Tenby Male Choir – Film Stars?

The choir held its annual dinner on Sunday 25^th January at the Giltar Hotel. It was very well attended by choristers, partners and other choir supporters. Our president Roy Noble was present as usual and he was in fine form with his tales and reflections on many things relevant to male voice choirs.

Roy is always entertaining and gave an interesting after dinner speech with plenty of humour.  This was also the first official duty for new chairman Paul Varallo who thanked various members for their efforts during the past year and also gave out long service certificates to a number of members.

All members of the choir were pleasantly surprised with a commemorative crystal glass inscribed for the Tenby Male choir 40^th anniversary and accompanist Jill Williams “the best accompanist there is” in the words of Paul was presented with a bouquet of flowers by top tenor Joe Varallo.

An evening of really first class food and service was rounded off with a few of the choir’s favourite repertoire items and a good time was had by all.

On 29^th February at 7pm in the Torch Theatre there is a screening of the film “Save our Choirs” in which Tenby Male choir feature in a small part. The film is principally based on Blaenavon Male Voice choir. A few years ago they were struggling with a dwindling membership as they suffered like so many other male voice choirs to attract new young members and of course in such circumstances choir’s age and lose members as a result. The film tells the story of the choir's journey from the edge of obscurity to becoming the talk of the choral community. Like many traditional choirs, they failed to communicate with a changing digital world and had to completely re-think their strategy.

With the help of film company Focus Shift Films this choir who had been one of Wales' most successful choirs clawed their way back into the spotlight and went on to win Best British Choir at the Cornwall International Male Voice Choral Festival.

This film offers guidance to other choirs in a similar situation and can inspire the choral community to evolve in a digital world.

It is well worth making a date in your diary to come along and watch the film if you have any interest in singing and especially if you have wondered whether being in a choir could be right for you. It is a chance to see why men join choirs, what the experience brings and how much they enjoy it.

The choir will be attending on the night of the film along with other local choirs and it is hoped that the choirs will perform in the foyer of the theatre so you should have the double enjoyment of live performance and the film. It’s a great chance to find out about choirs generally about any of the local choirs specifically and to understand more about choral life. Its not just about singing but it is a fulfilling and enjoyable social life with a variety of different forms of performance and plenty of travel.

Tickets are available from The Torch Theatre box office or their website.

If you can’t make it to see the film but would like to know more about us then look at our website www.tenbymalechoir.org or Facebook account (just do an internet search for Tenby Male Choir Facebook).

Alternatively our secretary David Stewart-Walvin is always glad to receive a phone call from interested people on 01834 844926.