The girl with the golden voice, Ms Fran Dickinson will be appearing at the Festival of Senior’s Free Morning Tea on Wednesday 29 of October at 10am at the Foster Hall.
Fran moved to the Prom Coast after nursing in the COVID ward at Maroondah Hospital through the pandemic. She and her husband Stuart bought a property in downtown Port Franklin and set about turning a beaten down old horse paddock into verdant and productive sustainable garden.
Somewhere in between digging holes and lugging barrow loads of animal manure and eucalyptus mulch around, Fran ran across the formidable Danielle Chamley - everybody’s favourite French person - and the pair of them hatched a plan over a grand piano and a large bottle of champagne to form a U3a singing club for seniors.
“I love living here in South Gippsland and I was overjoyed to discover the local U3a community so full of proactive, positive, older people filling their lives with energy and joy,” says Fran. “The aim of my singing for pleasure group is for people to find and appreciate the power of their own voices.”
Fran always loved singing and was a member of a variety of choral groups in her youth, but her career really blossomed after she met up with Barbara Shearer-Jones at auditions for the Selby Community Choir in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges.
Fran became part of a five-part vocal group, Lyriae, and later Persephone, performing at festivals, clubs, weddings, parties, anything. She and Barbara Shearer-Jones shared a music journey over many, many years built on tight harmonies and beautiful melodies, and drawing on music from all corners of the earth. They became regulars at the La Boîte world music cafe in Fitzroy and the Maldon Folk festival.
Fran is a passionate believer in the emotional power of singing… to raise spirits, celebrate life and inspire empathy. She finds inspiration in the music of singing groups like Sweet Honey in the Rock, an African-American acappella ensemble, Swedish duo First Aid Kit, and Melbourne’s very own Vika & Linda Bull.
She has experienced joyous singalongs with friends at the end of life, treasured memories of singing at her own daughter’s wedding and the shared joy of singing carols under a star filled sky on Christmas Eve.
In the words of Sweet Honey in the Rock…
That which touches me most
Is that I had a chance to work with people
Passing on to others that which was passed on to me
Fran will be presenting her wonderful version of the timeless classic ‘La vie en rose’ at our local Senior’s Festival event on 29 October. It will be… how you say?… Tres magnifique! Dave Martin
