Party games, mind reading and a slow motion murder of your fellow Chorus members doesn’t exactly sound like a weekend of hard work on a competition package. But we work and play hard at a Surrey Harmony retreat.

Leaving the frightful January weather outside we sequestered ourselves at the Hilton Hotel in Croydon for our annual weekend retreat. Once again we welcomed our old friend Åse Hagerman as our coach for the weekend. She was proudly sporting her International Gold medal which was won by her Chorus, the Alba Show Chorus from Sweden at the Harmony Classic competition in San Antonio in Texas last year.

Medals were very much on our own minds as we got down to three days of hard work on our competition songs, making lots of changes which Jenny hopes will lead to the odd extra point or two at the Regional Competition in Birmingham in May.

We had 21 new members all experiencing a Surrey Harmony retreat for the first time! They like the rest of us. were inspired by Åse’s wonderful coaching techniques and fun personality. We will long remember Åse’s slow motion exercises which were as much fun to watch as they were to take part in.

Saturday night was a chance to let our hair down with lots of fun singing and games.

Another great Surrey Harmony retreat – with lots of work to build upon before May.