The Choir's 40th Anniversary celebrations kicked off in style with a concert at Sheffield's Anglican Cathedral on 11th September.   Sharing the platform at the beginning of our celebration year were our friends from Weybridge and New Mill Male Voice Choirs,  and Kathryn McAdam (a young lady who will undoubtedly be a star of the music world for years to come).  The concert was compered by Christa Ackroyd from BBC's Look North.    Many thanks to all who contributed towards the success of the concert,  with special thanks to the following:-

 

The Concert Venue

The concert commenced at 7:30,  and Worrall were introduced by Christa as "The Birthday Boys".  We sang 5 pieces of music,  these being "The Jolly Roger", "Send out thy light", "Cockles and Mussels", "Deus Salutis" - in Welsh, and finished with "A medley from 'Les Miserables'".   Then Kathryn sang 5 pieces, accompanied by Steve Vickers on the piano - these were "Tonight" from West Side Story, "If I loved you" from Carousel, "Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix" from Samson & Delilah,   "Out of my dreams" from Oklahoma, and finishing with "O mio babbino caro" from Gianni Schicci.  The first half of the concert was brought to an end by Weybridge MVC, who sang 6 pieces - "Amen", Serenade from The Fair Maid of Perth, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", "Cwm Rhondda", "Little Brown Jug" and ending with "With Cat Like Tread" from The Pirates of Penzance.

 

Kathryn McAdam

New Mill MVC began the second half of the celebrations singing 6 pieces - These were "Let all Men Sing", "Still as the night", "When I fall in love", "They can't take that away from me", "There is a balm in Gilead", and "The Lord's Prayer".   Kathryn then returned to sing a further 5 pieces - these were "Una voce poco fa" from Il barbiere di Siviglia, "Somewhere over the rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz, "I feel pretty" from West Side Story, "Voi che sapete" from Le nozze di Figaro,  and "Somewhere" from West Side Story.   Then, came the finale - Four pieces, conducted by 4 different conductors.  First, the Combined forces of Worrall, Weybride and New Mill sang "Morte Christe", led by the musical team of New Mill (Conductor - Elizabeth Hambleton, Accompanist - Anne Levitt).  This piece was dedicated to those who lost their lives in the 9/11 tragedy in New York City 9 years previously to the day.  Kathryn then joined us to sing "The Easter Hymn" from Cavalleria rusticana, led by the musical team of Weybridge (Conductor - Christine Best, Accompanist - Mike Wood).  The third piece in the finale was "Speed your Journey" -  this piece was conducted by the concert compere, Christa Ackroyd and the accompanist was Steve Vickers, the Worrall accompanist.  After the final presentations to our guests,  the concert concluded with the combined Male Choirs singing the "Grand March from AIDA" led by the musical team from Worrall (Conductor - Nigel Russell, Accompanist - Steve Vickers.