There was double delight in north Wales as Horndean choir Spinnaker Chorus had an amazing time in Llandudno for the Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers Convention for 2019.

Following an eight-hour, 300 mile journey, two Diamond Travel coaches safely delivered 67 Spinnaker Chorus members to Llandudno.

En-route Spinnakerettes had the pleasure of singing Defying Gravity and One Fine Day for Pudsey Bear at Keele Services as part of their Children in Need appeal event.

We stayed at the Risboro Hotel, Llandudno, where we were virtually the only residents for the weekend which was fabulous. Staff were so friendly and welcoming and nothing was too much trouble.

On the Friday we presented our donations for the Aberconwy Refuge Appeal. Spinnakerettes Karen Hewson, Jo Odell, Jo Elrington and Lin Bowen had been busily packing, wrapping and labelling shoe boxes, with Spinnakerettes’ generously donated items, prior to departure day.

We hope each box brings some happiness to its recipient this Christmas.

Our brilliant quartet, Sapphire – Jenni Slee, Karen Harland, Liz King and Colleen Potter – competed in the quartet semi-final as well as our lovely Bari Debs Thompson, who competed for the first time as new member of GinSing quartet (W London).

Spinnakerettes supported and cheered them on from the auditorium during a fabulous competition.

What superb performances, we are so proud of them and huge congratulations to gold medalists Sound Central Quartet, silver medallists Venus Effect and bronze medallists Nightfall.

The Saturday was all systems go as Team Spinnaker were up bright and early prepping for our turn on the competition stage. With hair coiffed, make-up perfected and breakfast eaten all by 9.45am, we started gentle physical and vocal warm up with Juliette and Cathy in the hotel ballroom.

John Palmer, our musical director, then took over rehearsal, expertly keeping us focussed during a final sing through of our songs.

A short coach journey followed and we arrived at Venue Cymru and changed into our sparkly new shimmering tunics, black trousers and black bolero costumes.

At 1.15pm we took our places on the stage with nervous anticipation as stewards closed the doors, contestant number ten was announced, the lights illuminated and it was time to showcase our much rehearsed set.

Firstly our beautiful ballad What Kind of Fool Am I, followed by a superb parody of the classic Let’s Do It, lyrics written for us by our very own genius John Palmer.

The audience were fantastic, thankfully they laughed in all the right places and with a gratefully received standing ovation post performance we walked off stage delighted to hear the rousing applause.

That in itself was reward enough but to be announced as bronze medallists with an improvement of 31 points on our score last year was phenomenal.

Our cheers and screams of delight filled the auditorium and many a bubbly filled glass was held high in celebration at dinner that evening.

Congratulations to the amazing Amersham A Cappella (Amersham) and The White Rosettes (Leeds) on their gold and silver placings, we are totally in awe of their amazing talent.