Tenby Male Choir – No time to rehearse

There are not many weeks in the year, even in the middle of a concert season where we have no rehearsals but last week was one of those. We had a hotel concert at the Giltar Hotel on Tuesday followed by a formal concert at St Mary’s Church on the Thursday.

The hotel concerts are usually a bit of fun for everyone involved - even the choir  -although of course we do still concentrate seriously on the songs themselves. But there is time for an interval with Eddie Stapleton and his always popular and mildly risqué turn as a stand up comedian. Most of the choir members have heard some of those jokes a few times now but they still evoke a smile. For the audience of course most of them at least are being heard for the first time and they always go down well.

Eric Mullins too is always popular with songs lending themselves to his bass voice such as the Floral Dance a very old English song made famous by Terry Wogan and the Hanwell Brass Band but does anyone remember it by the Eagles under the title “Come on Baby” in 1960? Ah, they don’t make music like that any more.

On Thursday it was back to a bit more formality although there is always a bit of fun even there and some audience participation. After our big event at Pembroke Castle and a trip down to Lawrenny it was good to be back in town and we were pleased to see a very good audience once again at our concert on 16^th July in aid of Huntingdon’s Disease. It was also a second chance to feature brother and sister Talfan and Siriol Jenkins, from Wiseman’s Bridge. Talfan is 14 and Siriol 16. These very talented young musicians performed a very accomplished set of pieces on piano and saxophone which were appreciated by the audience and the choir.

Last night we were at St. Mary’s again for a concert sponsored by local butcher Andrew Rees to whom we are very grateful for his generosity and to make it three in a row we will be at St. Mary’s church yet again on Thursday 30^th July this time in aid of the West Wales Prostate Cancer Support charity. Please come along and support this worthy cause if you can and we promise to give you an enjoyable evening. There are concessionary tickets available for those who qualify.

Look out for more details of outdoor events coming up as we will be at Cresswell Quay and also both Saundersfoot and Tenby Harbours during August, as part of a heavy month where we will hold no less than eight concerts so not much time for rehearsing in that month either. We have a few new members who are going to have to learn “on the job”.

CDs continue to sell well and you can pick up a copy of this new Tenby Male choir CD at any concert or on our website for which there are details below.

New members and supporters are always welcome and anyone can come along to a rehearsal or concert and learn about what choir membership is all about. Rehearsals are on most Tuesdays and Thursdays unless we have a concert on one of those nights. So come along, have a listen and discuss what it’s all about with other members with a post-rehearsal pint to learn how you can support the choir or talk to us if you have a view or some doubts. We are always interested in people’s thoughts about the choir especially those of younger people.

There is plenty of information and interesting stuff on our growing website including video clips. The website can be found at www.tenbymalechoir.org. There are contact details and different ways in which you can get to know more about it all.