February
The choir teamed up with Marie Curie Cancer Care to promote the charity’s annual Great Daffodil Appeal. Each year the charity sells daffodil pins in exchange for donations. We were keen to represent Wales at Disneyland, Paris by wearing the Welsh emblem of the Daffodil whilst performing. Having heard about the Marie Curie Cancer Care appeal we contacted the local fundraising office to make a donation of £50.00 for 50 daffodils.
Marie Curie Cancer Care provides high-quality nursing care for people diagnosed with terminal cancer and other illnesses, in their own homes. Community Fundraiser for the charity, Katy Tadayon, said it is wonderful that the Gwalia singers have chosen to support Marie Curie Cancer Care at their performances by wearing our daffodils. Every daffodil helps us continue to provide end of life care for local people who need it.
March – Disneyland, Paris.
We have completed our second St. David’s Welsh Festival in Disneyland, Paris, which took place over the weekend March 6th – 8th.
A total of 35 choristers, together with our MD and accompanist, left Swansea on Thursday evening and stayed overnight in London before departing on the 6.30am Eurostar from St. Pancras to Paris. We had requested a later departure time this year, but unfortunately, this did not materialise. We arrived in our hotel, The New York, which was in the Disney Village, and were then taken to the Park to spend some leisure time and have lunch. After returning to the hotel to book into our rooms, our accompanist, Rhian and deputy, Steve, decided to race each other around the hotel’s ice rink. Nick, MD, looked on anxiously, but, thankfully, there were no accidents!! We were then taken back to the Park at 5pm for rehearsals, firstly in the Fantasy Theatre, and then on to the stage outside Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. This was followed by an early night in readiness for our heavy workload the following day.
Saturday morning saw a few of us starting the day in the hotel swimming pool before being picked up to go to the Park. Luckily it was dry and reasonably still so we were able to sing on the outside stage at the Castle. We were so pleased to do this, as last year we were confined to the theatre, due to poor weather. This was an instant hit with both the organisers and the general public who turned up in their hundreds to listen to our performances. We sang 4 times during the day and each performance was greeted with a great ovation and it was good to see so many people over from Wales for the occasion. After our final concert, some of us stayed on to see a performance in the Fantasy Theatre from the excellent Pembrokeshire School philharmonic wind ensemble. An early(!) night followed, as there was another busy day ahead.
We woke to heavy rain on the Sunday morning and the first 2 performances at midday and 1pm were in doubt. However, the organisers were convinced that the weather would improve and, unlike last year, were prepared to wait a little longer to decide where we would sing for the day. In the end, we went to the Theatre for the midday concert and then the show at 1pm was cancelled. We had lunch and, as forecast, the sun came out, and we were able to sing on the outside stage for the 2 afternoon shows. It was obvious that the organisers really wanted us to sing outdoors due to the success of the previous day. Both shows went very well again and our work was complete.
Unknown to Rhian, who is getting married this May, we had arranged a surprise ‘stag’ night for her on the last night and everyone had brought white shirts, black ties, dark glasses and a trilby for a ‘Blues Brothers’ theme night. We managed to ensure that Rhian was last down to the bar and everyone was waiting, appropriately dressed, and a rendition of the vultures’ song, ”We’re Your Friends’ from Jungle Book was rendered. We had learnt this especially for the trip and it was just right for the occasion. Rhian was gobsmacked, and her face was a picture. We had booked a table in our favourite restaurant for the evening, and a great night of singing and drinking followed.
We returned to Swansea on Monday 9th and, once again, the trip was a huge success. Thanks must go to our music team of Nick, Rhian and Steve and also to Alan Clewett, our secretary, who organised everything so efficiently. Thanks also to Martine, Caroline, Antonio and Graham, from Disneyland, who looked after us so well during our stay.
Click here to see some pictures from the weekend
March – MRSA Concert, Birmingham
We travelled to the Royal British Legion Hall in Northfield, Birmingham for a charity concert for MRSA Support, which is a nationwide support group for supporters, dependants, relatives, and friends of people who contract MRSA. The concert was originally the idea of Brian Norman, who had joined our choir, but tragically died before a date had been organised. Brian suffered from MRSA and was very active within the support group in Swansea. We sang to a packed hall and were joined by Ciara and Rory McGhie who performed a number of items. The compaire was Dick Shepherd, a renowned, but now retired, stuntman. His claim to fame is that he has wrecked over 2000 cars in films and television and worked on the original film of ‘The Italian Job’. We finished our programme to a rousing ovation with many requests for our return in the future. Many thanks to Tony Field, the national chairman, for organising the event and looking after us so well.
May
On 9th May 2009, the choir performed at the very special wedding of Rhian, our accompanist, married her fiancee, Ben. It was held outside in the lovely setting of the grounds of Penrice Castle. Hopefully we have not lost an accompanist, but gained a drummer!
Click here for more photographs.
June – Annual Concert
Our annual concert was held again at All Saints Church, Oystermouth on 6th June. We opened with a new piece to our repertoire O Gymru, which is a very patriotic Welsh song and the first section finished with Gordon Langford’s arrangement of The Lost Chord. This featured Steve on the organ and the piece built to an amazing climax.
Our soloists this year were Eirlys Myfanwy Davies and Jonathan Lycett. Eirlys has just performed in the Royal Albert Hall, London, with the Joint Festival of Welsh Massed Voices and regularly appears on S4C. She sang a variety of pieces including Mozart’s Un moto di joia and Jason Howard’s arrangement of Cymru Fach. Jonathan was highly entertaining, as usual, singing mainly songs from the shows and finishing with Adolphe Adam’s famous The Holy City.
We completed the programme with a number of lighter items including Robbie Williams’ Angels and a medley of songs by Abba.
When Nick took over as musical director over 2 years ago, we had to recruit new members and it was pleasing to see that we had 46 choristers on stage. This was, therefore, the largest number that we have ever assembled at a concert.
Many thanks must go to Nick, Rhian and Steve for all their hard work in putting the programme together and also to the committee for making the evening such a success. We must also thank the ‘ladies’ for supplying a buffet for the choir and guests after the concert which was held in the church hall.
Concert -Waun Wen Old Pupils Association
Following our ‘Annual’ on Saturday 12th June we performed at St Luke’s Church, Cwmbwrla for WOPA, the Waun Wen Old Pupils Association. This is an annual event put on by the association and it was the first time that the choir had been invited. Also taking part were the school choir of Waun Wen Primary. The audience were well entertained and we ended with both choirs singing our ‘Abba Medley’. This was totally unrehearsed but, with the added energy of the children, we got through it to a standing ovation. Thanks to our old friend Roy Lloyd for inviting us and for putting the concert together.
A sad month for the choir – chairman Paul Smith passed away very suddenly. Paul had been a member of the choir for 18 years and had served on the committee for 10 years before becoming chairman in 2008. Paul played rugby for Swansea Uplands in his younger days and was a current member of the 41 club. He was a very popular chairman and was the instigator of our trip to Birr last year. Paul was simply a wonderful person and will be sadly missed by all.
July
Our performances for July were centred around one very busy weekend. Firstly, on Friday 10th we sang at the funeral of Paul Smith, our chairman, at All Saints in Oystermouth. This was obviously a very sombre occasion for all, and we sang Faure’s ‘Cantique de Jean Racine’, which was one of Paul’s favourite pieces.
That evening we sang at St Hilarys, Killay to raise money for church funds. We were joined by a number of young church members who sang musical hits from the shows. The evening was very well compered by Rev. Tim Williams, whose son was one of the soloists.
The next day, at lunch time, we sang at the wedding of Lee and Sarah Davies at St Peters in Newton. This meant that we performed at 3 different venues and for 3 unrelated causes. Is this a record? Our musical director, Nick, was very pleased with the commitment of the choir over this weekend, as at each venue there were over 36 voices. A tremendous achievement.
August
Unfortunately our first concert in August at Llanrhidian was cancelled for a number of reasons, but on Saturday 22nd we sang at the wedding of Laura Keitch at St Teilo’s, Pontarddulais. This was a lovely occasion. The choir and Rhian were squeezed into the gallery at the back of the church and Nick was precariously perched in front, with only a wobbly rail between him and a 15 foot drop to the church below!!
September
Our performances in September came on 2 consecutive days. On Friday 11th we sang at the wedding party of Mervyn Griffiths, son of Dai Griffiths, one of our 2nd basses. This was held at the Dockers Club in St Thomas and we received a standing ovation on completion of our short concert. It was great to see a large number of youngsters thoroughly enjoying the singing, although none have come to join us yet!
The next day we sang at the wedding of Nia Williams in Alltwen Chapel, Alltwen.
October
On Friday 9th we sang at the opening of Llys Gwyn, the former police station in Orchard Street. Our main sponsor – Grwp Gwalia – has completely revamped the building into student accommodation, conference rooms, shops and a cafe, amongst other things. This was an opportunity to sing 2 new pieces recently added to our repertoire: ‘Let All Men Sing’ and ‘An American Trilogy’. Both went well and the venue proved to be a great place to sing.
The following night we performed at the City Temple, Dyfatty Street, for a concert to raise money for the Cardiomyopathy Association. We were fortunate to be joined by Osian and Elidir Dafydd, 2 very talented violinists, and a number of students from Neath and Port Talbot College. Also playing was the West Glamorgan Youth Saxophone Quartet. The evening was wonderfully compered by Kevin Johns and we were able to raise £570.00 for the charity.
Friday 16th saw us performing for the Pontardawe Senior Citizens. This has been a regular feature on our calendar for many years, although we were not able to perform at the usual venue, as it had been badly damaged by fire. Once again, we were well received and we all enjoyed the food provided by the ladies after the concert.
We have many visitors to our rehearsals throughout the year, and we were pleased to have a celebrity with us this month. Guillem Bauza, who plays for the Swans, popped down with his grandfather. He said that they were walking past the Yacht Club when they heard the wonderful singing and couldn’t resist coming in to listen.
December
We had a very busy period with 4 performances in 7 days from 4th to 10th. Our first performance was at a Christmas lunch at Swansea University organised by the Catering Department for staff and the general public. We sang a mixture of Christmas songs and items from our normal repertoire, and enjoyed a post performance buffet, again provided by the Catering Department. Thanks to one of our 1st basses and Catering Manager for the University, Les Carmichael, for organising the event and ‘finding’ a rather scrumptious sherry trifle to finish off the buffet! The next day we sang at the wedding of Holly Williams, the step-daughter of another of our 1st basses John Davies. This took place at the Manor Park, Clydach.
Tuesday 8th saw us singing at our annual Christmas Concert, organised by the Ladies committee. Again we sang a mixture of items and included a new item to our Christmas repertoire, ‘˜The Infant King’. We also sang Robbie Williams’ ‘Angels’ with Rhian playing the piano and Steve playing a string and bass accompaniment on the keyboard. This proved very effective. We raised £300 for Young Carers in Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot, and the evening ended with the usual carol singing enjoyed by all.
The following Thursday we sang at the Vivian Hall in Blackpill. This is another of our ‘annual’ events at Christmas. The hall was packed as usual and again we sang a mixture of items.
The commitment of the singers over this busy time was exceptional with an average of 40 voices at each performance. This was very pleasing for our musical team, as much hard work was put in during the previous month to prepare for these events.
