Information for prospective Sponsors

If you are interested in visiting us to hear us sing and/or chat about what sponsorship could mean to your company, please contact our Promotions secretary, Claire Summers on 024 7641 8102 or email info@silver-lining.org.uk

 Contents:

1.  About SILVER LINING and Barbershop Singing 

2.  Sponsorship – What’s in it for sponsors?

3.  Press Releases  

1. About SILVER LINING and Barbershop singing

About us

SILVER LINING, a new ladies’ barbershop harmony chorus singing in 4-part harmony was a personal challenge for 5 friends in the Millennium 2000!  When the chorus was established in January 2000, there were 9 members and now, in 2007, it has 25 members with several enquiries for membership in the pipeline. 

The Chorus has numerous very talented members who are helping others to have a good time singing in 4-part harmony and not all of us can read music.  We are keen to encourage new members whether they can read music or not, but a good ear for the different harmonies is needed.  The atmosphere at our weekly sessions is great - everyone is keen to learn and to help each other.  There is time for laughter too and some members end the evening with a social gathering in the Bowling Club bar!

We meet every Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. in the The Three Spires Bowling Club Pavilion in Morningside, Earlsdon, Coventry.  Prospective sponsors are welcome to come along and listen to one of our sessions anytime!

SILVER LINING has already had a great result in the LABBS National Competitions, in October 2005 we finished top of Division II and this year we sailed in to the Ist Division!  There are around 50 ladies clubs nationwide and the association is a thriving, fun loving, educational group that is constantly evolving.  The chorus has won won a trophy for first place in the History Book Competition for two years running with a super record book containing photos and cuttings of their activities since the chorus began in January 2000.

About Barbershop Singing

Barbershop started in the USA at the time of prohibition when men used to find entertainment singing together in quartets.  The preservation of barbershop singing in the US is responsible for much of the revival of the genre taking it into schools and colleges and having a regular injection of young people leaving college and joining barbershop choruses.  The ladies decided that they could do just as well at harmony singing and finding themselves left at home they formed an association in America just for women. 

Barbershop Singing in the UK - The BBC Choir of the Year competition has highlighted our hobby since the White Rosettes from Leeds won first place in the 2001 and runners up in the 2002 and 2004 single voice section.  More people are now aware of what fun it is to sing with style!  SILVER LINING members are hoping to go into schools, ladies’ clubs & societies to promote unaccompanied harmony singing to a wider audience.   

LABBS - The women in England were just as excited by the sound of four-part harmony after hearing their counterparts exercise their lungs in BABS, the men's British Association.  The Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers (LABBS) was founded in 1975 and SILVER LINING have been members since their successful application in 2001.  

Preparation for acceptance into LABBS entailed two assessments by the area representative, the first visit was to listen to our interim repertoire.  We then prepared for an open evening and a show for the public, including family and friends (our backbone supporters!).  The LABBS representative also needed to see that we were organising our committee and constitution in accordance with the association’s regulations.  The evening went with a swing and was a very successful launch for the chorus.

Our concerts or “Singouts”

SILVER LINING has been busy supporting local charity events such as Baby Lifeline, Coventry Myton Hospice, Children in Need, Helen Ley and many others.  We have also done very well in attracting singouts for large and small corporate events and small private gatherings for birthdays, clubs and societies.  The chorus has sung in the bandstand for ‘Summer in the Parks’ run by Rugby City Council, a black tie event at Moreton Hall.  We have sung for our Coventry Lord Mayors at their inaugural dinner in St Mary's Guildhall.  The Coventry Freeman's Guild have also engaged SILVER LINING to sing for their events several times in the St Mary's Guildhall Crypt and they have been generous in their donations to support our fund raising.

Some great dual-purpose social/fund raising events, quiz nights, cakes at the Earlsdon Festival and Christmas Friends and Family Supper Show have been held by the chorus (always with a singing element!) which has helped the chorus to get this far.

We welcome enquiries from organisations and private individuals that are interested in engaging us to sing for them in any entertainment program.  If it is an event for a registered charity in Coventry and we are available, there is a minimal charge (on occasion no charge at all!).  When events are for private social gatherings, civic or company functions, our charges vary and we have received between £50 and £250 depending on what is required and how far we have to travel.  We are keen to make our hobby known and to publicise our chorus so any enquiry will be considered individually and on its own merits.

2. Sponsorship – What’s in it for sponsors?

 Sponsors of SILVER LINING would benefit from inclusion in the following publicity:

•     Publicity at singouts (event brochures, chorus banner etc.)

•     Local media coverage including press and radio

•     The chorus website, we could link your logo to our site

•     Promotional material such as posters that are displayed throughout the local area

•     Our stationery

•     Our sweatshirts (in the form of a shared logo)  or new walkout gear

SILVER LINING would like to attract local or national sponsors to fund or assist with partially funding one major and two smaller projects: 

• We are very keen to obtain a 'walking out' outfit and competition outfit that will take SILVER LINING to the National Barbershop Competitions in 2007.  The Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers will hold the convention in Harrogate at the International Convention Centre where we have the opportunity to hang a Chorus banner and to promote our sponsors.  This event is judged on musical and singing ability but a big part of the barbershop showcase is the presentation.  An outfit would need a budget of £2000, this would include the incorporation of a sponsors logo on to our banner.
  
• We would like to get a pack together for our planned harmony workshops as mentioned above, educational tapes and music are very expensive for a small group.  We would also like some professional photos taken of the group together and in various smaller working/singing groups for the pack, promotion via our website, our posters and for issuing press releases.  This budget would probably be around £800.
  
• We are in need of another 'riser' now that we are approaching a membership of 26.  These are folding aluminum platforms, which slot together (see photo) that we use to perform and rehearse on every week.  To purchase one more we will need a budget of £751. 

If you are interested in visiting us to hear us sing and/or chat about what sponsorship could mean to your company, please contact our Promotions secretary, Claire Summers on 024 7641 8102 or email info@silver-lining.org.uk

"click on the chorus photo to get back to the main Sponsors page"