Much Wenlock Male Voice Choir

The choir carried out several concerts in December commencing with the Gala Charity Concert at the Great Hay on December 2nd, followed by the Christmas Fayre event in the High Street at Much Wenlock on Saturday 3rd, when the choir sang under the Corn Exchange, entertaining the large crowds of shoppers visiting the annual Christmas street market. In the evening on the same day they travelled to Highley to perform in a joint Concert with Highley Brass Band at the Severn Centre.

The weekend of December 10th saw the choir perform at the William Brookes School in a joint concert with Much Wenlock Ladies Choir at the Christmas Social.
The annual event was held for the first time in the new William Brookes School and was a great success. During the evening the choirs Chairman Mr Tony Mathers made a presentation of a gold watch and Life Membership to former accompanist Mrs Rosemary Whiteford, in acknowledgement of her many years of support for the choir.

The choir brought Christmas cheer to the residents of the Lady Forrester nursing home on Tuesday 6th December when they performed there and put on a further show at the Wheatlands Care Home on December 13th. The year was rounded off by a spectacular concert in Bridgnorth with the Porthwaen Silver Band, see below for further details.

The choir travelled to Bridgnorth on Saturday 17th December to perform at Castle Hall with the Porthwaen Silver Band in a Christmas charity concert organised by the Town Mayor Connie Baines. The concert was a sell out success with a packed programme from both the choir and band and included several joint pieces all of which were extremely well received. The Mayor commented that it had been ‘altogether a super evening’. The event brought back memories of past occasions when the venue regularly hosted some of the most well known bands in the country and the performances of the choir and band did justice to it.

The choir travelled to the Great Hay Golf and Country Club at Telford on Friday 2nd December to take part in a Gala charity raising event hosted by Oyster Communications of Broseley. The guests were treated to a variety of music as the choir with other bands and entertainers produced a memorable festive experience while helping to raise thousands of pounds for charity.

The choir travelled to Bromborough in the Wirral on Saturday 22nd October to perform at St Barnabas Church, with soprano Helen Pickett and piano soloist Alan Derrick in an “evening of fabulous music”.

Helen performed Lerner and Loewe’s classic ‘I could have danced all night’. George Gershwins ‘Summertime’ and an unusual arrangement of ‘Ave Maria’. The choir performed the medleys ‘Back to the Sixties’ and ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and Alan treated the audience to jazz piano.

The proceeds of the concert raised money for ‘Stick n Step’, a locally based charity that provides intensive support for children with cerebral palsy. Following the concert Mrs Horan the concert organiser commented “sincere thanks to the choir for such a wonderful evening…our congregation are a very welcoming audience and they never stopped talking about what a great night they had”.

The choir joined forces with the Jackfield (Elcock Reisen) Brass Band to give a concert at the William Brookes School, Much Wenlock on Saturday 10th September, delighting the audience with a wide variety of songs including several joint pieces with the band.

The band, lead by its conductor Simon Platford, treated the audience to a new work ‘Phoenix Rising’ and an unusual arrangement of Scarborough Fair while the joint music, which included the Tom Jones favourite ‘Delilah’ and traditional piece ‘Let There Be Light’, was led by the choirs musical director Paul Kelly. The audience were also treated to solo pieces including ‘Xylophobia’, performed by Oliver James on Xylophone.

Following the concert the band travelled to Bolsover where on Sunday Mr James won the soloist trophy while performing Xylophobia, and the band gained third place in the championship section. The choir are busy rehearsing for their next performance at Alberbury on Friday 16th September, when there will be a joint concert with the Tamar Valley MVC (see concerts page for detail).