We had a very busy period this December. Our first concert was at Clyne Golf Club on Saturday 3rd, where we were introduced by club captain Ken Dent. We sang a number of Christmas items including ‘Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town’ and an arrangement of ‘Silent Night’. Added to these were ‘The Bleak Midwinter’, ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ and one of our favourites ‘Merry Christmas, Everyone’. We also sang a number from our normal repertoire interspersed with community singing of Christmas carols. We had a small but very receptive audience and it was a good start to our busy programme.
On Tuesday 6th we held our annual Ladies Committee Christmas evening at the Scout Hut, Brynmill. Once again there was a packed audience and again we sang a variety of Christmas items and items from our normal repertoire. We have added a few new items since our annual in June and include ‘A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square’ and our own arrangement of ‘God Only Knows’ by Brian Wilson. Following the concert we had a lovely buffet supplied by the Ladies and everyone joined in by singing a number of carols.
On Thursday 8th we sang at the Vivian Hall in Blackpill, where we were pleased to see a full house again. There was a great atmosphere in the hall and we sang our usual concert bolstered by a great rendition of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’, with audience participation. A real highlight!
On Saturday 10th we sang at the wedding of Katy Smith at St Hillary’s Church, Upper Killay. We sang our usual requests before the bride arrived including ‘Somewhere Only We Know’, ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’ and ‘Stop The Cavalry’. The bride had requested that she walk in to the choir singing ‘Silent Night’ and there were a number of people from ‘over the border’ present so we were requested to sing ‘Calon Lan’ and ‘Delilah’ at the signing. We have been told that all our English friends present had never heard a male voice choir at a wedding before and they were so impressed that they now want a choir at their own weddings. We are available!
The following week we sang at Fulton Hall, Swansea University on Tuesday 14th and the next day we were in ‘The Core’ at the University Bay Campus. These were lunch time recitals, with community carol singing and the choir were treated to a lovely lunch provided by the university catering staff after singing. Thanks very much to them.
One of the highlights of our Christmas programme is the Community concert at St Thomas Church, which, this year, took place on Thursday 16th. This involves the choirs of Danygraig Primary School, St Thomas Community Primary School and Cefn Hengoed Community School. It was great to see so many children singing and there were well over 100 on stage between all the choirs. Each choir was introduced by their respective Head Teachers and were prepared and accompanied by their own staff members. There was a great mix of items and the evening finished with the children’s’ choirs, and us, singing ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’. It was wonderful to see the old church almost full and thanks must go to Rev Steve Bunting for organising the event again. We were also treated to mulled wine and mince pies at the end.
Our final Christmas concert took place at the Pier Cafe, Mumbles on Tuesday 20th, and this was to prove a wonderful evening. This was a new event for us and the cafe was packed to the rafters with people standing everywhere and even standing outside and looking through the windows and doors! Again we interspersed our regular concert items with carols and our Christmas repertoire, which proved a great success. Thanks must go to Hannah Cannon for organising the event and to the many people who turned out to support it. I’m sure it will become a permanent feature in our programme of events. Following this, we went to the Commercial Inn, Killay to have a social evening with carol singing and a short performance of some of our items. We were provided with a lovely buffet provided by Gareth and Nova.
On 31st we sang at the wedding of Rhys Jenkins and Ritu at St Peters, Newton. Sadly there was a mix-up with the start time by half an hour, but we were still able to sing the bride in, as requested, with ‘This Is The moment’, which proved a great choice. Considering it was New Year’s Eve we had a great turnout with 43 singers, and we sang ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ and ‘Calon Lan’ at the signing. We then sang the bride out with ‘All You Need Is Love’ with all the guests joining in the chorus making it a great ending to the wedding.
This has to be one of the busiest Christmas programmes we have ever undertaken and a huge thanks must go to our musical team Nick, Rhian and Steve for their loyalty and support and to the choristers who turned out time and again in good numbers to make these events so special.
