I am delighted to invite you to what will be our first in-person barbershop event in two years - QuartetCon 2021 - taking place over the weekend of 6th and 7th November at the University of Sheffield's Octagon Centre. In this invitation I'll tell you a bit more about the contests taking place, the Saturday Evening Show, and let you know about all of the steps we are taking to keep everyone safe and healthy, as well as telling you why it's not to be missed (if the idea of seeing world-class live barbershop isn't enough to twist your arm already!).

What is QuartetCon?
Known for many years as 'Quartet Prelims', QuartetCon is a weekend event full of various quartet contests, including the Preliminary Round of our National Quartet Contest, along with the National Seniors Quartet Contest, Youth Quartet Contest and contest for quartets wishing to qualify for the BHS International Contest. This year, we are also delighted to be hosting the BinH Mixed Quartet Contest with our friends from LABBS and Sweet Adelines Region 31. We are also offering a number of fringe events with Midtown over the weekend in our BABS Hub. So in summary, that's five quartet contests taking place over two days, and it's completely free to attend as a spectator!

The Saturday Evening Show
For the first time ever, we are hosting a Saturday Evening Show at QuartetCon, and it's going to be special! Local choruses Steel City Voices and Hallmark of Harmony support our headline guests, the one and only Midtown, all the way from the USA! If you've never seen these three acts, they really are something to be marvelled at, and seeing a group that is the calibre of Midtown in a more intimate setting than a large convention centre really is an opportunity that doesn't come around too often. Better still, tickets are the bargain price of £10, and available now by clicking here.

Keeping you safe and healthy
We completely understand that safety regarding Covid-19 will be on everyone's mind, so we have been working in partnership with the University of Sheffield's events team to prepare some measures designed to keep us all safe, which are available to view by clicking here. I ask you to read these measures carefully before beginning your trip to Sheffield. My hope is that by following these measures we will all be able to thoroughly enjoy a weekend of barbershop, in the knowledge that we are doing everything that we can to stay safe, and I thank you in advance for your understanding and for following these measures.

Why should I come?
Quartet singing is the purest form of barbershop harmonising, and we should do everything we can to encourage and support it. And the best way to encourage and support quartet singing is, well, encouraging and supporting quartet singers!! Ask any quartet singer about the best way to support them, and they will tell you that it is to cheer them on and congratulate them for their performance. That's certainly what I'll be doing, and I'd love to see many of you there alongside me doing the same. The BABS Marketing and Events Team have worked incredibly hard to make our first in-person event in two years as exciting and attractive as possible, and all we need now is an audience of supportive barbershoppers. If that sounds like you, I look forward to seeing you there and joining you to cheer along our peers.

It all starts at 11:30 am on Saturday 6th November. See you there!

Alan Hughes, BABS Chair