Our annual concert was held again at All Saints Church, Oystermouth, and our guest artistes were LaSe. We also added an extra dimension to the concert by inviting ‘Crying Out Loud’ to join us. Our Chairman, Ed, started proceedings by welcoming everyone to the concert, thanking our sponsors, and thanking our Ladies Committee for looking after the ticketing and seating on the night. We opened up with the great Welsh hymn ‘Cwm Rhondda’, with Steve Wilson playing the organ for the last verse, and this set the atmosphere for the rest of the evening. We finished our first set with Eric Jones’ ‘Y Tangnefeddwyr’, and we welcomed LaSe to the stage. LaSe are made up of four sisters Laura, Alex, Sarah and Emily, and come from Penpedairheol, near Caerphilly. They sang beautifully in the wonderful acoustic and included Lloyd Webber’s ‘Pie Jesu’ in their first set which ended with ‘Calon Lan’. We then finished the first half with ‘Rhythm of Life’, ‘The Rose’ and our own compilation of songs from the First World War entitled ‘Memories of the Great War’.

During the interval we were entertained by ‘Crying Out Loud’ who played four items. They are made up of our own Steve Wilson on keyboards and vocals; Jason Davies, lead vocals and guitars and Steff Rees on drums. 

We started the second half with ‘Delilah’ not only accompanied on piano by Rhian but with ‘Crying Out Loud’, as well. This was a total break from ‘tradition’ and we sang the entire second half with the same accompaniment. We included Robbie Williams’ ‘Angels‘, ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother’ and ended our first set with Peter Ham’s famous ‘Without You’. It was, indeed, a thrilling experience to have the additional accompaniment and it really worked well. After all, these pieces were originally written, and recorded, with such an accompaniment. During this set our President, Geoff Wheel, presented long service ties to Tony Marmont and John Haslam for being in the choir for five years. Tony Porter was presented with a fifteen year tie and Roy Snaydon was also due to receive his ten year tie, but unfortunately, he has had to leave the choir due to serious illness. We then heard the second set of LaSe who sang another five items and included ‘Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree’ and they ended with ‘You’ll Never walk Alone’ to a great ovation.

Our last set was made up of Alan Simmons’ arrangement of ‘My Way’, ‘You Are So Beautiful’ incorporating ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ and we finished with ‘American Trilogy’. During this item LaSe came on to join us for the last ‘Glory, Glory Hallelujah’, and when we finished the packed audience were all on their feet to give us a huge ovation. 

This was another wonderful annual concert and we have been overwhelmed by the favourable comments regarding the second half which included the band, ‘Crying Out Loud’. Indeed the boys of the band were a credit to work with and Steve’s arrangements were excellent. We are sure that this will not be the last time that we will include them with us. Huge thanks to them for their hard work and, of course, to our own accompanist, Rhian, who held it all together. Thanks also to our MD, Nick, who, along with Rhian and Steve, has been longing to sing items with a band accompaniment for some time and we also wonder if it’s ever been done before?

Also present for the evening was Daniel Harries from Focus Shift Films. He is making a documentary with Blaenavon Male Choir about the plight of male choirs in Wales, as we are all struggling to recruit younger members, which may, eventually, see choirs folding due to lack of new choristers coming in. It is hoped that this documentary will eventually be broadcast on television. He is also helping us, and will provide a promotional video for us, which will include items from this annual concert. He will also be interviewing members of the choir at a later date. We feel that choirs have to change and be more ‘up to date’, and hopefully, our concert format tonight is a start, and will help to attract new members to our choir.