Date: September 3, 2001 Happy Labour Day!

Those who made the trip down I-87 to Bolton Landing will tell you, it was a great weekend. The shows were great and the quartet contest was a lot of fun. [Personal note: I really missed singing in a quartet!]

The Afterglows were moved to the Algonquin Restaurant, and from all reports everyone was happy with the new location. Parking was more of a challenge, but that is life.

Among the highlights: Rural Route 4 singing Lida Rose/Dream of Now with the lead of Quodlibet (winners of the quartet contest); After Hours singing up a storm on the big stage; the Marx Brothers set by The New Tradition; Uptown Sound (2001 Silver Medallists) singing; Gotcha with their paint peeling tags; Andy Pratt singing with them and many more!

During the Saturday Night show, Peter Evans had his 2 minutes of fame, when Mike Maino, the World's Greatest Emcee, announced that someone had lost their wallet, and began describing the contents. When he got to, "lot's of cash," one wag said, "that let's me out!" Peter was first called Evan, and then Mike realized it was Peter Evans. Peter was successful in retrieving his credit cards, drivers licence, money. In any case, Peter is now well known in the Northeast.

Jerry Silverberg has arranged for rooms at the Motel 6 at a great price. Please let him know tomorrow, by telephone or email. Office telephone: (514) 735-4696 Home phone (514) 489-3956 Email: bdh@qc.aibn.com. He needs to know who you are sharing with and how you will be paying.

Invite your friends, acquaintances, choir members etc. to come and see what we are all about. This will be a great opportunity to show off what we do.

Six volunteers are needed for set-up, bar duty, MCing, co-ordinate the food, etc. Offer your services to Jerry Silverberg.

The West Island Association for the Intellectually Handicapped (WIAIH) has asked us to sing at their annual Art Fair, held at Stewart Hall in Pointe Claire. The chorus will put on an hour show on the outdoor stage on Saturday, September 8, 2001. We will be singing at 12:00 noon, so please be there at 11:15 AM for warm-up, and please wear your chorus costume.

Further information will follow. As usual, if you are unable to attend, it is your responsibility to inform Rob Mance.

Starting last month, July, members are responsible for paying their own International and District Dues directly to SPEBSQSA International. Chapter dues are paid monthly to Ray Watkins. Your September dues are due.

Canadian members have the option of writing a check and paying in Canadian dollars at a designated exchange rate or charging their credit card for the U.S. amount, and are able to pay their Society and district dues directly to headquarters in Canadian funds. The exchange rate for the third quarter is 1.5381.

We will be recording our Christmas CD, September 17, 2001: a Monday night..

We will be putting the following three songs on the CD.

• Go Tell It On The Mountain
• Eight Candles
• Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

In all the CD will include about 15 numbers. Since this is a joint project, each of the 5 choruses will do three songs. Sweet Adeline's Greater Montreal and West Island Chapters, Montreal Chapter of Harmony Inc, South Shore Saints and The Island City Chorus will perform.

The price of the CD will be $20.00 CDN $15.00 US. $5.00 CDN from the sale of each CD will be donated to a charity to be selected and agreed upon by all of the chapters.

We will be allocated approximately 275 CD's to sell and this will generate a profit for the chorus of approximately $3,000.00.

Our 5% commission policy to each member who sells CD's will apply and can be used to offset costs related to your chorus expenses. This works out to $1.00 per CD. Sell 75 CD's and you have $75.00 to apply towards competition, uniform costs, annual chorus dues, etc. for next year.

Please check the list of jobs to ensure that your name is on the list in a place where you will be comfortable working for the week of the International convention.

In general, Rob will be providing the evening plan for publication. Since he was in Bolton Landing, the program slot has my suggestions, subject to change.. He will provide it next time.

Enter next week's program in the appropriate space. In the future, we intend to have this information in each issue.

Practice is something we do at home, every day, between rehearsals!

Rehearsal is where we reinforce what we have been practising every day!