CMVC Llais Y Fro Mar 2024

ISSUE 12

LLAIS Y FRO The magazine of Cowbridge Male Voice Choir

MARCH 2024

St David’s Day Concert 2024

Table of Contents

Editorial.....................................4-5 St David’s Concert review.....6-7 Bob Jenkins firewalk!..............8-9 Patrons Association………..10 Musical Team expansion…...11 New choristers…….....…......12 Spotlight on Jane Williams.13-14

Fan’s Favourite………...…...15 Looking Ahead……………..16 Place for Homes……………17

CMVC IS PROUDLY SPONSORED BY:

This page: Signers at the St David’s Day Concert wow our audience.

Cover photo: Every space used for our capacity audience on 1st March.

As Springtime begins to adorn our hedgerows and verges with the national flower and colours of Wales, my mood turns to positivity, embracing the idea of new life and refreshment.

It is fair to suggest that the last year or two for our choir has been Spring-like as we have stimulated growth and renewal.

By my reckoning we have welcomed 24 new choristers, introduced multiple new repertoire songs, delivered a choir first by virtue of our BSL signing activity and appointed a

deputy musical director and accompanist. Behind the scenes we have developed a fabulous website, launched a new Patrons scheme and, thanks to the tireless work of committee

Jon Wilks Chairman, CMVC

members and choristers, enjoyed overseas tours and brilliant new concert performances from Shrewsbury to Llandaff Cathedral.

Editorial

If the history of male voice choirs teaches us anything in respect of success, it is that we can never rest on our laurels, however meritoriously earned. The choir landscape, sadly, is replete with evidence of choirs that were once successful but are now not meeting and performing.

Learning British Sign Language for ‘Both Sides Now’ with Heather Williams & Andrew Wellbeloved was an amazing and humbling experience.

Promise & hope…

Our choir only ever takes a

In the run up to those

4 week break in August

events, if you are the wife

when we re-charge batteries, but even then our

or relative of a chorister, please show some patience and understanding. His long

For the gardener, Spring is

musical team will be

showers are only due to a

a time of promise and hope,

reviewing repertoire and

determination to practice in

but he or she will only be

arrangements for the new

great acoustics. His long

year. If you want to be

walks in silence are only

able to benefit from the longer days and warmer weather if some work has been undertaken during the

successful, then you simply have to keep working at it.

because he is singing the full repertoire in his head.

His long periods bedecked

bleaker months. Tune into

in headphones are only

‘Gardener’s Question Time’

because he is listening to

on BBC Radio 4 and you would imagine that

Keep working at it…!

recordings from our chorister zone on the

gardening is a 52 week

website – or at least he

occupation – and you

should be!

daren’t miss one!

Perhaps that is why we are so excited for the coming

Many thanks for your

You’ll therefore hopefully

months as Spring turns into

continued, fantastic

understand when I talk

Summer. We have been

support.

about our choir tours and

working as hard on learning

performances being the

and finessing as I can ever

culmination of work, but

remember, and we are all

only the further evidence of

desperately keen to show

our efforts and energy. For

you the results. Our

our and every other choir,

forthcoming concerts at

we are only as good as our

Llandaff, Hereford and St

last concert – and you

Helier (Jersey) are going to

literally never know who is

set some great new

in the audience!

standards – be certain of that.

Jon Wilks, Chairman

Lorem Ipsum dolor sit

St David’s Day

Concert Review

We were also thrilled to welcome Emma Edwards as guest soprano vocalist. Emma had performed with the choir during outings at the Royal Welsh Show and Margam

Deciding to produce our own concert to celebrate St David’s Day was a bold move and the choir felt a significant responsibility –

Abbey and this was a further opportunity for her to shine which she took.

having decided to do it, we had better do our

Meanwhile, her son, Archie Edwards,

Patron Saint proud!

wowed us with his trumpet playing, following up on his appearance with the

Rest assured, St David, we were bang on it.

This was a joyous concert, full of effervescence, musicality, fun and great singing. The external weather was a true tempest (perhaps in honour of the great man’s birth circumstances in Pembrokeshire),

but there was genuine warmth in the choir’s performance.

choir at Margam Abbey.

All told, this was a concert to be proud of for all concerned – and it was fantastic to have a sold-out audience at Holy Cross church to hear it. Thank you to all who braved the elements!

Every seat taken!

‘Both Sides Now’ signing was again a stand-out audience favourite.

Bob Jenkins’ Firewalk!

There are times in life when one feels genuinely humbled by other peoples’ resilience, determination, fortitude and courage.

So it is for your correspondent when considering the recent past of bottom bass chorister Bob Jenkins. His personal journey through surgery and treatment for cancers, all whilst during covid lockdown and the dreadful limitations that this put on his ability to receive support from family and loved ones was incredible. The fact that he has survived even more so. The fact that he felt that to show his appreciation to the brilliant charity that is Maggies for the support that they provided to him, well, words fail me. Mainly because that support involved a fire walk.

Congratulations from all of us Bob – what an example you are to all.

.

Bob’s fire walk for Maggies’ Cancer Charity was a full-on affair!

CMVC PATRONS ASSOCIATION NOW LIVE! After a huge amount of work from our vice Chair, Chris George, our Secretary Phil Insley and choir administrator Frank Maynard, our new Patrons Association is now live.

Available to anyone interested in the Choir, the Patrons Programme replaces Vice Presidency as your way of showing your support.

It costs a surprisingly large amount of money to run the choir (including the cost of uniforms, hire of rehearsal venues, cost of transport to venues, and the increasing cost of the purchase of music necessary for us to expand our repertoire) As a charitable organisation the choir relies on its members, families, friends and donors to cover these costs. That’s where the Patrons Association comes in!

Available in 2 levels, joining our Patrons Association confers fantastic benefits on you, that vary depending on the level you choose.

SILVER gives you:• Discount tickets to our annual concert • Your name in our Annual concert programme and on our website.

• Your own direct link to our bi-monthly Llais y Fro online magazine.

• Lapel badge.

GOLD gives you:• ALL the silver benefits PLUS… • Choir CD • Certificate of thanks • Patrons Association gold lapel badge • Other special stuff that we are working on!

SILVER level costs £20 per year GOLD level costs £50 per year

Contact the Patrons Association coordinator, Chris George, to register your interest:- chrisgeorge4880@icloud.com

MUSICAL TEAM EXPANSION!

CMVC is absolutely delighted to announce the appointment of two new members for our musical team.

Jane Coles (right of picture) is appointed Deputy Musical Director having excelled during her audition with the choir in February. Jane is also musically involved with Caerphilly MVC and Llantrisant MVC and is thrilled to now be joining Cowbridge in the Deputy MD role. She will attend rehearsal once a month to lead sectional practice and develop a full knowledge of our repertoire.

Scott Williams (second left) is appointed Deputy Accompanist and will work with Sandra Williams to develop the choir’s repertoire and learning of new pieces. He is already the CMVC organist, and this new development will further strengthen his links to the choir.

New Choristers We are very pleased to welcome three new choristers into the ranks of CMVC. Please welcome:-

Keryl Jones Bottom Bass

Williams Ennis Baritones

Huw Lloyd Baritones

Additionally, we were recently delighted to award Alistair Anderson with his green jacket. Alistair’s debut on stage was the St David’s Day concert. He is pictured (centre) receiving his jacket from Deputy Chairman Chris George with MD Rhiannon Williams.

..

Spotlight on: Jane Coles!

Jane Coles – Deputy MD Given Jane’s recent appointment as CMVC Deputy MD, we thought that you might like to know a little more about her!

Jane has enjoyed a varied career in music, as a keyboard player and backing vocalist in pop, soul and jazz bands, including Coast to Coast, the Watchmen and Nerys And The Soul Traders.

In addition to her performance work, Jane is the owner of the widely acclaimed Forte School of Music, in Llandaff, with over 250 students and has also been the Honorary Local Representative for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music since 2014.

Jane won a scholarship to study the piano at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and then went on to study Jazz, Popular and Commercial Music at Newcastle College.

During her career, Jane has been delighted to have had the opportunity to perform with a range of incredibly talented artists and has had the good fortune of gaining audiences with Princess Diana, the Prince of Wales, King Charles and Queen Camilla.

As well as being the Deputy Musical Director of Cowbridge Male Voice Choir, Jane currently also holds the positions of Assistant Musical Director of Caerphilly Male Voice Choir and Accompanist of Llantrisant Male Choir.

The Fab 4 pose for their first team photo!

From left; Sandra Williams, Scott Williams, Rhiannon Williams & Jane Coles.

Fan’s Favourite BOTH SIDES NOW Inspiration first took hold on following a friend’s advice to watch the movie ‘CODA’ (children of deaf adults) that premiered on Apple TV and subsequently won an Oscar for ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Supporting Actor’ in 2022. The scene where Emilia Jones, playing the role of Ruby Rossi, auditions for a place at Berkely University and begins to use sign language to communicate with her deaf parents in the audience is heart rending.

The song that she chooses for her audition is Joni Mitchell’s ‘Both Sides Now’ and, drawing further inspiration from Strictly Come Dancing’s Rose Ayling-Ellis, the proposition to the choir was straightforward – we are going to learn Both Sides Now and some of you are going to sign it to the audience. Instruction was agreed with BSL’s Heather Williams and Andrew Wellbeloved, and the rest is rapidly being written into CMVC history. There is never a dry eye in the house!

Emilia Jones In CODA.

Members of the Choir signing Both Sides Now at the St David’s Day concert.

LOOKING AHEAD! 13th APR 2024 Concert for Maggie’s Cancer Charity Llandaff Cathedral, 7pm

11th MAY 2024 Concert at St Peter’s Church, Hereford for Samaritans, 7pm

22nd JUN 2024 Concert for Family Nursing & Homecare Methodist Centre, St Hellier, Jersey 7pm

Tickets for all these events are available from CMVC ticket agent, Geoff Winnard - 07580 565465.

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CMVC PRINCIPAL SPONSOR GREAT DEALS WHEN YOU MENTION ‘COWBRIDGE MVC’