Treharris Treat at St Faith’s Church, Havant, Saturday 15th November
Treharris Male Voice Choir, MD Llinos Davies, piano Anna Bowden, aided and abetted by Solent Male Voice Choir, MD Huw Thomas, piano Rev. Tom Kennar, delighted and delivered a delicious mélange of choice renderings from their respective repertoires; most notably Haydn James’ arrangement of ‘Working Man’ and Jeff Lynne’s ‘Mr Blue Sky’, arranged by Huw Thomas. The former, for me, reminiscent of the Spirituals that emerged from the cotton fields and the latter a metaphor for a brighter future following a period of suffering, both filled with heartfelt emotion.
Too many to mention here, there were special moments galore amongst the other well-chosen pieces, plus an appropriate recitation by David Lusby of Don Crawford’s ‘The Man I Never Knew’, followed with a respectful time of Remembrance.
Male voice choirs are renowned for their diction and definition and a pronounced love of meaning – and Treharris and Solent excelled in all these departments. A packed house whooped and cheered throughout the show, rising as one for the hand-waving and clapping coda of Lennon and McCartney’s ‘Hey Jude’. They were on their feet again after the combined choirs closed the evening with the rousing roof-raising ‘Gwahoddiad’ (‘An Invitation’) sung in Welsh.
As the irrepressible Huw Thomas commented, there’s nothing to beat a Welsh male voice choir, but an English one led by a Welshman has got to be the next best thing.
SMVC is again in action at Portchester Methodist Church, Saturday 6th December, in aid of Rowan’s Hospice, and then Thursday 11th December for a Christmas Concert at St Faith’s Church, Havant.
Anthony Spender
Your are most welcome to come along to our choir practice which is held every Tuesday in The Pallant Hall, The Pallant Centre in Havant, PO9 1BE near Portsmouth in Hampshire, from 7.15pm to 9.30pm.
There is plenty of free parking adajacent to the hall. Visitors are always welcome. You don't have to be a singer.
You don't even have to sing! Why not come along on a Tuesday evening and just listen? Bring your wife, freind or partner too.
The Solent Male Voice Choir is a four-part choir established over 60 years ago by postmen in the sorting office. We currently have around 35 choir members and we sing for fun, singing in four to six concerts per year
You may be thinking "Can SMVC sing at our event?".
Well, yes, we probably can. We love it when other people organise and event and all we do is turn up and sing. It all depends on what, where and when.
