WORRALL MALE VOICE CHOIR.
NEWSLETTER MARCH 2009
(Registered Charity No. 515038)
First of all, on behalf of the Choir, belated New Year Greetings and thank you to everyone for your continued support through 2008. 2009 started very quietly with a very sparse singing diary but it has “exploded” in the last three weeks with concert requests rolling in. The diary is now looking quite full, particularly from 1st December and the run up to Christmas. We held our Annual General Meeting in February and there were a couple of changes to the Committee. Dennis Frost and David Sunderland wanted to stand down and our thanks go to them both for their dedication and the sterling work they did whilst on the Committee. We are pleased top welcome new committee members John Adamson and Neil Ward. The new Committee is now:-Chairman – Lewis Atkinson
Secretary – Ian PasleyTreasurer – John Wilkinson
Social Secretary – Hugh PrewettCommittee Members:-
John Adamson
Alan Barber (Librarian)Terry Else
Graham Goodman
Frank Street
Neil Ward
It is all systems go now for the Welsh Association of Male Choirs concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London. The seven pieces of music in Welsh which are included in the concert programme are posing some pronunciation problems. It is, with due respect to our Welsh friends, an alien language to Yorkshire men but we are battling manfully on and I am sure we will be “alright on the night”. We are attending the final massed rehearsal in Corwen, North Wales on Sunday, 15th March and then it is off to London for the weekend of 24-26th April for the big event itself. A full list of the current concerts and events diary is attached to this Newsletter and we will be delighted to see you at any or all of them.The next big event in the Choir calendar will be our 40th Anniversary celebrations. I am sure you all now know from previous Newsletters that our celebrations will get underway with a concert in Sheffield Cathedral on Saturday, 11th September 2010 when we will be joined by Weybridge and Dore Male Voice Choirs together with Kathryn McAdam. This promises to be a feast of music and a concert not to be missed. You can keep up to date on what is happening in the Choir by visiting our website on www.worrallmvc.org.uk
Our Chairman, Lewis Atkinson is putting together a small book of the Choirs’ history which we hope to have completed and on sale for the anniversary year. If any of our followers have any anecdotes or stories, funny or otherwise, of things which have happened in the past 40 years, then please let Lewis or I have them and, where possible, we will include them in the book. Recruitment is still a major problem and a worry. The Choir membership now stands at 40 members and the average age of the Choir is now 68 years with a number of members in their 80’s. It should go without saying that we need some “young blood”.In order to try and improve our membership, late last year Frank Street and I attended a seminar in Southend-on-Sea held by Leigh Orpheus Male Voice Choir. They had issued invitations to a number of MVC’s to attend to let them know how they had increased their membership from a choir of 70+ to one which now stands at 148 strong. This increase is indeed phenomenal and was obviously of great interest to us to see how they had achieved such an increase. Some very interesting things came out during the course of the day, some which we hope to implement ourselves. Also in attendance were the Chairman, Alan Hobson and Secretary, Graham Walsh from Bolsterstone MVC. During breaks in the programme we obviously got talking to them and it became apparent that BMVC are suffering the same as ourselves with recruitment. It also soon became apparent that there was mileage in both Choirs talking to one another as it was of little benefit for both Choirs to be fighting in the same areas for new recruits. Since then things have moved on and two meetings have been held between the two choirs and a third is planned for later this month to explore what common ground we have and what we can do together to promote MVC singing in the area to the benefit of both choirs using the Leigh Orpheus MVC model. These discussions may or may not come to anything but to do nothing is not an option. If by pooling resources and ideas we can come up with a positive result and increase membership for both Choirs then we can consider it a success. I will keep you up to date of the progress in future Newsletters. This does not mean that we cannot recruit independently of each other so if there are any men out there who fancy singing with a very sociable group then please feel free to come along on any Monday or Friday night at 7-30 p.m. to Worrall Independent Chapel on Towngate Road and you will be made more than welcome. We appreciate it can be a scary proposition on that very first occasion to “put your foot over the doorstep”. Please don’t let that put you off. Give me a call on 0114 2344 374 and I personally will bring you along or arrange a lift with a more conveniently located member to bring you so that it is not such a daunting experience.
It was again with great sadness that we had to say goodbye to two former members in Keith Wright and Geoff Parkin. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their respective families and they will be sadly missed.
It is looking more and more likely that our ladies Support Group will not be holding a Spring Fayre this year. This is due to a number of factors but mainly resignations from the Group due to ill health leaving them short on numbers for manning the stalls. (Can I say “manning” for a ladies Support Group!!). I am afraid we have to recognise that we are all getting older and things sadly start to wear out!! We also have to recognise the passing of Margaret Godley, a stalwart helper and supporter of the Group for many years. Our prayers and thoughts are with Derek and the family.As always there is a Diary Sheet with the Newsletter so we will be delighted to see you at any of the concerts or events listed.
If anyone would like to help us cut down on the amount of paper we use and would like to receive the Newsletter by E Mail then please let me know. Drop me an E Mail to Secretary@worrallmvc.org.uk and I will be delighted to send it to you this way in future.
Ian Pasley – Secretary Worrall Male Voice Choir – March 2009
Last Updated: April 06, 2009