History of the Solent Male Voice Choir

Our Musical Directors over the years until now

Eddy Faro

Bunny Hare

Brian McGrath

Ron Habens (ex Second Tenor)

Walter Gillians (ex Second Tenors)

Peter White (from the Isle of Wight)

Margaret Newman

Howard Wilkie

Geoff Porter

Huw Thomas

Great oaks from little acorns grow, they say - and that saying tells perfectly the story of Solent Male Voice Choir.

In the beginning, in 1961, Portsmouth postmen led by Eddy Faro and Bunny Hare enjoyed singing so much while sorting letters they formed a choir. Next step was to find somewhere to practice. That decision led – surprise, surprise – to a series of rooms above Portsmouth pubs.  In the early years the choir was led by Eddie Faro, an assistant inspector in charge of the late duty sorting team and, in the 70’s, by Bunny Hare, a former Army officer and regimental band M.D. who answered Solent’s call for help.

A quiet beginning indeed, followed by a switch to more salubrious practice spaces in church halls in Drayton, Paulsgrove and Copnor before the choir settled into today’s homebase - the Pallant Centre, Havant (formerly St.Faith’s Church Hall).   By stint of hard work and an improving quality of voice, Solent soon became a choral force to be reckoned with, and within ten years of formation it was appearing at the National Eistedfodd at Llangollen,North Wales.  Summers in the Eighties saw Solent joining male voice choirs from places such as Hart, Basingstoke, Reading, Oxford and Weybridge where each choir took turn to host. 

The glory days arrived (and they’re not over yet) in 1992 with a visit to Cardiff Arms Park and the “World Male Voice Choir” featuring 1,000 voices, the massed band of the regimental guards and a Welsh guest soloist called Tom Jones.  Proving that a reprise was not impossible, Solent MVC returned to the Arms Park the following year to appear with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and guest soloist Shirley Bassey.

The choir couldn’t top that surely ? Oh yes ! Two years later in London’s Hyde Park our boys in blue jackets were joining massed choirs to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Victory Europe Day with massed choirs and guests Vera Lynn, Elaine Paige, Sir Cliff Richard and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.  Next big milestone in the choir history came on October 15, 2016 with Solent joining 14 choirs from places as diverse as Hong Kong and Boston celebrating the 25th London Welsh Festival of Male Choirs at the Royal Albert Hall.

It was a prestigious event, with the choirs singing seven songs in Welsh and Solent’s Director of Music Geoff Porter commenting “Our choir enjoyed it greatly and the combined sound of 600 voices was thrilling.”   Their next glory day, a date at the biggest theatre in London - the Coliseum - in October 2019 with 2500 singers from choirs from all over the country to record a charity CD to raise funds for Shelter and SMVC had planned a grand gala concert in 2021 to celebrate sixty years of the Solent Male Voice Choir but covid changed all that.

Huw Thomas emerged as a popular accompanist and vocal trainer. He took over from Geoff Porter, as Musical Director, from 1st September 2020, continuing to impress with his quiet authority and great musicality. During covid lockdowns the SMVC continued to meet using Zoom and, eventually singing outdoors under the "rule-of-six" regulation. We even had asmall following who came to listen every Thursday morning! Even during this period Huw introduced new repertoire which was enthusiastically welcomed by the members and put the choir in good stead for returning to singing as soon as regulations were lifted.

Today Solent Male Voice Choir is enjoying another period of renewed vigour, with many new and very capable singers joining the choir. The Choir is one of the few English MVCs who include songs in Welsh in their reportoire. At a recent concert we were joined by the Abertillery Orpheus Male Choir and in May 2023 we were invited to join the Welsh National Opera as part of the chorus in a new opera "Blaze Of Glory" at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton.