Well, this was a December to remember. We sang at 7 events, altogether, in 17 days, and an appearance on television! The first, on Thursday December 4th, was our annual concert at the Vivian Hall in Blackpill. We have been doing this for at least 10 years now and it is the start of Christmas for many, especially the enthusiastic audience. We added a few new pieces to our repertoire this year including the lovely ‘Christmas Song’ and, of course, ‘Stop The Cavalry’. We also sang ‘O Holy Night’, ‘Winter Wonderland’ and ‘The First Noel’, which is sung to Pachelbel’s ‘canon in D’. We also sang a number of Christmas carols and the ’12 Days of Christmas’, with audience participation! On Friday 5th we made a return to Clyne Golf Club for their annual Christmas concert, and it was great to see the club full. Thanks to Clive Aston for his kind welcome and the committee for providing mulled wine and mince pies. We must also thank Steve again here, for taking his keyboard around all the events and accompanying ‘Stop The Cavalry’ and adding strings accompaniment for ‘Christmas Song’. He also played a duet with Rhian for ‘The First Noel’ and ‘Rhythm Of Life’.

We had our annual ‘Ladies Carol Concert’ on Tuesday 9th, which is organised by our ladies committee. Once again the scout hall at Brynmill was packed and the ladies provided an excellent buffet. The first part of the concert is given by the choir which is followed by the buffet. We then joined together to sing carols. A vote of thanks was given by the chairwoman, Lynda Lewis, and a raffle was also held.

On Thursday 11th we sang a lunch time recital at Swansea University, for the students and staff. This is always well received and organised by Les Carmichael, who is the catering manager at the University. He also provides us with a tremendous meal afterwards, which is very much appreciated. Thanks, Les. 

We sang at St Thomas church, St Thomas on Tuesday 16th. We were delighted to be asked to be involved with this and managed to fit it in on our usual rehearsal night. Once again the St Thomas Community Primary School choir took part and also Cefn Hengoed Community School choir. The evening was introduced by Rev Steven Bunting and each choir sang items in turn. The school choirs were introduced by their headteachers and they sang some traditional Christmas items. We also sang a few Christmas carols with the audience and finished with all 3 choirs singing ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’. Following the concert we were treated, once again, to mulled wine and mince pies, in the church hall. Many thanks to Steven for organising the concert and, hopefully, we can make this an annual event.

On Friday 19th we sang at the wedding of Claire-Louise Collier and Andrew Millin at St Peter’s church Sketty. This wedding had structured our Christmas music, as Claire had requested a number of Christmas items, including ‘Christmas Song’, which the musical team arranged for the choir. There was a lovely relaxed atmosphere in the church and we sang the happy couple out with ‘All You Need Is Love’ and received a standing ovation from the guests, who stayed in the church until we finished. The following day we sang at another wedding at Llangyfelach church, this time it was for Deborah Bines and Justin Hastings. The church was full and we sang a number of items, as usual, including ‘Rhythm Of Life’, which we had to re-learn for the wedding. It was also great to have Stephen join with Rhian on the piano for this piece and he then played the organ, again with Rhian on piano, for ‘Cwm Rhondda’. We had another standing ovation from the guests, following these items. The most pleasing thing about these two weddings was that we had 40 singers on both occasions, a fantastic effort by the choristers following such a busy time. In fact, we can barely remember such a busy December, so huge thanks must go to Nick, Rhian, Stephen, and all the choristers, for their commitment to the events and making them so successful.

On Saturday 20th we featured on Channel 4’s programme ‘Rewind The Christmas Hits’, which was shown at 8.00 o’clock in the evening. The programme told a number of stories behind the well known Christmas hits over the last 40 years. As previously documented on our website, we sang ‘Stop The Cavalry’, but unknown to many of us, the original, by Jona Lewie, released in December 1980, was kept off the number 1 spot by the St Winifred’s School choir singing ‘There’s No-one Quite Like Grandma’!! Not strictly true, as ‘Stop The Cavalry’ actually only reached number 3, as there was a re-release of ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’ by John Lennon, who tragically died earlier that month, which went to number 2.