Glee Club singing out

The Hilda Ross Glee Club joins with the very talented choir from Rotokauri School for a bit of musical magic in the 8 to 80 Our Songs concert at the Hamilton Gardens Art Festival on Friday, February 24, at 4pm.

Although the two groups are very experienced choristers, they only started practising together earlier this month.

The group's musical director and accompanist, Dr Julie Jackson-Gough, who is a senior music lecturer at Waikato University, believes the group is already starting to gel.

She believes the voice of young and old blend well together and the music is an excellent vehicle for bridging the generation gap.

The Hilda Ross Glee Club comprises only five Hilda Ross residents with the bulk of the singers coming from Vision Forest Lake.

Dr Jackson-Gough auditioned the Rotokauri choir last year to handpick the best singers to join the glee club for the concert and the children were given a CD to help learn the music over the school holidays.

Singing buddies Betty Adams, 87, Sarah Baker, 11, Roger Johnson, 87 and Thomas Perham, 9, are excited about the upcoming concert at the gardens pavilion and love singing the mix of old time melodies and new tunes.

Betty and Roger agree that having the younger singers helps keep them on their toes.

"I like hearing the mix of voices," Betty says.

Sarah and Thomas say the experience of singing with people their grandparents' age is interesting and they may have a few questions about the 'olden days' to ask their new friends.

Head to The Hamilton Gardens pavilion for 8 to 80 Our Songs on Friday, February 24 at 4pm - adults $5 and children free.