Braintree Male Voice Choir
Braintree Male Voice Choir
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News
MEMBERS IN THE NEWS
14 Choir Members take part in “Come and Sing” with John Rutter
14 members from the choir attended the “Come and Sing” with John Rutter event on Saturday 29th October 2011: Richard and Rob Humphries, Mel Hodsdon, David Wood, David Kelly, Tony Court, Ian Dewis, Alan Rustage, John Evans, Tony Capp, Chris Rose, Ken Willis, John Woods and Elisabeth. In total, over 250 singers took part in the day which was organised by the ‘Colchester Crew’ from the choir and the Rotary Club of Colchester Forum.
It was a really fascinating day and John Rutter was a very engaging, amusing and likable person. He explained his work and gave instruction on singing many of his pieces, including ‘This is the Day’ which he was c ommissioned to write for the Wedding of HRH Prince William of Wales with Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey in April 2011. Everyone had a great day of singing and meeting many other singers from different choirs.
Cam & Mel interviewed at BBC Essex
Mel Hodsdon and Cam Evans took part in the Ian Wyatt’s Sunday breakfast show on Sunday 11 th December. They had to arrive at the BBC Essex studios in Chelmsford by 7.30am in order to look through the Sunday newspapers, as part of their task was to review the papers on the show. The interview also focused on the Choir’s 40 th Anniversary year. The show had been running since 6am and when Cam and Mel were ushered into the studio it had just gone 8am. The interview/review lasted from 8.10 to about 8.50 am with breaks in between for travel reports, weather, news and music. Ian Wyatt played one of the tracks from the new CD, “Do you hear what I hear?”. It was a very friendly interview and they were asked about their time in the choir, the history of the choir and what the choir had been doing to celebrate its 40 th Anniversary. In reviewing the newspapers, one article that Cam had chosen was about a person in Chelmsford having bought up a lot of Waitrose (Heston Blumenthal) Christmas puddings at £13.99 each and then trying to sell them on e-bay at £200 each.
Richard Humphries – ‘Who do you think you are? ‘
At the beginning of October 2011 Richard Humphries was featured in the BBC 1 ‘Who Do You Think You Are? ‘ programme with Len Goodman of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ fame. Len met Richard at his workshop in Sudbury which is one of the few remaining places in the country where the silk weaving tradition still exists. Len was trying to discover more information about one of his ancestors, John Cecil, who was a weaver. Richard is a modern-day silk weaver and an expert on the history of silk weaving.
Richard’s company, Humphries Weaving has been involved in many prestigious projects including work done in Windsor Castle, The White House, USA, the House of Lords, Leeds Castle and many more. If you want to learn more about Richard’s work use this link:
http://www.humphriesweaving.co.uk/history.html
Vince Horsman has poem published in the Essex Chronicle
In the Thursday 20 October 2011 edition of the Essex Chronicle, Vince entered a poem in response to their request from Essex poets to send in their poems. His poem a comical interpretation of a Chinese take-away, entitled: ‘Ode to a Takeaway’, was described by the paper as ‘enthralling’.
The poem:
‘Twas no time and you were gone Left my life without dance or song
We met on Friday at the local chinky
You were wrapped in something slinky
We left, you hanging on my arm
Your brown paper bag ousing charm
Resplendent and silver-cased
You typified the best in taste
Your rich perfume, I smell it now
Chop suey, prawn crackers and beef chow
Mein, and ribs to spare
You touched my lips without a care
During that most playful hour, I found that you were sweet and sour
You even had prawn balls, I’d say
Which must have made you walk that way
68, 35, 37, 64,
They don’t write numbers like that any more
A shadow of your former self
Lies in my fridge upon the shelf
You lasted but two nights my friend
‘Til your existence reached an end
Life is empty without you, how
I miss you so, at least for now.
A rose by any other name
You take-aways are all the same
And after all is said and done,
Quite soon I’ll want another one.
40th Anniversary BBQ - Sunday 14th August
The 'Colchester Crew' organised a BBQ to help celebrate the Choir's 40th Anniversary on 14th August. The day approached and everyone was closely watching the weather forecast - would it be a rainy day or a fine day? We were lucky - it was a fine,dry day with plenty of sun and not too hot - just perfect for sitting outside in Ian's 'back garden' in Fordham. What a wonderful place for a BBQ - everyone was able to explore the grounds and eat and drink as much as they wanted to.
62 members, their partners etc and friends turned up for a really great day out. It was good to see so many there but we were a little sad that John Evans could not be present as he had fallen over and injured his face in a dancing session at his yacht club the previous evening (note to diary - must cut down on those G&Ts) - hope you soon recover John. Seats were laid out on the grass with optional gazebos should the weather turn wet. Gradually people arrived at the allotted time and then the BBQ began in earnest.
We had superb 6oz steaks and sausages from Blixes Farm Shop near Terling, with a great variety of salad bits and rolls to go with it - all superbly cooked by friends of Ian.
For dessert, various members of the choir, their wives and friends had provided a great selection of puddings ranging from pavlovas to fresh fruit salad, fruit pies, strawberries and chocolate cake. It was a sumptuous feast and everyone was well satisfied.
After all the eating was over, Richard and Rob Humphries entertained us on the guitar, banjo and mouth organ, singing and playing songs from the 60s and 70s. What a great way to digest all that marvellous food. They ended with a version of the song everyone knew (one of the choir's favourites) - What would I do without my music? The song is a soul rock anthem that Elvis Presley was getting ready to record just before he died and thought it would be his signature song.
Alan Rustage had set a Music Quiz and everyone struggled to get the right answers - the first part was relatively easy but the second page was for those with a greater knowledge of music. Just how many people did know who wrote 'Harold in Italy?' Anyway, the winning table was led by David Wood and they won the bottle of wine. There was a booby prize for the least points won and they also won a bottle of wine. What a great way to round off a superb day.
Cam thanked Ian Dewis and the Colchester Crew - Alan Rustage and Chris Rose and their wives, for all their hard work in putting the event together, Ian's friends for being great cooks, and especially Ian for the use of his garden and all his brilliant organisation.
A collection was held at the end for Headway Essex which raised £270 which with Gift Aid made a total of £350.
PS 'Harold in Italy' was written by Hector Berlioz.
More photos in the 'Gallery' section.
Photography by Mel and Helen Hodsdon and Vince Horsman
Wedding at St Mary's Church, Bocking
The choir were invited to sing at the wedding of Sarah and Colin on 3rd August at the Deanery Church of St Mary the Virgin at Bocking. Father Giles Tuck officiated at the service and the choir sang a number of pieces including, I write the songs, Ave Maria, What a wonderful world, Morte Criste, Over the rainbow and She. The choir was accompanied on this occasion by Richard Reed. About 28 members of the choir were present and we were invited to have our picture taken with the bride and groom after the ceremony. Fortunately it was a hot and sunny day.
Dinner to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the choir's foundation
88 people, including members of the choir, past members and their guests attended the 40th Anniversary dinner at the Howard Hall Masonic Centre in Braintree on Wednesday 29th June.
The evening started with a sparkling wine reception with canapes and provided a good opportunity for everyone to have a chat, renew old aquaintances and to catch up with the latest gossip.
It was good to see so many old faces from the past and to be able to have a laugh and long conversations outside of the rehearsal time and concerts.
Everyone was ushered promptly into the dining room at 8pm and Denis Hume, as Master of Ceremonies for the evening, opened procedings and the Grace was given by former Choir Chairman, Rev Derek Cowie.
The food was provided by the Orange Tree Catering Company in Braintree and the menu was:
Soup or Avocado with prawns
Roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and seasonal vegetables
Locally grown strawberries with cream
Three cheese selection and biscuits
Tea and coffee with chocolate mints
We all agreed that the food was superb and was organised and served very efficiently by The Orange Tree.
After everyone had finished their meal, Denis introduced the various toasts. Ian Whiteside gave the Loyal Toast. Unfortunately Iori Williams, the Choir's President, was unable to attend due to ill health and so the Rev. Derek Cowie ably stood in to give the toast to the Choir. He recalled the time he was in the choir and said that the two features which stood out for him was the comradeship and fun that he had enjoyed then
Nick Minton, current Chairman, responded. He said that the evening had been a great success and thanked all those who had been involved in its organisation: including Denis Hume who had helped with much of the organisation and his sterling work as Master of Ceremonies, the caterers, The Orange Tree Catering Company, but especially to Ken Willis for his efforts in putting it all together, aided by his wife Maureen.
Nick had one final duty to perform to make an award of Life Membership to Cam Evans in recognition of his long and dedicated services to the choir
The picture above shows Cam receiving his award. Seated at the table in the picture is Alec Poulton, the choir's founder and Elisabeth Miller who took over as Musical Director on Alec's retirement.
Cam had joined the choir in September 1971. Cam, who has barely missed a performance or rehearsal in 40 years, said that during his time in the choir many problems had to be solved such as the collapse of the association with the college, people retiring and the need to find a new pianist or conductor. But these problems had all been overcome. Through it all there remained a nucleus of male singers, enthusiastic and willing to sing anywhere. He said that the choir had been a tremendously important part of his life and it had been great to watch it grow over the years.
Everyone agreed that the evening had been a success.
(More pictures of the dinner are in the 'Gallery' section of the website)
BMVC Representatives Interviewed by BBC Essex
Following the issue of a press release for the new CD and 40th Anniversary dinner sent out by Mel Hodsdon (the Choir's Publicity Officer), Mel received a phone call from BBC Essex's Steve Scruton on Thursday 7th July. Steve wanted to do a slot on his programme the following day at about 3.30pm for about half an hour and was looking for someone from the choir to do an interview. Mel frantically rang some of the officers of the choir but because of the short notice none of the usual suspects were able to do the interview. Mel decided to do the interview himself and Bob Waters kindly said he would do it as well.
As it turned out, 2 members of the choir doing the interview was a good idea as they were able to bounce the questions between them and add in anything the other had forgotten. After having waited in reception at the BBC Essex HQ for a while, they were eventually ushered into the central studio, where they had to wait a few minutes for their turn to go into Steve's studio. Steve had asked in advance if he could play a couple of tracks from the new CD and it had been agreed that "I write the songs" and "Somewhere over the rainbow" would be the 2 songs to be played.
Steve started off by playing "I write the songs" and then followed about 10-15 minutes of interview rounded off by the final track and then a couple of final questions. Steve asked some interesting questions such as "how and why did the choir begin; why were they members of a male voice choir; what awards had the choir won and how long did it take to learn new songs and who decided what songs the choir sang". Mel also talked about new recruits being always welcome and gave details of the website so that listeners could buy a copy of the CD, hire and join the choir.
Steve Scruton made Mel and Bob very welcome and his friendly chatter made it a lot easier to take part in the interview. After the interview, Steve said that they had received several comments from listeners saying that they had enjoyed the music.
Female Coach for Male Voice Choir
A former international opera and oratorio singer took on the role of vocal coach with the Braintree Male Voice Choir. Elizabeth Stokes, who once sang with the renowned tenor Peter Pears at the Aldburgh Festival, improved the choir's techniques and hoped this might attract new members to take up singing.
Coaching began at the beginning of September 2010 and the engagement of Elizabeth was made possible by a grant from the Grassroots Fund.
When the coaching began last year, the choir's musical director Elisabeth Miller said: "The choir has grown considerably over the last few years and has reached a high standard. But we can still improve and we still hope to grow. We are always on the lookout for new members. I'm sure there are people out there who feel their singing voice has potential if someone would show them how. They will now have the chance not only of singing in first class concerts, but would also receive lessons from a professional voice coach". The coaching lessons ended in March 2011.
She said that singing has been proved to be beneficial to health in all sorts of ways including reducing stress levels, boosting the immune system, neurological improvement and back strengthening. New members are very welcome particularly at the start of a new term.
Repertoire
The choir has an extensive repertoire ranging from songs from the musicals such as Bui Doi (Miss Saigon) to popular hits such as Yesterday (The Beatles) to classic male voice choir pieces like Morte Criste.
The choir has also been complimented in both press reviews and individual testamonies on its ability to tackle a wide variety and contrasting styles of music.
The choir has sung in different languages including Zulu (African Trilogy), Hungarian (Autumn Leaves) ans Welsh (Morte Criste)
The following provides a selection of pieces from our repertoire
Autumn Leaves / A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square / Alexander's Ragtime Band / African Trilogy / Ave Maria / Bui Doi / Come All Who Thirst / Do You Hear What I Hear? / Don't Fence Me In / Delilah / (The) Exodus Song / Fishermen of England / The Girl on the Stairs / (The) Gasman Cometh / Hafan Gobaith (Another Day) / I Believe / I Dreamed A Dream / Irish Blessing / I Write the Songs / Kings of Swing / Last of the Summer Wine / The Lord is My Shepherd / Let There Be Peace on Earth / Let's Do It / Morte Criste / Moon River / Over the Rainbow / Oliver / Ol' Man River / Portrait of my Love / Pedro the Fisherman / Rose of England / Rag Doll / Rhythm of Life / She
Music Awards
The choir has recently won three awards for its singing:
1. Sudbury Festival 2008
The first award was received at the Sudbury Festival of Performing Arts. It is a competitive festival open to people of all ages from under five to over eighty. It gives an opportunity fdor people to perform, as a soloist or as part of a group, in front of a sympathetic audience and to receive an expert and friendly assessment from a professional adjudicator.
We won the trophy in the Adult Choir category with a 'Distinction'.
2. Oundle Festival 2009
At Oundle we achieved a double success at the 100th Oundle Festival of Music and Drama at Northamptonshire. The Choir won first prize in the songs from the musicals section, scoring 88 marks and a distinction and also gained a first with 86 marks in the part songs for men's voices category.
3. Medway Festival of Music, Speech and Drama 2010
The Medway Festival provides an annual showcase for amateur talent from across the Medway area and further afield. The choir entered the Male Voice Choir Category and scored 86 marks with a commendation. We received the Sir Richard Proby Cup.
