This award was launched in August 2022. It is an annual award presented to a member who reflects the spirit that Laurel had that made her shine. It comes with a perpetual trophy to record each recipients name, and a medallion for each well deserving recipient to keep. A member is only able to receive this award once in their lifetime.
Mezza was honoured with this award at our Foundation Celebrations at our Alexandra Hills rehearsal hall on 27 August 2024.
This award was launched in August 2022. It is an annual award presented to a member who reflects the spirit that Laurel had that made her shine. It comes with a perpetual trophy to record each recipients name, and a medallion for each well deserving recipient to keep. A member is only able to receive this award once in their lifetime.
Wease was honoured with this award at our Foundation Celebrations at Tamborine Mountain on 26 August 2023
This award was launched in August 2022. It is an annual award presented by our Director to a member who she considers has made a significant contribution during the past year.
Cas was honoured with this reward at our Foundation Celebrations at Tamborine Mountain on 26 August 2023.
Meredith is a kind, friendly, caring, considerate and energetic member of our chorus. She quietly steps up and takes on many jobs that need to be done without any fuss or bother. She was voted on to our Board 12 months ago, and immediately took on the role of Secretary and has been doing a fabulous job.
Meredith is a protector of the chorus, always looking out for other members. When someone needs a hand, she’s there.
She is very reliable because when she says she is going to do something, she gets it done. She also takes initiative and helps out whenever she sees a need. In particular, she has been assisting with our technology needs, and she is a whiz when it comes to issues with our risers. If something needs fixing, Meredith is the problem solver, quietly and confidently working out how to resolve what needs to be fixed. She is an enthusiastic bass leader and is a great asset on the music team.
Her input is wise and thoughtful, always considering others as well as the reputation of our chorus. She is very supportive of our Director and follows through in respecting and supporting decisions made by both the music team and our Board. She rarely misses a rehearsal or a performance. She is a wonderful example of a true Sweet Adeliner!!!
This award was launched in August 2022. It is an annual award presented to a member who reflects the spirit that Laurel had that made her shine. It comes with a perpetual trophy to record each recipients name, and a medallion for each well deserving recipient to keep. A member is only able to receive this award once in their lifetime.
Dianne was honoured with this reward at our Foundation Celebrations at the Maroochydore Conference Centre.
This award was launched in August 2022. It is an annual award presented by our Director to a member who she considers has made a significant contribution during the past year.
Meryl was honoured with this reward at our Foundation Celebrations at the Maroochydore Conference Centre.
Laurel consistently shows up at rehearsals and was a huge support to Louise last year in the Zoom learning curve. Laurel is an important member of the Tenor section, and shares her knowledge, wisdom and time generously.
Always ready to lend a hand, Laurel is on several Chorus teams as well as holding the roles of Assistant Director and Coach Liaison As one of the founding members of the Chorus, Laurel has been a Sweet Adeline for almost 25 years, and her visual and performance skills are legendary.
Laurel is part of the Performance Extension Program and sings in 2 quartets, and is always willing to take on something new. Laurel also supports singers available for daytime gigs with weekly singing catchups.
Laurel is an amazing woman who faces adversity with strength, courage and positivity and is very deserving of recogniition as our Sweet Adeline of the Year.
Christine supports chorus members by her constant encouragement, positive attitude and enthusiasm to all chorus activities. She is extremely easy to get along with, welcoming, inclusive and a joy to sing with. Her love for the craft is infectious.
Christine has always been an amazing support for the costume team, and also has great ideas for costumes. Every competition Christine is there to help search for fabric, cut, sew, and fit everything that is needed.
When Christine is at rehearsal or a performance she is 100% there, not distracted by other things. Even though she has many demands on her time she puts in the work required with enthusiasm.
Christine has been a chorus member for a very very long time and has hardly missed a rehearsal.Christine’s love of singing is evident in her smile, the time she invests into learning the songs, the many years she has been with RRC and the encouragement she gives to other Chorus members.Christine definitely loves to sing and her face beams so beautifully with her great smile. She is a wonderful recipient of the Joann Bevan Award.
As Treasurer, Laonie's communication with members is always professional as well as kind, helpful and supportive. She is consistently a positive face within the organisation whether face to face or by email. From my observation her contribution to the week to week running of the Chorus is significant outside her role as Treasurer.
When you arrive each week for practice, Laonie is the smiling face that greets you to mark your attendance and bring you up to date on anything outstanding or that you may need to follow up on. She arrives early each week to help set up for practice and at the end of the evening she stays back to help pack up the hall and return it for use by the Salvation Army the next day. In this respect she is quite meticulous with great consideration for our reputation and their requirements. For a recent off site retreat she was responsible for transporting and setting up and packing up the risers.
Her most special quality is the person she is. Laonie is a genuinely kind and caring person who operates with high moral character in all her dealings with people and in her volunteering roles with RRC.
Laonie holds the Treasurer position with the chorus, and with approximately 50 members paying for monthly fees and various events including recording multiple partial payments for competition, she does a lot of work behind the scenes for chorus. Laonie is at chorus almost every week to “man” the door, and arrives early to ensure she’s there to greet the first attendee. She often misses the first part of rehearsal because she’s still taking money, greeting late comers, or sorting out other financial things.
In addition to her treasurer role, Laonie is one of the “holders of the pitch pipe”, a crucial role each and every rehearsal and performance. She never complains.
Laonie rarely misses a rehearsal, loves to sing, and always represents the chorus in a professional manner. Her passion for chorus cannot be disputed. Just watch her whilst she sings – it shows all over her face.
Angela constantly supports other chorus members through her role as webmaster, but also as Bass section leader.
Angela is always coming up with innovative ways to make learning music easier for the Basses. Her skill at utilising Excel spreadsheets for this is amazing. She also supports all the basses by encouraging and organising bass section rehearsals.
While her work may take her away for longer than expected at times, she still manages to give feedback on riser recordings, play a strong part of the music team and supports all the Bass members, especially when there are health or personal issues.
Wow, yes she does and she knows her stuff too! Great attitude always.
Susan Evans, our President of the Board of Redland Rhapsody Chorus has shown wonderful leadership. Susan has spent many, many hours behind the scenes heading the Board to rebuild our Chorus after we found a new Director to replace our retired one. The board under Susan's guidance has fully supported our new and exciting Director Louise Brannon.
Susan's attitude of support to all in the chorus, her willingness to think outside the square, find inclusive ways to solve difficult issues and effective ways of acknowledging others, exemplifies all that is good with Sweet Adelines Australia.
She is passionate about her singing and this shows with the effort she puts in to know her music and use her performance skills to sell the story of every song she sings.
Susan she manages her position of President with skill and kindness. She always knows what is the appropriate response for any situation, and instills confidence and enthusiasm in the chorus. She is very supportive of our director, and the music team, attending those meetings as well as board meetings, to ensure that communication is clear and direct between music team and board.
She has always been a mainstay of the chorus, being on the board for many years, but also working tirelessly at all levels to ensure everyone is happy, on track and organised. Her quiet and gentle manner mean she may sometimes be overlooked for accolades, but she is at the heart of Redland Rhapsody Chorus.
Susan works tirelessely in support of the chorus behind the scenes, and has the best interest of all the members at heart. Susan is always cheerful and pleasant,reliable and dependable and a pleasure to deal with, and rarely misses a rehearsal.
Since joining the chorus 10 years ago, Susan has always shown herself to be a person who truly understands the value of being part of a group and is always very focused on meeting the needs of others, ensuring that everyone is included.
She is always kind and considerate to all chorus members and works quietly in the background without looking for recognition. As President, I find her to be an exceptional communicator, ensuring that we all know what is going on, and ensuring that we are all supported in whatever role we have.
Susan rarely misses a rehearsal or a performance, and shows lots of enthusiasm and passion for singing and performing. She involves herself with other Sweet Adelines performances as well, such as singing with the Star Chorus at competition this year.
There is no question about Susan’s love for singing, as her passion shines through at every rehearsal, and at every performance.
Dianne sets a very high standard when it comes to giving back to the chorus. She willingly takes on huge tasks that would leave most of us running the other way. She has done an amazing job at regional level of standardising the standing rules for the choruses in our region. She is always proactive in helping the chorus wherever she can – and can be relied on to get a job done, and done properly.
She has a huge knowledge bank of chorus matters, having been in the organisation for a long time, having served on the board (including as President) and having been a musical leader as well. She has introduced barbershop singing to her new neighbours on Mt Tambourine, and given them performance opportunities to let them shine. Dianne is always very positive enthusiastic and helpful – a wise, sensible and understanding friend to all, and her mediating skills in tricky emotional situations are invaluable.
She has been very supportive and taken over the as Lead Section Leader beautifully. She helps and encourages everyone in a gentle fashion making learning a joy. She has stepped up to direct the chorus at a performance did an awesome job. On top of this she travels quite a distance and attends all rehearsals and meetings. She has a beautiful singing voice and she deserves to be acknowledged for all she does.
Dianne has always been a dedicated, passionate member. She is positive and works continuously and tirelessly supporting both the chorus members and the chorus itself in many ways. Dianne has been a wonderful support to all members of the chorus whether it be to assist others in her section with learning music, help support the Leadership with the direction of the chorus and the emotional support that comes with that, or with visuals and visualisation. She is a very selfless person and always ready to give to others. Apart from always being a positive and happy person, Dianne is always aware of how chorus members are faring and is the first to lend emotional support. She always attends rehearsals, coaching weekends, and singouts regularly. She recently helped the members of her Lead section by offering two extra rehearsals weekly to enable them to get through the audition process as quickly as possible.
Dianne has supported the current President with her immense knowledge and contribution to the governance, administration, technology, music and member welfare of the chorus. Dianne freely gives invaluable support with her time and expertise where it is needed.
Dianne is an extraordinary and inspirational woman who in the face of obstacles finds and focuses on the positives and conducts herself with the utmost integrity at all times. Dianne is also very humble and freely provides service wherever needed without seeking personal gain.
Laonie takes part in almost everything the Chorus does, helping, organising and, most importantly doing, all with great energy. She has been treasurer since at least 2012
Being Treasurer is an onerous and meticulous job coping with membership fees, new members’ fees, events budgeting, fund raising, international fees, insurance and other regulatory records, the list goes on. Laonie is the go to person when you can’t work out which plug goes into which piece of rehearsal or computer equipment, how the chairs need to be replaced in our rehearsal hall ready for the Church.
Laonie is an enthusiastic bari, always knows her music and rarely misses a rehearsal, performance or fundraising event. Her obvious love of our a cappella music is an inspiration to everyone. She is always cheerful , friendly, welcoming and energetic.
Laonie was a recipient jointly with Laurel in 2011 but she richly deserves recognition on her own account.
Louise has given Susan great support particularly of late when Susan really needs it and does the directing so well She has a great ear for what is happening for all parts and does it with a lovely manner. She's got a fabulous smile, boundless enthusiasm, loads of skill and willingness to take on anything that's asked of her. Her supporting role of the chorus has become bigger than ever, and she just keeps on encouraging us all to be our best. She is a great asset to the Chorus and has Sweet Adelines running in her veins!!
She has stepped up not only this year, but numerous times, to help us be the best we can, and she does it so well!. She has the interests of chorus at heart and is passionate about barbershop.
She has a very unassuming way about her. She is always concerned for others and is great fun to boot!
Louise is always ready to sing whenever there are a group of us anywhere – Always ready with her pitch pipe.
Right from the very start of her time with us, Rachel has supported other members of the chorus. Joining the tenor section, she quietly and unassumingly used her musical skills to help her fellow tenor members whenever they needed assistance with reading and checking the notes. And Rachel's enthusiasm for supporting members very quickly became apparent as she helped with various jobs that needed doing at chorus - and eventually she took on the leadership of the costume team. Nothing is too much trouble for Rachel, which the leaders of the chorus will attest to when it comes to designing our costumes, and as our members would agree with, as she simply helps everyone who needs help with their costume.
Rachel is a very committed member of our chorus, supporting not just the tenors, the costume team, our chorus leaders but the make-up team and the board as well. Rachel sees jobs that need to be done that helps everyone in the chorus - and just does them without any fuss and bother. From setting up our rehearsal room, creating costumes, towing the risers, helping her own section members, putting equipment away - Rachel is there simply doing what needs to be done to support us all to achieve our goals.
Rachel very rarely misses a rehearsal or a performance. When she has had to miss rehearsals or a performance, it's generally been because of a family holiday, and she has made sure she has kept up with learning songs whilst she has been away. Rachel comes early to rehearsal, and stays late, always joins in with the physical warm ups and has a smile to offer everyone.
Her dedication to music is very apparent, as she not only sings with our chorus, but plays other musical instruments, and attends weekly singing lessons.
Her commitment and dedication to performances is also shown through her work with our costumes and her willingness to tow the risers whenever she is able.
There is certainly no doubt that Rachel loves to sing. She had been singing for many years before joining our chorus, and her commitment to singing lessons outside of chorus, and the joy that she shows when she is singing with us, is testament to her love of singing.
Denise puts so much energy into finding performances for us, she is the driver behind this. She also drove our risers into the city - so brave! She is nice to everyone, and is so very welcoming when you are new in the chorus. She is always the first to volunteer her time and home to support any chorus member who wishes to participate in something extra. This is particularly evident in her section, where she offers her home for extra rehearsals for the Leads when they need to work more intensely on particular sections.
You could describe Denise as our chorus Mum. Denise is very encouraging, positive and friendly to everyone, with a genuine caring interest in the person. She has beautifully and sensitively presided over funerals and weddings for chorus members and their families in her role as Civil Celebrant.
There is no doubt that Denise loves to sing - she will sing at the drop of a hat, anywhere, anytime.
Susan is the epitome of all that is good with the SAI organization. She freely gives her time, not only to Redland Rhapsody, but to other chorus’s who need coaching. She has recently given up a whole weekend, with a Friday night meeting for RRC Music team, and then to Bundaberg to coach their chorus. Due to the costs of the return flight she willingly came home on the train, so more time away from her own family. She has also spent many hours listening to our riser tapes, so that each of us can be the best that we can be, with her gentle and helpful recommendations of how we could each improve.
She does all this with a smile and a huge amount of patience with us all!
RRC would not be so well placed in competitions without Susan. She puts herself “out there”, willingly learns from our visiting coaches, plans and prepares for each of our rehearsals, but also has an overall plan of where she’d like to take us. Our concerts are testimony to her dedication and commitment to music and performance.
How Susan loves to sing! She admits that she loves to rehearse; perhaps she is hoping this work ethic will rub off on us all. She strives for excellence with her singing and encourages others to do likewise.
She does a wonderful job supporting the chorus. As the Lead Section Leader she tirelessly and patiently works with the section to help them all to improve and where needed provides extra help to the prospective members and others. It has been wonderful watching her skills grow over the last few years and she has done a great job of organising, motivating, inspiring and directing the chorus while Susan has been away.
Laurel’s dedication to the music and performance cannot be questioned. Apart from the hours of extra work she puts in to prepare for teaching the chorus (developing, evaluating and polishing choreo performances etc), she seeks out development opportunities for her own knowledge and skill base (eg making the effort and wearing the expense to The Buzz workshop) and she generously shares insights she’s learned to encourage us all to improve our skills.
She is inspiring to watch and listen to. She works hard to improve her own skills taking every opportunity learn and passes her knowledge on in a very giving and supportive way, drawing the best out of us for the best performance we can give.
Yes, of course Laurel loves to sing – that’s why she’s a Sweet Adeline! Being a Sweet Adeline gives her both reason and opportunity to sing. Watching her face when she’s singing is enough to convince me that she’s really got her heart in it.
Laurel loves to sing – with Christchurch, with RRC, with her Quartets, at family weddings and any time there is a reason to. We all love to sing with people who love to sing.
Laonie: As Treasurer, Laonie goes beyond being efficient, effective and doing things with a minimum of fuss. She’s always looking for different payment options for members, and always shows flexibility about this in trying to meet individual needs. She is amazing in the way she generously gives her physical capabilities and time when packing and putting out chairs, erecting/dismantling risers and setting up the rehearsal hall. The amount of work that Laonie does becomes really obvious when she is not at rehearsal!!!
She is always calm, logical and focussed in her support of chorus members and her input is invaluable to chorus life.
Laonie attends the majority of rehearsals, performances, extra rehearsals and workshops that are scheduled. You can always rely on Laonie. She is not just committed to music and performance excellence, but to other members of the chorus and to our chorus leaders. She’s a very capable singer and an important member of the Baritone section.
She’s always focused when she is on the risers. She always gives more than 100% in everything she does with the chorus and willing to give things a go. She’s a great sport and has a great sense of humour that she gives to everything she does with the chorus.
There is no doubt that Laonie loves to sing. Laonie has a song for every occasion and more, and you can always hear her practicing and simply singing for the joy of it no matter where she is (even in the shower!!). She even taught Director Susan a ditty one night on the way to chorus, which Susan then used in her warm ups that night. That’s our Laonie……