Sunday, March 5th introduced us to an interesting new type of venue. Whilst the Marx Brothers’ film of the above name was a renowned comedy, our experience was ‘funny’ in a different way! Despite very short notice, close on 40 of our rugged band made their way to the Ffos Las racecourse to take part in a ‘Proud to be Welsh’ day. We soon discovered that there were more than hurdles to be overcome!

Thankful that we were not, as originally suggested, to sing in the cold open air by the gates, we found ourselves inside one of the bars, immediately realising that the low ceiling was covered in polystyrene tiles, wonderful for damping sound. Any bar provides other distractions; the sound of ordering drinks, louder conversations etc., plus in this case the accompaniment of piped music to distract from our singing. We persevered and found a number of people paying attention and applauding in appreciation. Moving to our second bar, we found slightly better acoustics, but this time a competition with the racecourse’s loudspeaker system.

However, the boys persisted and ‘walked through the storm’ to deserve some applause and laudatory comments from some of those present. All we can say was that it was a new experience and we survived, our name was spread further and we made at least some new friends. On to the next with heads held high!