Chester Male Voice Choir, one of Chester’s leading choirs, have begun rehearsals again after lockdown halted face-to-face rehearsals, giving the choir’s new members a chance to perform at their first open rehearsal since the lockdown.
It is planned that the choir will resume live indoor rehearsals in Plas Newton on Sunday 11th July, subject to the lifting of restrictions, and a second outdoor rehearsal will also take place, with a call for local men looking to socialise and share their love of music to join.
The Cheshire based choir, which was founded in 1941 as “The Cestrian Male Voice Choir”, is marking its 80th birthday this year, and the management committee is planning to celebrate with events across 2020 and 2021.
A special 80th Anniversary concert at Chester Cathedral and a Black-Tie dinner to celebrate will be held in November with special guests from the famous Foden’s Band.
Several new members have since joined the choir during the year, and they are now preparing for a return to regular rehearsals in July as well as live performances.
Speaking to TGC about getting together in person after such a long gap, choir Chairman John Walsh said:
“It was so good to finally meet up again face to face and fortunately, the weather was kind to us. The excellent turn-out showed how much members wanted to get back to singing together. We are grateful to our MD Rod Jones who turned out to lead us on his birthday along with Helen Jackson our accompanist. A programme of songs was selected that avoided loud singing and several breaks were taken in the planned one-hour session. It was gratifying to see that, despite such a long period, we made a decent job of our first singing session in over a year”
John added “I do believe that the constraints of lockdown will have focussed the minds of many men in the locality towards wanting more from life both socially and musically and they are invited to contact us to learn how easily they could make that a reality. Potential new members are very welcome to come along and see us at any of our rehearsals. They can contact me directly or via the “Contact Us” page of the choir’s website.”
At the face-to-face meeting at Chester Rugby Club, two long-standing members of the choir who sadly passed away during the lockdown were remembered, Bob Cunningham and Mike Heathcote. The widow of Bob was presented with a lifetime achievement award last year and the late Mike was bestowed an Honorary Life Membership just a few weeks before he sadly passed away in November.
The choir will schedule more events once all restrictions have been lifted and they are confident they can proceed safely. For more information about the choir and how to get involved, visit www.chestermalevoice.com.
Alternatively, you can reach choir Chairman John Walsh by telephone on 07894 509529 or by email at john.walsh@chestermalevoice.com
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