No sooner had we returned from France, than we had a phone call from ‘Channel 4 TV’ who were recording a programme about popular Christmas songs. They wanted to include ‘Stop The Cavalry’, which we recorded over 30 years ago, with The Cory Band, and they wanted us to sing it again. Unfortunately, no chorister had a copy of the music, and, in fact, only 5 members remain who were on the original recording. Also, Channel 4 wanted to start recording from 13th October, just a couple of weeks to learn what was, basically, a new piece!! We also had no copies, no accompaniment, and no arrangement to work from. However, the boys worked very hard to learn the words and Steve created a wonderful multi-track accompaniment on his keyboard, and away we went.  Then, thank goodness, the date for the recording was put back to Tuesday 28th, at All Saints Church, Oystermouth.

In between all this, we had a wonderfully successful concert with the Sydney Welsh choir, from Australia, who were on a tour of Ireland, England and Wales. The concert was held in St Mary’s Church, Swansea, which proved a great venue, and was really well supported, with over 300 in the audience. The concert opened with both choirs singing the Australian National Anthem ‘Advance Australia Fair’ and the Sydney choir sang their first set. They started with ‘A Seekers Celebration’, a medley of songs by ‘The Seekers’ and they also included the piece ‘African Allelujah’ which was accompanied by a conga drum. Their last item was ‘Arglwydd Dyma Fi’ to the tune of Gwahoddiad, which was sung in Welsh.  (To watch recordings from this concert please click the links  ‘I’m Gonna Walk‘, ‘You Raise Me Up‘, ‘Delilah‘  and ‘African Alleluja‘)

We were then treated to some wonderful solos by Greg McCreanor, who had travelled with the choir from Australia. His superb baritone voice filled the church with ease and he sang a varied repertoire. We then sang our first set and ended the first half with our medley of songs from the First World War entitled ‘Memories of the Great War’.

We started the second half and our final item ‘An American Trilogy’ brought the appreciative audience to their feet. Greg then sang again and he finished with a great old favourite ‘The Floral Dance’ and this was followed by a narration by Clive Woosnam. The Sydney choir then sang their last set and finished to another standing ovation, when they sang ‘Y Tangnefeddwyr’, again, in Welsh. The two choirs then joined to sing ‘Cwm Rhondda’ which brought to an end a very special concert.

There were a number of presentations made by our President, Geoff Wheel, and our Ladies Committee presented a commemorative badge to each of the choristers from Australia. The concert finished with our National Anthem. We all then adjourned to the Cross Keys who provided a splendid buffet. 

On Saturday 11th we sang at a special evening at the Marriott. Our chorister, and past chairman, Des Criddle was celebrating his Golden Wedding anniversary with his wife, Barbara. Des is a very faithful member of the choir and it was a great pleasure to sing for him. 

We had another similar evening the following Sunday when we sang for an event organised by Chris Shaw. Chris is a founder member of the choir and he was celebrating his wife’s 70th birthday at the Village Hotel. Once again, we were delighted to attend, and the highlight of the evening was when Chris’ young grandson, Jack, joined us for a song. A new chorister in the making!!

Back in 1981 the Gwalia Singers and the Cory Band recorded their version of ‘Stop the Cavalry’.  Since then it has continued to be popular and every year is a hit at Christmas time in the USA.  Jona Lewie wrote and recorded the original version in 1980. A year later a record company brought together Swansea’s Gwalia Singers and Cardiff’s Cory Band to record a new arrangement of the song.  This version of the song remains one of the most requested of all holiday songs in parts of the USA and it has been suggested that it is “probably the most popular song ever by an artist who never had a charted recording”.

There are still five active members of the Gwalia Singers who took part in the original recording thirty-three years ago.  They are Chris Shaw, Ray Davies, Vernon Simons, Cliff Prosser and Terry Osborn. 

They and the rest of the choir recorded and filmed a new version on Tuesday 28th October in All Saints Church in Oystermouth. 

The recording company is Fresh One, a TV filming company set up by Jamie Oliver in 2000.  Jamie was determined to make popular television that lived up to the word ‘fresh’, new, unexpected, alive, and compelling.  He wanted to make quality programmes that were honest, intelligent and wherever possible, fun.  Since then Fresh has grown and built on these creative strengths delivering amazing, award winning content around the world.

The film will be shown as part of a programme called ‘Christmas Songs with a Story’ and will be shown on Channel 4 in the week leading up to christmas.