Date: September 17, 2001

The terrible events of Tuesday, September 11, 2001 will live in our memories forever. Condolences go to all who lost friends and relatives in the disasters. It has been a hard week to concentrate on anything, but music has been a source of healing.

It's that time of year again and retreat is just around the corner.

The Cap St Jacques facility has been great for us in the past and this year's retreat will provide more of the same.

We will be coached by Adam Woods presentation judge and member of this years Gold Medal winning chorus New Tradition. Adam is the youngest judge to certified in his category and plays a major role on the presentation team in his chorus.

He is looking forward to working with us and I know we are going to have a great time.

We will be coached from Friday to Saturday night and Adam will leave for home on Sunday morning. Sunday a.m. will be set aside to work on the CD numbers which we will be recording on Monday night.

The cost of the retreat is $75.00 per person and as usual includes sleeping accommodations, all meals and a great weekend of learning and fun. This fee applies whether you are planning to sleep at the camp or not.

Please be sure to bring your payment with you this Monday night.

If you are parking your car at the retreat you will need a copy of the contract which will be available when you arrive. It must be kept on your dash while you are parked there. The building will be open at approximately 6.00 PM on Friday

You will also need to bring your own linens, sleeping bag, pillow, towel and toiletries.

We will need volunteers to help prepare and serve the meals. Please ask your wives, girlfriends and daughters if they are able to help out sometime over the weekend and let Steve know on Monday at the rehearsal if they can.

As Monday night is the beginning of Rosh Hashanah I will not be at the practice but look forward to seeing everyone at Cap St. Jacques next Friday.

We will be recording our Christmas CD, September 24, 2001: a Monday night. This is a change from last week, since Rosh Hashanah falls on September 17. We would be missing an important part of the chorus if we were to try to record on the 17^th.

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.

Last week, you received a food item to prepare, and 5 tickets for the Cabaret. This is a fund-raiser, and the tickets are $15 each. We will be providing food, entertainment and dancing, and if we all pitch in, it should be a great deal of fun.

Offer your services to Jerry Silverberg.

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.

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.

Please arrive on time. We will have a full evening, and we want to make our guests have a good time.

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

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