Tenby Male Choir and friends were invited to go on a river cruise on the Cleddau estuary. The day before was beautifully sunny, the day after was sunny. The day of the cruise was cloudy and before the end of our boat trip the rain was horizontal and we had a good soaking. Spirits were not dampened however and we sang happily despite the rain. Thank you Terry W for organising the cruise. Could we head for the Mediterranean next time please?

Our next social event was a picnic hosted by chorister Charlie McFee and his lovely wife Julie. We were experiencing a heat wave so surely we would be okay? It was sunny the day before, but yet again it clouded over and an hour before the picnic was due to start the rain arrived. After much rearranging of gazebos, tables and chairs we huddled together to avoid the rain. When Jill Williams arrived, she thankfully brought the sun with her and we soon dried out. We were entertained by John B, Mo, a group of choristers and Jill W. A huge thanks to Julie and Charlie for all their hard work. If anyone has a spare rope swing I’m sure that Duncan Hilling who is 90+ years young would appreciate it. He certainly enjoyed using the one in Julie and Charlie’s garden!

The choir sang at St. Mary’s Church in Tenby on July 5. As the day was so hot, it was decided that they would not wear their DJs as planned. This caused our first uniform malfunction of the season as not everyone wore long sleeved shirts as requested and not all bow ties were the correct colour. Tony H had to rush back to the multi-storey car park to find his missing tie. Despite this, they gave a magnificent performance and there were many complimentary comments from an international audience. Again, there were visitors from the North American continent, Europe and Australia as well as people from different parts of the British Isles. One visitor from Ammanford joked that he had told the door staff that he was a friend of John (the milk) Butland and they had charged him extra! There was a good sized audience in the church and there was also a group of young people sitting on a bench listening outside the church. Another visitor from Droitwich said the choir was excellent and our solo violinist Naomi Hunt was wonderful. Naomi is an ex-Greenhill pupil who is studying business management at Exeter University. Naomi was awarded the James Lawford Davies Shield as she passed her grade eight exam with distinction. It was a complete surprise to Naomi when she was presented with this at the end of one of the choir’s concerts last year. Naomi played a piece by Grieg, Thais Meditation by Massenet and Danse Espagnole by Manuel de Falla. Naomi was accompanied on the piano by Mark Thompson who has accompanied the choir on previous occasions.

There was a good response from the audience for the choir’s varied and entertaining programme, audience participation was credible and again Bring Him Home delivered an emotional high. This was quickly followed by My Grandfather’s Clock which caused much laughter and amusement.

It was wonderful to see the awe and surprise on the faces of the audience when Dr. John Harrison added the church organ to the performance of American Trilogy. With Jill giving the keyboard some welly, the choir singing at top volume and the organ blasting out they must have heard us down at the harbour. CDs were on sale at the end of the concert and many of the audience went home with these as a reminder of an unforgettable evening. I am sure that a lot of people aren’t really sure what to expect when they come to hear the choir and are surprised at the professionalism of what is, apart from Ian Williams and Jill (no relation) Williams an entirely amateur group of singers.

The concert was arranged to raise money for The Friends of St. Mary’s Church and just over £1,000 was taken on the door. One of the organisers thanked the choir at the end of the concert for their ‘magnificent’ efforts in raising money for different charities and for helping to promote aspiring talented musicians as their soloists.

Their next performance will be at the Giltar Hotel on Tuesday, July 17, at 9 pm.

Di Mumford