What an amazing weekend!

We did it! Heartbeat Chorus is the Sweet Adelines Region 31 2019 champions. It has taken a while to process everything that happened over that amazing weekend in Cardiff.

First came the quartet competition, where we had representation in three quartets – Incognito, Sound Central, and Nightfall. We were thrilled to see them come fourth, third and first, respectively. Sadly, this brilliant performance was Incognito’s swan song. They were all back on stage with us the next day, helping us win that gold medal.

Cardiff is a beautiful city and we enjoyed the Welsh vibe. After the competition on Saturday a few of us sat munching chips, still dressed in full costume and makeup. “You look lush, ladies, you do.” was the comment from some ladies out on the town. Of course, we couldn’t disagree with the locals.

Immediately after their evening performance our two members in Nightfall, had a super quick costume change backstage in order to join Heartbeat on stage. Then there was an impromptu tour of the backstage area, when most of us got lost after leaving the stage!

Cardiff was especially memorable for one Heartbeater who had never visited her birthplace. Jane had a trip down memory lane via the nursing home where she was born, back in the rock’n’rolling 50’s.

For our convention newbies getting a gold medal was beyond expectations, and couple of them are in their early teens – serious bragging rights back at school.

Yes, Cardiff was an experience and we loved every minute. Needless to say the celebrations were joyful, loud and nightlong.

Of course, we couldn’t have done it without our amazingly talented Musical Director, Nancy Kelsall, and we had lots of extra help – our music team is excellent and we’ve gained two more choreography queens (you can never have too many choreo queens, this is barbershop after all). Not forgetting Sandy Marron, Britt-Heléne Bonnedahl and Kim Wonders who all gave us such inspiring advice.