Meet Me In Winter » News

It began with a tune…

katie — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 15:31:45 +0000

When composer and pianist Katie Elliott sent a tune across the Channel to lyricist Anthony Marks, she wanted to create a song to celebrate friendship and people’s power to change things. She recognised that the love and support of her community had made all the difference to her when she needed it and she wanted to give something back.

If you’d like to know more about Katie’s story, you can watch it here.

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An extraordinary community

katie — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 15:29:47 +0000

Gathering round her a large team of local people in her home-town of Wotton under Edge, Gloucestershire, Katie masterminded a huge project to create a charity single and music video performed by members of the community. Singers of all ages rehearsed long hours, making new friends along the way. Dancers, skateboarders, shop owners, scouts – all volunteeered to become involved in the music video. Community photo shoots took place with whole families, football teams, book groups, members of local churches, painters, business people coming to take part.

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A prestigious team

katie — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 15:27:24 +0000

A team of top professionals soon volunteered to become involved. The song was produced and arranged by Ian Dean, a London producer who had collaborated with some of the best pop, jazz and classical musicians in the world. Musicians Jim Barr, Andrew Tween, Fiona Barrow and Andy Christie had toured and recorded with numerous major artists between them, including Portishead, Seth Lakeman and Curved Air. Former-BBC recording engineer Jonathan Lane made sure of an impeccable recording, from which Nigel Heath (who had recently won a BAFTA for his work on Downton Abbey) was able to create a stunning Dolby Surround sound mix for the video, directed by Italian film-maker Alberto Bona. Official photographer Barry Batchelor had just retired after 30 years working for the Press Association, travelling all over the world and supplying all the major newspapers with photographs. Last but not least, the project logo was designed by legendary graphic designer David Hillman, best known for rebranding The Guardian newspaper.

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Media interest

katie — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 15:25:43 +0000

The local and national media became involved. There were numerous radio interviews and pieces in the national press, such as this one from the Daily Mail and this one seen by 3 million Metro readers after the music video was premiered at Wotton Electric Picture House. Soon people were getting in touch from all over the world, including the team at Our World Today in Australia.

Other choirs and singing organisations started to become involved: the Supertroupers Age UK choir based in Stroud, several workplace choirs run by Singing Works in central London, and the Singing it Back community choirs from Kingston-upon-Thames.

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Flashmobs

katie — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 15:19:07 +0000

The soloists and choir travelled to London to perform as a flashmob. They sang for thousands all around the capital, including as many major landmarks as they could manage. The next day, their story appeared in over 150 newspapers. There was talk of a surprise chart hit…

In the end, it was the Military Wives who provided the year’s heartwarming charity number 1, but the people of Wotton-under-Edge had, in their own quiet way, made a significant difference all over the world.
Through their determination to campaign to improve the lives of others and their extraordinary celebration of community, they created resources, goodwill and friendships which hadn’t existed before. They demonstrated that together we can do extraordinary things.

So….what extraordinary thing shall we do next?

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Meet Me in Winter comes home…

katie — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:10:21 +0000

We had such a great time singing our way through Wotton during the Vintage Evening on Saturday! I don’t know how many times we sang the song, but it was a lot! So lovely to be singing on Long Street once again, right in the heart of our community.

Thanks to everyone who participated and to all those who gave us such positive feedback. It was a really joyful occasion.

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MMiW sing to thousands…

katie — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:16:18 +0000

A group of just over 20 soloists and choir members sang the song all the way around London yesterday carrying a sign reading “We don’t want your money…just your smiles”. And what a lot of smiles we got!

On tube trains. In stations. By the London Eye. Outside the Houses of Parliament. At St Paul’s. Beneath Nelson’s Column. In Chinatown. On Hungerford Bridge. Around the piano in the Central Hall of St Thomas’ Hospital. In the Apple Store, Covent Garden.

We certainly got our voices heard and our logo seen by many, many people, but most importantly of all, we had a really fantastic time. How wonderful to spend a day singing with friends of all ages, simply for the pleasure of doing so.

Here’s the piece the Press Association released last night along with Barry’s beautiful photo of all the flashmobbers. The story is currently popping up in newspapers all over the country – just Google Meet Me in Winter and you’ll see!

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Daily Mail article

katie — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:42:01 +0000

Look at this!

Thanks to the Daily Mail online for some great publicity!

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