By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
The Walpole Council on Aging (COA) Senior Moments Chorus (SMC) recently performed at the Westwood Public Library (WPL) for a wonderful crowd of people. They have just recently united for the first time since before COVID and have been performing across different towns for the last couple of months.
The SMC is currently in their 16th year of singing together and sharing their music with the community. They are a volunteer based group that meets weekly at the Walpole Senior Center and they range in age from 60 to 100 years old.
What started out as a group with six to eight people, has now turned into a whopping twenty nine singers. They are always thrilled to accept new members, even if they have no experience with music. Director of the SMC Linda Scaripalli, Accompanist Mary Ann Baker, and Manager Gerri Russo are extremely excited to welcome both new and existing members into this amazing group.
Linda went on to welcome the crowd before the start of the performance, stating, “Thank you so much for having us. This is our first time performing at the Westwood Library. When we were invited, they asked us to sing some Irish songs and we happily agreed. We just recently performed an Irish concert in Walpole so we were happy to bring it here for you today. Saint Patrick’s Day may be over but you can always be Irish on any day. We will start with a collection of Irish songs, many of which you will know. Thank you again for welcoming us today on this rainy afternoon, we hope you sit back and enjoy.”
The SMC started out singing “I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover,” followed by “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,” “A Little Bit of Heaven,” “Molly Malone,” “My Wild Irish Rose,” “Star of the County Down,” “Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral,” “Danny Boy,” and “MacNamara’s Band.” They then moved into some more romantic love songs like “Heart & Soul,” “Let Me Call You Sweetheart,” “You’ve Gotta Have Heart,” “What the World Needs Now,” and “That’s Amore.” They finished up their set by singing “An Irish Blessing.”
SMC women members dressed in white sweaters with gorgeous green scarfs, while the men in the group sported white dress shirts with green bow ties and green derby hats. It can be said with ease that this performance was a crowd favorite and truly brought the Irish presence to the WPL.
