help us to add to FMC’s visual archive. We will always check with our permissions on the registration forms before posting or publishing any photos. Photos below are all from the March light switch-on, March Xmas Market, St Peter’s Christmas Tree Festival and the FMC Christmas Concert.

Tuck shop – The tuckshop is currently available between orchestra and concert band – profits from drinks and snacks helps towards our running costs, so please support it by buying drinks and snacks during the break after orchestra.

Easter Raffle – Thank you to everyone who donated prizes and bought tickets. We raised £67.

Please can you help? Please speak to Nyree, Maxine or Harriet if you wish to be involved in deciding the direction FMC takes in the future as we would like to work with 2 more people willing to be FMC trustees. If you have ideas for fundraising to cover FMC running costs, please tell us. We urgently need an adult member, parent or carer who is willing to work with us to find grant funding and donors/sponsorship. If we raise more money, we can extend our hire space on Fridays and run more groups of varying ability levels and/or more specialised groups (such as a wind ensemble, junior strings, training/intermediate orchestra, brass ensemble). You can email in ideas or speak to us if you can offer help with any of this. Thank you.

Rehearsals will begin again on Friday the 17th September, followed by a break on 22nd and 29th October, then starting again and ending with a concert on the 4th December.

The groups’ timings are as follows:

6:00 – 6.30pm	Recorder consort
6:30 – 7:10pm	String ensemble
7:10 – 7:50pm	Orchestra for all
7:50 – 8:10pm	Break
8:10 – 8:50pm	Concert band

This schedule may be subject to slight adjustments as we go along and get used to it. We look forward to seeing you all at rehearsals.

In line with government guidelines on the Covid-19 virus, we have decided to cancel our showcase on Saturday 21st March.

Please also note that FMCA rehearsals at March Community Centre will be suspended with immediate effect until after the Easter break. 

Dear FMCA Members and Supporters,

Thank you to all musicians and their families and friends who attended and helped with the concert and donated raffle prizes. We had good attendance again and would like to thank Kevin Godbold for raising our profile in the local press and radio. Thanks also to Rosemary and David Harrison who again sponsored the church hire fee. We raised £564 from the ticket sales and raffle.

Our musical theme for spring and summer 2020 is ‘Music from the British Isles’.

Spring Term Events

The main event this term is ‘A Fenland Musical Showcase’ on 21st March at St Peter’s Church, March. March Can’t Sing Choir will also be performing, with FMCA providing the musical accompaniment to a few pieces. This event is designed to showcase instrumental talent in March and at FMCA. Any soloist wishing to play should speak to Beth or Ceri.

A free playing workshop is being held between 4pm and 6pm for training orchestra players with an open invitation for any orchestral musicians from March to join in. There is also a chance to try out a selection of orchestral instruments from 3 – 4pm. Please see the poster on our website for details and promote it where you can. We hope that more musicians from March will be inspired to join us at FMCA to build numbers in our musical groups.

Please can you help?

As you know, FMCA is a volunteer run charity and we always need more practical help. We would like assistance with the following if you can spare the time:

Tuck Shop sessions 6.30pm – 8.30pm

Helping with the tuck shop involves setting out the tuck, making a few teas and coffees and taking money for tuck at breaktime when the Training Orchestra finishes at 7.15pm and/or other groups finish at 8.15pm. If you are able to occasionally help with this, please speak to Nyree or Harriet or
Sophie.

Ideas for Fundraising and help to organise and run any events

To help us generate the income to cover costs without raising fees we are hoping some adults and young people will come up with ideas for fundraising & social events. Please email FMCA or speak to Nyree, Maxine or Harriet if you can help with a fundraising social event.

Are you working for a company, or know someone, that might sponsor an event or donate to us? Please tell us so that we can write to them to ask if they are interested in helping out.

Diary Dates

Saturday 21st March	A Fenland Youth Musical Showcase, St Peter’s Church, March
Sunday 26th April	Concert Band play in the Market Square, March at St George’s Fayre
Saturday 20th	June Concert with Guildenburg Choir at St Peter’s Church, March
Saturday 27th	June Rotary Concert at St Peter’s Church, March (All FMCA groups) 7pm
Saturday 4th July	Coffee Concert at St Peter’s Church, March (Recorder Consort) 11am
Sunday 5th July	Summer Music at West End Park Bandstand 2 – 4pm

FMCA Spring & Summer Events 2020

Saturday 20th June – Concert with Guildenburg Choir @ St Peter’s Church, High St, March

For Intermediate Orchestra (& Community members), Training Orchestra & Recorder Consort

5.30pm – 6.30pm	Rehearsal for Intermediate Orchestra & Guildenburgh Choir
7pm	Concert with Orchestras, Recorders and Guildenburgh Choir

Saturday 27th June – FMCA Rotary Concert @ St Peter’s Church, March

Friday 26th June – FMCA session @ St Peter’s Church, March for concert practise. For all FMCA Groups Please donate items for the raffle.

7pm

Concert

Saturday 4th July – Coffee Concert@ St Peter’s Church, High Street, March

For Recorder Consort

11am	short concert

Sunday 5th July – Summer music @ West End Park Bandstand

For Concert Band, Swing Band, Recorder Consort & Wind Ensemble

2pm – 4pm

Playing in the Bandstand