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The Lazy Jacks shanty crew is singing on Sunday, March 3 at the Old Hastings Mill Store Museum. Singing starts upstairs at 2 p.m. until we run out of shanties. So please come along to add your voice or even take a turn to lead one of your favourites. Admission by donation to the Museum. COVID precautions: Masks optional and welcomed, air purifiers running.

Due to weather and road conditions, VFSS is cancelling its in-person event at the Friends’ Meeting House this evening (January 17). Instead, we will be meeting online on Zoom, starting at 7:00 pm. The Zoom link is the same as the one we used for our last few online sessions, and is being sent to our Zoom Info email list today. If you aren’t on the list, you can subscribe here.

As of August 2, the Harmony Jam is returning to the VFSS Wednesday gatherings, starting at 7:20 pm.

The Harmony Jam is a singalong that opens our Wednesday night sessions. We are keen to sing together again after the Covid hiatus.

Everyone is welcome to join in on these well-loved, easy-to-learn singalong songs. Just get there by 7:20 pm.

The Harmony Jam rehearsals allow us to prepare for the Wednesday night opening sessions. The rehearsals happen once every few months.

The purpose of the Harmony Jam is to have fun together, build our musical skills, and lead the singalongs on Wednesday evenings.

Folk music is a collective art form…come be part of it!

— Christina Ray

[Updated on July 30 to include Harmony Jam warm-up singing at our in-person events.]

There are lots of changes to our event schedule and formats starting in May:

• More in-person events at the Friends’ Meeting House.
• More opportunities to hear and perform 15-minute sets at the in-person events.
• Monthly online song circles combined with live-streamed performances from the Meeting House.

Read on for the nitty-gritty details, and consult our Calendar page for info on specific upcoming events.

Continue reading “Changes to our Event Schedule”

Our master tech and President, Steve Deering, deserves accolades for delivering our first successful live-stream-to-Zoom event. It was attended by 30 people live at the Friends’ Meeting House and 22 people watched on Zoom. We hope to have more of these events in the future. If you are tech savvy and can give Steve a hand, I’m sure he’d like to hear from you.

Madeleine de Little and Jim Edmondson were in fine form as our guest MCs for the evening, and Marian Buechert hosted the Zoom session. Also in attendance and performing 15 and 30 minute sets respectively were Janie Benna & Elizabeth Dunn and The Lazy Jacks shanty crew.

Some comments from the Zoom audience: “….it’s a keeper,” “the sound worked really well,” “streaming is working well,” “This is wonderful!”

You can view a few recorded clips: Jim & Madeleine with Peter Brunning leading the opening and closing songs, Elizabeth & Janie’s set, and The Lazy Jacks set.

Let’s do this again!

— Leona Axbey

Monday, 27 February 7 pm
Mel Lehan Hall – St James Community Square
3214 W. 10 Ave. (at Trutch) Vancouver

Admission Free

Rika Ruebsaat’s new book, My Paddle’s Keen and Bright: Summer Camp Stories, has just been published. In honour of the occasion Rika will be leading a camp songs sing-along together with reading stories from the book.

Summer camp has been a rite of passage for millions of Canadians. It is a formative experience on the path from childhood to maturity. Rika Ruebsaat has interviewed scores of campers who attended summer camp beginning in the 1940s up to the 21^st century. The result is her book, My Paddle’s Keen and Bright, a collection of stories containing campers’ lived experiences. During the performance Rika will sharing stories from the book – stories about outhouses, bad food, oddball counsellors, etc. – but most importantly, she will be leading everyone in singing songs such as “The Quartermaster’s Store,” “Green Grow the Rushes-O,” and “Found a Peanut.” Bring your vocal cords and be prepared to sing along on these and other good old campfire songs.

Copies of the book will be on sale at the event.

Due to the extreme cold (for Vancouver!), hazardous driving conditions, unreliable bus service, and parking challenges at the Friends’ Meeting House, the VFSS has decided to cancel this evening’s in-person Winter Solstice gathering, and host a full-participation Zoom session instead. We hope you can join us there!

The Zoom session opens at 7:00 pm (Pacific Time) and the evening’s program begins at 7:30. The Zoom link has been emailed to our mailing list. If you are not on our email list, you can subscribe here.

Hi, Folks!

We hope you can join us for our traditional Winter Solstice song circle on Wednesday, Dec 21, either in person at the Friends’ Meeting House at 1090 W. 70th Ave. in Vancouver or on Zoom.

Continue reading “Winter Solstice song circle”

Here’s our schedule of events for the next three months:

Wed., July 6: In-Person Song Circle at the Friends’ Meeting House
Wed., July 20: 63rd Anniversary Celebration!
Wed., Aug. 3: In-Person Song Circle at the Friends’ Meeting House
Wed., Aug. 17: Online Song Circle on Zoom
Wed., Sep. 7: In-Person Song Circle at the Friends’ Meeting House
Wed., Sep 21: Online Song Circle on Zoom
Fri., Sep. 30 — Sun. Oct. 2: Annual Retreat at Camp Alexandra 

Details for the Annual Retreat can be found here; for all the other events, see below.

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63rd Anniversary Celebration!

On the warm, summer evening of Wednesday, July 20, we will be celebrating the 63rd Anniversary of the VFSS by trying something new and, we hope, well suited to these not-quite-post-pandemic times: multiple, concurrent, outdoor song circles, and a Zoom session too!

Continue reading “63rd Anniversary Celebration & Other Summer Events”

Here’s our schedule for the month of June:

June 1: In-Person Song Circle at the Friends’ Meeting House, 1090 W. 70th Ave., Vancouver, BC

June 15: Online Song Circle on Zoom, featuring The Burnaby Mountain Mamas (Pat Howard, Janie Benna & Rena Pinteric)

We hope you can join us at one or both events!

Regarding the June 1st in-person event:

• There is no need to pre-register by email this time. All three previous gatherings have had fewer than 25 people show up, so we no longer think we need the registration process to limit attendance.

• Proof of vaccination (QR code) and government-issued photo ID are required if you have not presented them at one of our previous gatherings.

• Masks must be worn at all times indoors, except when leading a song. Masks of at least N95 grade are recommended.

• Doors open at 7:00 pm and singing starts at 7:30. There will be a 15-minute break at 8:30, during which the doors will be opened wide to ventilate the hall. Tea and cookies will not be served downstairs during the break; you are welcome to bring your own drinks and snacks for consumption outside during the break. We will wrap up at about 9:45.

If you have any questions, feel free to email them to VFSS@shaw.ca.

Steve Deering
for the VFSS Board