What a joy and pleasure it was to be at the concert at St. Mary's on Saturday evening, May 10. We had two choirs for the price of one and two very good choirs, when Tenby Male Choir hosted Romsey Male Voice Choir for a weekend of fellowship, camaraderie and song.

It was a perfect summer's day, followed by a perfect evening and a good audience of well over a 150 came to the church to enjoy themselves. As usual, the choirs sang items separately and as a combined choir, with Tenby's Ian Williams conducting the first combined item and Romsey's South African-born lady MD, Hanalie Beckker-van der Merwe, conducting the second. Following these two items, Tenby Male Choir then sang six items from their current repertoire, including 'The Gospel Train' with its very effective dynamics, much approved by a local well-known musician, and the passionate 'Nirvana,' sung with that beautiful combination of tenderness and strength.

Paul Varallo, one of Tenby's second tenors, sang two solo items, 'Suo Gan,' a Welsh lullaby, a 'Aubade' a French aria from the opera 'Le Roi D'ys Lalo.' This was a lovely choice for solo items and provided a complete contrast to the music the choirs chose.

When Romsey Male Voice Choir opened their selection of six pieces, it was to sing the stunningly different tune to 'There is a Green Hill Far Away,' written for St. David's Cathedral some years ago and the chairman of the choir, Keith Lawrenson, was delighted to tell me, that having visited St. David's Catherdral only that morning, the tune meant so much more to him now. It was a dramatic opening piece and helped the audience to hear the words of that lovely old hymn in a new way.

Following their first piece, Romsey next sang two African pieces in 'An African Medley.' This was appropriate, given their conductor's origin. The first piece, sung in English, was translated as 'Prayer for Africa' and their second, sung in Xhosa was 'Glorify God.'

Afterwards, Romsey's compere Terry Morrison introduced a piece with a true story, the story of how the song 'The Grandfather's Clock' came to be written. According to Terry, the name of the Longcase clock came to be altered to 'grandfather clock' from that date onwards.

A piece from the well-loved 'Les Miserables' was followed by 'Nesun Dorma' from 'Turandot,' sung with lovely clear enunciation and in full voice, and the final item was 'Bohemian Rhapsody' a fiendishly difficult piece, learned, I understand for a 1,000- voiced concert given in Manchester a couple of years ago.

As an extra item, Romsey choir sang a medley from G. and S., allowing their chairman to sing the solo part in 'A policeman's lot' - wearing the appropriate headgear!

For their 'solo' item, Romsey unusually gave the slot to their accompanist for the evening, Richard Scott-Copeland. Richard is a professional musician, whose work as an accompanist on piano and/or organ takes him all over the UK and abroad, accompanying choirs and soloists. He qualified at the Royal Academy, London, and worked for the BBC for a while, but his love is travelling to play with choirs. As his wife is an opera singer and his eight-year-old son is about to start a music scholarship at Christ Church School in Oxford, Richard obviously lives in a very musical home. For his solo item, Richard played 'Dusk' on the piano. Composed by A. Gibbs, it was delightful to listen to and much enjoyed.

When the choirs combined for their final items, David, compere for Tenby, gave out the usual invitation for any male visitor in the audience to join the group for 'Morte Christe', and gave his thanks to all who had helped to make the concert possible, including the clergy and officers of St. Mary's. Romsey's compere had already thanked Tenby choir for their welcome and in particular, Peter Spacey, who had hosted their tour that day, arranged hotels etc and had been the link man between Romsey and Tenby all along. This was because Peter was actually a founder member of the Romsey Male Choir, before he moved to Pembrokeshire and joined Tenby.

The joint choirs began with 'You'll Never Walk Alone', conducted by Hannalie and accompanied by Richard, and then 'American Trilogy', conducted by Ian and accompanied by Jill. There was, however, a wonderful moment in the last 16 bars, when the organ suddenly came in, on full power, when Richard had quietly slipped over to the organ to join Jill in 'raising the roof,' with all 75 men singing 'Glory, Glory Hallelujah' in full voice. It literally made the earth (floorboards) tremble.' Morte Christe was the final item before the National Anthems were sung and the audience burst into loud, sustained applause.

After the concert, it was down to the County Club for a superb buffet laid on by wives and friends of Tenby Male Choir and after appropriate toasts and presentations, some glorious impromptu singing began, including the singing of 'Happy Birthday' to Peggy, a stalwart supporter of the choir, mother to Jill, whose musical talents are without equal, and to Kevin, who sings in the baritone section. Thank you, Peggy, for your gifts to the choir and here's to lots more birthdays!

The Romsey Male Voice Choir is a relatively new choir, but they have left a lasting impression on Tenby as to the quality of their singing. Founded by Keith Lawrenson through an article in a local paper in 1995, the choir has grown from the 11 who turned up on that first night (the number has a certain resonance, doesn't it?) to 50-plus members, 38 of whom came to Tenby, most bringing their wives with them. A party of well over 70 came to stay, some for several days.

Keith told me how their first musical director was a man called David White, but when he left, Hannalie came to them, under an arrangement with her employers. Apparently, Thorden School in Chandlers Ford has an excellent music centre, and Hannalie works there, but as part of her contract when she arrived from South Africa to take up the post, she was asked to work 'in the community' and this is how she came to conduct Romsey MV Choir. Her enthusiasm and obvious musical ability is clearly paying off. Her delight and energy at the 'afterglow' in the County Club was infectious, and more than one person commented that Romsey Male Voice Choir was probably the best visiting choir to sing with Tenby for a long time.

A most enjoyable evening of fun, laughter and glorious singing ended with the true hope that we at Tenby will visit Romsey choir in the not-too- distant future.

Tenby Male Choir's next concert is for Christian Aid on Tuesday, May 20, at St. Mary's Church, Tenby. It is hoped that the many people who are committed to helping the poor will do so by supporting the choir in raising money for Christian Aid on that evening.

On the following Tuesday, May 21, Tenby Male Choir will be singing at St. Johns Church. Any male reader in the community interested in joining the choir, phone secretary Neville on 01834 810002, for an invite to come along to a practice.

M.N.