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.
