Excuse me? Pardon me? What was that?
If those phrases are frequently included in your vocabulary, the Elks Lodge has guaranteed that hearing concerns are a thing of the past during shows at the Elder Citizen Recreation Centre.
The Elks Lodge donated $3,500 to the Elder Citizen Recreation Association to pay for a dozen assistive listening devices for those with hearing impairment.
Those aids are available during the Forever Young Chorus next show, Over the Bounding Main, presented March 28 to 30 at the centre.
The console that controls the listening devices is connected to the centre's sound board and then the handset is a wireless controller with earbuds attached to it. There is a volume control on the handset for the user's comfort, said Joe Anderson, a member of the ECRA.
The handset can be used anywhere in the room, so gone are the days when those in the audience that are hard of hearing have to sit conspicuously in the front row.
"I love this because people with hearing aids can't filter everything else out but with this device it filters everything but the show," said choir director Janice Taylor, founding member of the group formerly known as the Rainbow Singers.
The group is having a lot of fun with the nautical theme of the show, Taylor added.
"We're performing songs from way back in the days when sailing was the mode of transportation to modern-day songs and we've got a special guest, Carolyn Kelly, who will sing and perform with us," said Taylor, citing the traditional song Sailing, Sailing and the modern Ghost Ship as examples of what the audience can hear during the concert.
Kelly, a member of the well-known local Celtic band Out of Alba, will accompany pianist Vic Steblin on the penny whistle.
The group will offer up some dances, as well as their singing choir, which is about 45 members strong.
The choir started 22 years ago and originally stemmed from the Silver Threads, a ladies choir, that disbanded but when members missed the group too much, they decided to gather together in song and invited Taylor to lead, as she was choral director at the Kerr Street Baptist Church in Vancouver. Taylor and Andrea Mackenzie, 94, are the two founding members that remain in the Forever Young Chorus.
Tickets for Over the Bounding Main are available at the ECRA office, 1692 Tenth Ave. Admission is $10 per person, children 12 and under $5. The show goes Friday, March 28th at 7 p.m., Saturday, March 29 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, March 30 at 2 p.m. For more information call 250-561-9381.
