Our first concert took place at All Saints Church, Oystermouth on Friday 9th. The concert was in aid of ‘Maggie’s’ a cancer charity and was arranged by Dr Pat Steane. We were joined by soprano, Anwen Pike and her accompanist was Lisa Mears. The first half contained songs from our normal repertoire and included our two Italian pieces and the second half was all Christmas items, starting with a carol sung by everyone. Our items included ‘Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree’, ‘O Holy Night’ and ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’. The evening was a great success and we learned afterwards that £2200 was raised for the charity, and, of course, our services were free of charge.

The next day we had been invited to sing a few items at Norton House at a memorial gathering for Roy Snaydon, who passed away a few months ago. Roy was a very faithful member of the choir until his illness forced him to retire and his wife, Rita, had arranged for the family to be together for the weekend. Like many families these days, they are widespread, with some travelling from Canada to be in Swansea. We sang 4 items and finished with ‘Morte Criste’, one of Roy’s favourites.

On Tuesday 12th we sang at our Annual Ladies Concert at the Scout Hall, Brynmill. Once again, the ladies prepared a lovely buffet and we welcomed Rev Steve Bunting, vicar of St Thomas to the concert. Steve arranged a Christmas lunch at the church, last year, for those who were unable to provide for themselves or were on their own for the day. During the evening we raised money for this year’s event and Steve was amazed by our generosity as we gave him over £700. He was so pleased that he announced that transport could now be arranged so that more people could get to the Christmas lunch this year. Thanks to the Ladies, especially Linda, their Chairwoman, for organising the event and also for presenting the choir with money to purchase a second black shirt for our uniform. 

On Thursday 14th we entertained again, at the Vivian Hall, Blackpill, as we have done for many years. This is always a lovely evening and proceeds were in aid of the hall. The highlight for many is the singing of ‘The Twelve days Of Christmas’ where all the audience join in. 

Once again, this year, we sang at St Thomas church at their Christmas Community Concert featuring the three choirs from the local schools. The schools represented were Danygraig Primary School, St Thomas Community Primary School and Cefn Hengoed Community School. The headmasters of each school were present and introduced their choirs individually and they all sang beautifully. There is always a great atmosphere in the church, which was full, and when we sing our items everyone enjoys joining in, especially with ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’, which, of course, is accompanied by Steve, on his keyboard.

Another concert we did last year was at the Pier Cafe in Mumbles and, we were asked to sing again on Wednesday 20th. This year tickets had been sold and, again, the cafe was packed. There was also a collection for the Mumbles Lifeboat. We were, once again, in fine voice, singing a mix of items and some community carol singing and it was clear that everyone enjoyed the concert.

Our final event of 2017 was to sing at the wedding of Jo Apperley at Oldwalls, Llanrhidian on December 31st at 12.30. We were lucky that it was a nice day and, on this occasion, we sang in the main hall after the ceremony had finished. We had an excellent attendance, considering the day, and we also received another request to sing at a wedding in 2019!

This was a really busy month and special mention must go to our musical team, Nick and Rhian, and to Steve, who produces a number of keyboard accompaniments for our Christmas items. We also had Gareth Widlake playing the piano, with Rhian, in the duet accompaniment for ‘The First Noel’ at the concert in All Saints. Thanks also to the choristers, who turned up in great numbers throughout (despite a few going down with heavy colds) to make it such a successful time.