‘IF A PICTURE PAINTS A THOUSAND WORDS’ THEN THESE WILL CERTAINLY HELP TELL THIS STORY!

 

If exciting, bold and inviting were on the list of requirements for an afternoon’s entertainment then a seat at the Somerset Civic Centre in Esk was the place to be on June 7th when UBUNTU, a group of touring young adults from Uganda and Kenya brought this joyful celebration of African culture, music, dance to concert goers.

‘Ubuntu’ is an ancient African word which can be loosely translated as humanity to others and these young inspiring performers, graduates of the African Children’s Choir have been bringing this visual showstopper to many towns along the east coast of Australia, along the way, raising vital funds to promote education back in their home countries.

There may have been a colourful backdrop on the Civic Centre stage but who would have noticed with so much illumination on stage as these 20 or so performers clad in a range of colourful costumes, mesmerized the audience with a spectacle of pulsating sights and sounds which brought to life the culture and landscape of life and dance in Africa.

Sue, Aydan and Alexis learning an Aftrican Dance move

It would be remiss of this writer to not make mention of the musical and cultural contribution by the members of the Esk Community Choir who opened the show with a celebration of Aussie sounds to honour the bonds between people of these two different countries. However, suffice to say the energy and electric entertainment by UBUNTU throughout, notably including the Esk Choir members’ choreographic contributions for the finale, was a spectacle to open any audience to the power of live performances.

Alexis and members of the Esk Community Choir are grateful to Kwa Ya Australia for their support of UBUNTU’S international tour, allowing the sharing of such wonderful talents and the fostering of the bonds of friendship between our two countries.

By: Sue Walker

Malcom shearing  and Tom  on the Largerphone

THE ESK COMMUNITY CHOIR- ENTERTAINING IN SO MANY WAYS

 

May is perfect.  It is the Goldilocks month, not too hot, not too cold but just right.  It is a combination of a nip in the air and a warming morning coffee. It is also a great month for resetting the year with musical entertainment and this is what happened on 17^th May when the Esk Community Choir brought Divas and Delights – Encore to a very suave but animated audience at the Somerset Civic Centre in Esk.

With welcoming colourful cocktails and canapes as guests entered the auditorium to take their places around richly decorated tables, it was apparent that there was more to the merit of this little country town than meets the eye.  It was time to forget the wobbles of the world, top up wine glasses and live. 

To a backdrop of colourfully interactive scene settings, the choir sashayed to the stage to set the mood for a wonderous evening of fantastic choral arrangements, song and dance numbers by ensembles, both the ladies’ and men’s, trios, solos, and duets, all adorned in colourful costumes perfect for their performances.

There is an adage, never go back.  Imagine trying to recreate a performance because it was wonderful the last time!  However, on this Saturday night the wonderful supporters who came managed to come alive surrendering themselves with renewed vigour to this amazing choir’s musical gifts, perhaps enticing new followers to hop on the choir band wagon.

Marina Crichton 'Marble Halls'

Male Chorus - 'Wine, Woman and Song' 

Between courses of warming soup, sumptuous sweets, a bevy of beverages, and some fabulous raffle draws, audience members were taken from Johann Strauss’ Circus, the magical musical world of King Arthur and Camelot, an Enchanted Evening with Bob, the pathos of O Pastorelle, and Roland’s passionate rendition of You Are My Heart’s Delight.  Following interval, three saucy Gypsies with a penchant for laughing, a Couple of Swells who wowed the crowd, the sass of song and dance with Kathleen’s Anything Goes and the perfection of the piano duet, Turkish March performed by Alexis and Ruth added to the mixed bag of this musical menagerie.  The evocative sentiments expressed in Marina’s melancholic rendition of Marble Halls was the antithesis of the rollicking rendition of Wine Woman and Song by the choir men followed by a further tribute to the mastery of Johann Strauss with Morganblatter – Life’s a Dance, all these giving rise to a standing ovation and calls of encore!

Anna, Helene, Susie and Kathleen  'Anything Goes'

Three saucy Gypsies - Sue, Patrina and Ruth

Can one go back?  Can something that was good be repeated? You betcha it can. Why anything can happen when one goes looking for great music on a Saturday night!

Acknowledgements for this concert are many, varied and so well deserved.  So many thanks to our ever adaptable, always engaging emcee Sean Choat, the lighting/ soundmen and décor providers who created the ambiance; the Esk Choir ladies whose reputation for fine dining fare remains intact, even for the preparation of soup.  Thanks too to the treasures from Esk CWA who delivered to the diners; the ever present Michaela, Sue, Di  and their kitchen helpers for their tireless attention to all the messy stuff; and to Greg Skippen for his wooden masterpieces for the tables and raffle.  However, the gold medal must go to Alexis who brought this dream to reality. While her incomparable accompaniments throughout this entire concert may appear to have been overshadowed by the performances on stage, this writer is here to say they were not.  There are certain names in life whose mere mention withstands the passage of time, eternally enduring with the attachment of a smile.  This is because for so many years they make and have made a wonderfully positive impact in the lives of so many.  Could there be anything more important?  THANK YOU ALEXIS, from us all. 

By: Sue Walker

Alexis'  magic fingers

Bob 'Some Enchanted Evening'

Gypsy Patrina

2025 - REMEMBERING THE ANZAC IN ESK

 

It is difficult to ignore the warble of magpies, lunatic with life in the park’s large trees which seem to have exploded with all the rain which has fallen of late.  Magnificent!  Just as magnificent as the sky, a hopeful bright blue, which turned out in Esk on April 25^th along with the masses at Memorial Park for the morning service on ANZAC DAY. 

Unless you arrived early you would have missed the procession of servicemen and women, both ex and serving, led by Piper, Joe McGhee and the singing of the New Zealand and Australian Anthems by Sue and Maree from the Choir.  The local scouts were there, the rural firies, ambos, police, representatives of the SES, children from Esk and Toogoolawah with mums, dads and friends and, at the ready to lead in song, members of the Esk Community Choir.

Prior to the service, a welcome by RSL President, Charlie Elwell BM and prayers by Pastor Gordon Millerick, both of whom struggled to put the human experience of horror and loss in a context primary children would understand. The eloquent ANZAC address by Toogoolawah High School’s Captain, Eloise Alderson may have been enough.  

A small company of soldiers from 2^nd/14^th Light Horse Regiment (QMI) stood, heads bowed, one on each corner of the memorial.  The soldiers looked solemn but sure in their polished black boots, their weapons across their chests.  As they looked up, they were noticeably young, probably not much older than the young men known to have served in World War 1. It is hard to believe 14-year-old soldiers existed.  But they did.

To Alexis’s consummate accompaniment, the Choir’s songs Soul of Australia and The Last ANZAC gave deeper meaning to the lyrics which speak of and celebrate the freedoms afforded Australians by the sacrifices of so many of those men and women.

Esk’s War Memorial was built in 1920 with money raised by the community, just two years after the first world war ended.  Many of Esk’s young men who went to war suffered casualties and, engraved on the memorial are names of those who died in the two Great Wars, in Korea, Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam.  On this day following Matthew Lukritz’s flawless playing of the Last Post and Reveille, and the offering of wreaths, the veterans and others serving gathered before the steps of the memorial to honour those whose lives were lost.  Though it is unimaginable that young men and women should go away to fight, never to return, it is easier to remember something awful if there is hope.

The landing on the beaches of Gallipoli took place 110 years ago.  We in Esk were just one of the dozens of communities who came together to remember a war that has no longer a living memory and to remember all those wars that have followed.  In 1933 Queensland Premier, Ned Hanlon stated that ANZAC Day is not a day to glorify war. ‘The hope is to make war impossible’.  Let us all continue to hope.

By: Sue Walker

Esk Community Choir

Di Chaplin and Marina Crichton

Maree Lansdown 

Susan Walker 

A JOYOUS 2025 ‘EASTER CELEBRATION’ IN ESK

It was the week prior to Easter known as Holy Week commencing on Palm Sunday, April 13^th when, in an affirmation of their Christian faith, a multi denominational congregation filled the auditorium at the Somerset Civic Centre for an ‘Easter Celebration’. 

At this celebration, the  fundamentals of which were implemented by the Anglican Church’s Reverend Loretta Tyler-Moss, and in the company of the Brisbane Valley Churches Together and the Esk Community Choir, those present were captivated by the portrayal in actions, word and song of Christ’s triumphant palm waving  entry into Jerusalem, His affirmation of love at the  last supper, the betrayal, arrest, crucifixion, death, and burial, culminating in His glorious resurrection.

The narrative of the Easter Story has inspired some most magnificent choral works.  To the outstanding musical direction by Alexis FitzGerald OAM, and impeccable accompaniments by Alexis, Ruth Skippen, and Suzanne Clemence, fused with the elements of the story of Easter, the Esk Community Choir uplifted the congregation with some celebrated works;  Steven Moore’s Magnificat, G F Handel’s Hosanna!, the beautiful arrangement of Kyrie by Jerry Estes, the passion of Mendelssohn, and Eugene Butler’s Agnus Dei, a sublime arrangement of The Lord’s Prayer sung by Roland Cox,  that well-known, well-loved  Old Hundredth Psalm Tune, and a final inspiring crescendo by choir and congregation with Lift High the Cross.

These great moments in the life of the church and of Jesus provide powerful lenses through which each of us can envision our own lives, perhaps differently, expanding our understanding of ourselves and of others. 

To Reverend Loretta Tyler-Moss for her invitation to choir and to all who shouldered the task of bringing a Christian community together to celebrate this story of Jesus’s sacrifice for all humanity, Alexis and her Esk Community Choir give their heartfelt thanks.

By: Sue Walker

A CELEBRATION OF ‘MUSIC THROUGH THE AGES’ WITH THE ESK LADIES’ ENSEMBLE

 

When there’s music in your soul, there’s soul in your music, a maxim into which the Esk Community Ladies’ Ensemble gave breath when on 30^th March at the Somerset Civic Centre, Alexis FitzGerald OAM and her choir took concert goers on a hallowed journey of the music which has endured through the centuries to today.

It was only the joy of waking to a brilliant blue sky following weeks of precipitation that could have equalled the atmosphere and artistry both on and off the stage as concert goers found their places around colourfully decorated tables echoing the colour theme of the choir on stage. 

Before a rolling backdrop of ethereal scenes reflecting the soul in each song, under the inspired and masterly direction of Alexis; to the impeccable accompaniments  by both Alexis,  Ruth Skippen and Suzanne Clemence and so capably understudied on occasion  at the music stand by Kathleen Watts, the Ladies Ensemble gave an impassioned performance  transporting patrons through a kaleidoscope of compositions by the likes of  Mozart, Bortniansky, Handel,  Vaughan Williams, Australian composer Mark Puddy and the incomparable English composer, Sir John Rutter.

Culminating with a counterpoint costumed performance of the magic of a My Fair Lady Medley and a cacophony of musical sounds surrounding the music of Strauss, The Circus,  it was enthusiastic acclamation and high praise by a most appreciative audience and importantly, by  Mr Matthews Tyson.  Mr Tyson, an acclaimed international music examiner and teacher who hails from Launceston Tasmania is owner and Director of the St Cecilia School of Music.  How fortunate are we that since his first visit in 2014 for a series of examinations,  Esk has become one of Matthews Tyson’s preferred destinations where singers, choirs and instrumentalists have reaped the benefits of his intuitive comments  over many years and again on this day when the Esk Ladies’ Ensemble was awarded a Pass with Distinction grading,  a true reflection of the commitment to rehearsals by members of the choir.  Basking in the glow of this inspiring afternoon of sublime choral singing, those lovely choir followers who came to see a choir sing were equally appreciative of the satisfying afternoon tea which followed.

Hats off to our all-work-and-no-pay choir volunteers who continually enable an event such as this to run so smoothly.  To Nicky and her Esk Fruit Shop, Sue,  Di and their team of kitchen angels for an impeccable presentation of fruit boxes and a lovely afternoon tea; to David Finn of the  Somerset Civic Centre for working so perfectly the lighting and sound; and to Ann Grant and staff at Toogoolawah’s Two Galah’s Gallery who never blink when asked to support ticket sales for our choir events.

However, the final word of thanks must go to Alexis, whose gift of music knows no bounds; for her guidance, patience, encouragement, kind words and her unwavering belief during a bazillion rehearsals before, after and around choir practices.  ‘Thank you’ never seems enough.  Perhaps slavish devotion to a lady who is the beating heart of this choir, who transforms our lives and without whom our music would be silence.

By Sue Walker 

Click on the arrow to start the video

A CELEBRATION OF WHAT IT IS TO BE AUSTRALIAN IN 2025

On a steamy hot Friday on January 24th this writer was privileged to be seated on the stage in the cool of the Somerset Civic Centre in Esk as part of the Esk Community Choir to observe as Aussie flag-bearing Australians and soon-to-be Australians made their way to their seats for a celebration of all that it means to be Australian.  Two little boys lolling on the floor at the feet of their parents, were clearly oblivious of the tough decisions made by their family and so many others there, to leave family and friends behind to make a new life in Australia, this region now so enriched having embraced these new citizens from so many backgrounds and traditions.

Suzanne Clemence

Brady Schultz

Energetic emcee, Brady Schultz, certainly a personification of his Healthy Lifestyles Australia, opened the proceedings with a spirited welcome to a capacity audience together with so many local and state dignitaries.  Though Waltzing Matilda is a song about a bloke who pinches a sheep then commits suicide, it was like a great breath of Aussie fresh air to embrace the day’s celebration with A.B. Patterson’s most famous verse, this day, a ‘gold winning’ performance by Suzanne on flute, in alliance with Alexis on piano.

Helen from the Somerset Regional Council officiated the Citizenship ceremony, each individual pledging their patriotism and proudly receiving their Citizenship certificates from Mayor Wendt and Shayne Neumann M.P., their ‘kodak moments’ captured by the bevy of clicking cameras.  The singing of the Australian National Anthem led by the choir was again an endorsement of the Australian way.

Representatives of so many worthy categories, nominated from their various fields of high achievement were in turn, called to the podium to be presented with an Australia Day Certificate of Achievement, each category winner, awarded with their winning medal.  Amongst an extensive list of deserving nominees all of whom have given outstanding service to their community over many years, Denise Modistach for her years of community service in the Kilcoy region was conferred with the title, ‘Citizen of the Year’.

Denise Modistach  'Citizen of the Year’.

Mr William “Bill” Nancarrow

Somerset’s 2025 Australia Day Ambassador, Mr William “Bill” Nancarrow, Senior Training Officer for Queensland Health and Australian Powerlifting Para Olympian, was a true representation of what it means to be Australian.  A victim of an horrific motorcycle accident at 16, and faced with a dubious future, William was the epitome of resilience, a determination to keep moving forward no matter the hurdles and to be stronger than his fears.

The choir’s singing of ‘I Am Australian’ was the culmination of a magnificent day of celebration of everything that brings Australians together, a reflection of a future with optimism and determination.  Why even the very polite but distinctive Australian reptiles all the way from Geckoes Wildlife appeared to be enjoying all the attention as everyone thronged to the rear of the Centre to enjoy a sumptuous, very Aussie morning tea sourced from  Toogoolawah’s unique one stop Picnic Shop, The Picnic Society and, from Niki’s Esk Fruit Shop,  some luscious fruit skewers and free ice creams, always ‘top shelf’ on any Aussie Day..

Australian Wildlife

To Jo Maxwell and her team from the Somerset Regional Council whose initiative made this day a wonderful day of celebration for all, Alexis and the members of the Esk Community Choir give their sincere thanks.                    

By: Sue Walker

LIGHTING UP THE LIVES OF THE MANY AT ALKIRA IN 2024

Carollers  from the Esk Community Choir and a troupe of jolly little elves

 

While twinkling houses festooned with sparkling strands of lights and glowing reindeer are certainly a merry drawcard for families and others to gather and enjoy a complimentary piece of Christmas cheer, there are also so many who are unable to be with the people they long for most at this time of year.  

However,  the notion of giving which underpins the joys of Christmas was a glowing  presence once more at Toogoolawah’s Alkira Home for the Aged when a merry jingle of Carollers  from the Esk Community Choir and a troupe of jolly little elves gathered around Ruth Skippen at the piano to entertain the residents with so many of those beloved Christmas Carols…perchance to encourage some of the ol’folk to join in…simple pleasures that create a spectacle of their own, lighting up the lives of all those who had come to hear. 

Christmas should not be all about presents but the presence of people who care and on this morning at Alkira it was a wonderful feeling of togetherness.  Ruth and her ensemble of carollers who afterwards lunched together for their final gathering for 2024 were so grateful to the residents and the caring staff at Alkira for the opportunity to spread the joys of Christmas.

By: Sue Walker

Mischief - Caitlin and Jo

Christine sharing her smile

The leader of the band - Ruth

Jan, ready to strum a tune. 

Kerry taking it easy

Liz Sharing a painted rock 💕