Christmas Carols

[CrystalClear]

anybody up for them? I quite like the idea of them, starting off at goose green, working our way down the lane, maybe visiting, I dunno, some of the bars maybe........

[Keef]

I'm with ya!

[bagpuss78]

I'm warming up as we speak!

fa la la la la..........

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Glor - or -or - or - or - or - or - or- or -or - or - or - or - or - or - or - or - or - o-ria

Is there a local charity we could collect for? Anyone have a donkey? The best carol singing I experienced involved taking a donkey into a photographers gallery and singing at their very merry party.

[nancysmum]

count me in (soprano)

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Is that mafia-speak Nancy'smum?

And Keef - what about bringing the trumpet so we could at least all start on the same note?

[Keef]

Hmm... Have tried taking the trumpet carol singing before, it's not very nice putting the very very cold metal mouthpiece against your mouth!

In all seriousness, are people up for doing something? I'd be quite in to it as long as we ended up in a pub!

[Keef]

Tenor by the way.

[Michael Palaeologus]

I will happily come along as a bellowing backing singer (tone deaf).

I had a lactating donkey but Dulwichmum killed it.

[nancysmum]

funnily enough peckham gatecrasher i do have italian connections! and if you have no luck with the donkey you could always substitute with a lactating mother in east dulwich?!

[Michael Palaeologus]

The lactating Mother would of course be in keeping with the nativity story. Can you guarantee that she will be a blessed virgin?

[Brendan]

I will only come if everyone is dressed authentically as characters from the nativity. 3 wise men in white coats and spectacles with lots of pens in their top pockets, 2 people in a donkey costume, a Father Christmas dressed for a job interview, a Christmas decorations salesman trying to explain to a bunch of Palestinian shepherds what snow is, Elvis in a red and green jumpsuit (Jesus? real daddy), the gorilla of Bethlehem and a star to guide them all (a local celebrity, Jerry Sinclair perhaps?).

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Don't start on gorillas again Brendan - this could get blasphemous!

[Brendan]

I don?t make the traditions. If the holiday calls for a gorilla then a gorilla it must have.

[Administrator]

Lounged

[Moos]

Is this idea still alive? Would be fantastic fun

(soprano, married to a (much better) bass)

[Sue]

I'd be up for that and I'm sure my OH would as well :)-D

[clare]

A really good local charity is ALD Life - sorry can't provide link but local family run charity- have ALD shop in Penge but son afflicted with ALD lives in East Dulwich -ex Goodrich pupil---really really worthwhile charity to support.

Good Luck with your carols. Sorry I can't join in. Have got badly sprained ankle after slipping on train platform last week....

[Keef]

Without wanting to doubt my learned friend CrystalClear, I very much doubt that he'll be organising this, think he just liked the idea...

If it does go ahead, I would be happy to join in as a tenor.

[monkeydoctor]

I can sing the descants....?! At least to the well known ones...........

[Keef]

Have just emailed CrystalClear/Fear n' Boozin, and he would like to do this, but can't access the forum at the moment.

Does anyone want to suggest a day? What would we need... Does anyone have any song sheets?

[KalamityKel]

Dont u need a "special" license to go carolling these days?

[Burbage]

KalamityKel Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Dont u need a "special" license to go carolling

> these days?

In short, possibly.

You need a licence if you're providing regulated entertainment. The Ministry of Song 'n' Dance (DCMS), helpfully opines that "to be 'regulated entertainment' the entertainment must take place in the presence of an audience and be provided for the purpose of, or for purposes which include, entertaining that audience." Note that it is the intent with which the law is concerned, not the fact, and the audience does not actually have to be entertained. Or willing.

Happily, there are exemptions. 'Spontaneous' music-making is one of them, such as when people sing Happy Birthday in a restaurant, or whistle in the Gents. Again, the DCMS obliges, stating "Most carol singing is either spontaneous, incidental to other activities or part of a religious service and is usually not, therefore, licensable." However, thanks to the bright spark who posted the idea to the forum, the EDF Carolling will not be spontaneous, nor, unless you can nab a vicar from somewhere, is it likely to be part of a religious service. Which leaves the 'incidental' approach.

The DCMS helpfully claims: "...a group of carol singers (players) outside a shop could be construed as incidental to the activity of people going about shopping and therefore exempt from the requirement for a licence." That might, on the face of it, fit the bill. Until you consider that any construing will be happening in a court, and will happen long after any Plod with an eye for the overtime will have banged you up for criminal singing. So, it would seem best to get a licence.

Specifically, you should get a Temporary Event Notice. But you can't. That's because, mnemonically, TENs have to be applied for ten days in advance which, for Christmas Eve, will have been yesterday. So, despite any good intentions, you're scuppered.

Or that's what I thought. Abandoning the mealy-mouthed circumlocution of the DCMS and going for the meat of the Licencing Act (2003) itself, I found something, in Schedule 1, part 2, para 11, that might help. It states that: "a performance of morris dancing or any dancing of a similar nature or a performance of unamplified, live music as an integral part of such a performance", is exempt from the regulations.

That may seem, at first glance, irrelevant. But, as it happens, the Licencing Act (2003) does not care about the quality or authenticity of such performances. It doesn't give a fig whether a morris dancer is registered, or whether the rug they cut dates from the middle of last century or the middle of last week. And that's the problem solved. Find a bloke with a beard, tie bells to his legs and, as for as long as you keep him jumping, you've got yourselves an exemption.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Look out Oscar Wilde. This could be fun. Do W Rose do sheeps' bladders?

[KalamityKel]

That would apply to a particular venue or location not a moving ensemble.

One solution... find someone wiv a busking licence ;-)