Swindon Male Voice Choir

Swindon Male Voice Choir 2012 – new members welcome.

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:44:58 +0000

A good start to 2012, weekly and mid-week rehearsals with two concerts in January keeping the choir busy.

Delighted to welcome potential new members who have joined us since Christmas. Hope you enjoy the experience and opt to stay with the choir.

New members are always welcome.

Cor Meibion Dyffryn Towi – Kidwelly Saturday 14th January 2012

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:41:49 +0000

Early into 2012 saw Swindon Male Voice Choir travelling over into South West Wales to share good music with Cor Meibion Dyffryn Towi. A small choir based in the area of Kidwelly. For those not familiar, Kidwelly lies close to the coast between Llanelli and Carmarthen, a lovely area of South West Wales.

The choir booked overnight accommodation at the Ivy Bush Royal Hotel in Carmarthen, travelled down on Saturday morning on a frosty, sunny, bright and crisp morning. A while later an excellent lunch was taken at the Red Lion at Llandyfaelog, near Kidwelly. The Red Lion provides rehearsal facilities for the men of Cor Meibion Dyffryn Towi, so we were excellently catered for.

The choir moved on to the Princess Gwenllian Sports Hall in Kidwelly for rehearsal with our hosts. An enjoyable experience, meeting with gents of the host choir, sorting staging, arranging lights that blinded those with glasses, and finally rehearsing the combined choral items ready for concert. A positive and rewarding rehearsal.

The evening concert saw a very good size audience and choirs that performed to their very best. Some items exciting, some thought provoking, some reflective and some just for fun!!

A really good concert, demonstrating the friendship, camaraderie and enjoyment that the performance of good music can bring.

It should be said that after the concert the Choirs returned to the Red Lion for more food, fun, singing and just the odd glass of local brew!

A very successful meeting between the men of Swindon and Dyffryn Towi ; and just maybe, we will meet again!

Christmas

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:38:13 +0000

Christmas started for the Choir at the Swindon Steam Museum Craft Fayre weekend 3^rd and 4^th December. The choir has been supporting the Fayre for several years but this year was special. The Great Western Hall was converted to a concert hall with audience seats and a very busy cafeteria and Steam visitors came by the score to enjoy the musical entertainment provided by firstly The Kentwood Choir, followed by Swindon Male voice Choir and Thamesdown Ladies Choir. A very enjoyable Christmassy atmosphere, gave the choirs plenty to sing for, and their efforts were warmly received by the gathered audiences. A delightful event, one the choir is sure to repeat in 2012!

The following weekend the choir sang at a delightful wedding at St Mary’s Church, Lydiard Tregoze. The wedding of Maryanne Knights and Nicholas Kumar in the church bedecked and ready for Christmas was a very enjoyable and emotional occasion for Bride, Groom, families and the choir. We wish Maryanne and Nicholas every success as they enter married life.

The following weekend saw the choir staging its main Christmas Carol concert at Christ Church, Old Town, Swindon. A favourite event of choir members, celebrating Christmas in music and singing with the Wroughton Silver Band, and with the Concert Choir of the Janice Thompson Performance Trust. A real musical treat.

A special moment during the evening was to mark the long service and support of Swindon Male Voice Choir of John King (20 years) and Gareth Jenkins (30 years). A proud moment for our President, Ken Knox to make long service presentations to John and Gareth. Equally important was a floral presentation to their wives, Maria and Val to acknowledge the immense support they give to their husbands and the choir.

The night was all too soon over and closed in appropriate manner by Rev Simon Steventte before a rousing rendition of ‘Hark The Herald Angels Sing’ which raised the rafters of Christ Church – a wonderful climax to a lovely night.

Before Christmas arrived, the men of the choir presided over two more events; Ogbourne Downs Golf Club Christmas Carol Service, and singing for the locals and visitors at The Sun Inn at Coate. A enjoyable and relaxing singing route to a Happy Christmas for the choir members, their wives and partners and all choir supporters.

SMVC – End of Season Fund Raising Concerts

admin — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:33:32 +0000

Swindon Male Voice Choir has had a very successful charity fund raising month to close the choir’s season. In the final three concerts of the Choir’s year, it has helped to raise an amazing £12000 for very worthwhile charities.

The first event staged at Swindon’s Oasis Leisure Centre on 19th June was specially staged to support ‘Help for Heroes’. 47 Swindon Male Voice Choristers, with the Band of the Corps of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (The REME Band), under their Director of Music Captain Richard Watterson entertained an audience of about 700 who, judging by their reaction, really enjoyed the concert. Highlights included performances by 14 year old Alice More, when with the choir she enchanted the audience with an arrangement of ‘Hero’ – as made famous by Mariah Carey, and ‘On My Own’ from Les Miserables. The Band’s demonstrated superb musicianship with sensitivity as the Choir and Band presented a moving arrangement of ‘Hymn to the Fallen’ from the film ‘Saving Private Ryan’.

The evening was all to generate funds to support ‘Help for Heroes’, enabling the Choir and Band to present a cheque for £5000.

Photograph by Graham Palmer (SMVC)
SMVC and The REME Band – Help for Heroes Concert 19th June 2010

The last two concerts of the choir’s season were performed during a ‘mini-tour’ of Ireland between the 16th and 19th of July 2010. After an early Friday morning start from Swindon, the journey to Wexford, Ireland was slow, taking 3 hours to get to the west of Bristol as the M4 was closed due to an accident! However we reached Fishguard in time to board our ferry for Rosslare and we arrived at the delightful Slaney Manor Hotel with 20 minutes to get changed and ready for our first concert.

This concert was performed at Kinsella Castle, a unique reconstruction on the site where a twelfth century Norman Castle once stood in the grounds of Slaney Manor Hotel. Our hosts for this concert were members of Wexford Male Voice Choir, and what a lovely friendly choir!

A large and enthusiastic audience was entertained by our choir, together with our hosts for the evening the Wexford Male Voice Choir and the Glentree Traditional Group of Musicians. It was during the concert we learned about ‘Ish Time’ ie. the Concert will start at 8 ‘ish’ in fact it started at about 8.20 pm ‘ish’ which meant that everybody who turned up late ‘ish’ had a seat! The quality of the singing by both Choirs was of a very high standard and the Glentree Musicians captivated us with a foot tapping selection of Irish Music. The Concert ended with two joint items when the 70 choristers of Swindon and Wexford sang ‘Speed your Journey’ – conducted by Greg Currid and ‘An American Trilogy’ conducted by Max, all to rapturous applause and a standing ovation to end a memorable evening. The concert was in aid of the Cottage Autism Network Wexford and 3500 Euros (about £2900) was raised on the night.

Photograph courtesy of Wexford Male Voice Choir
SMVC and the Wexford Male Voice Choir ready for the first combined item and no time for a rehearsal!

On Saturday we travelled to Dublin via Wicklow and Bray. At Bray our Director of Music – Max Brockman-More and Bass 2 – Terry Morris, were interviewed on a local radio station to promote the evening concert supporting the Children’s University Hospital in Dublin. We were able to listen to the interview on the coach and were pleased with the publicity the radio station was able to give to both our choir and to the concert.

This concert was held to raise funds for the Radiography Department of the Children’s University Hospital in Dublin. Providing the entertainment in addition to our choir were The Lambay Singers from County Dublin and four members of ‘Damsha’, an Irish Group of professional dancers. A large audience appreciated the contrasting entertainment provided for them. On the night the concert had raised about 3500 Euros on the night but with other subsequent donations, 5400 Euros (near to £4500) has been raised to date.

So after a hectic couple of days we were able were able to have a Dublin sightseeing day on Sunday and we travelled back to Swindon on Monday ready for our summer break.