PARKSIDE COLLIERY MALE VOICE CHOIR
E Tenebris Lux
FROM THE LEIGH JOURNAL
News Leigh Journal Thursday 29th October 2009 Page 3
On song at Royal Albert Hall
11:53am Wednesday 21st October 2009
CHORISTERS will join a massed choir of celebration in the Royal Albert Hall next week.
The Parkside Colliery Male Voice Choir has been invited to help raise the roof at a “Festival of Brass and Voices” organised by Cancer Research UK.
Thirty one male voice choirs and 19 ladies’ choirs will join the best of brass including the Grimethorpe Colliery Band and the Brighouse and Rastrick Band, on Saturday, October 31, from 7pm to 10pm.
The tri-annual festival brings together the collective sound of one thousand five hundred voices from around the UK for an evening of traditional and classical music.
The theme follows closely the format of the Last Night of the Proms, where audience participation is included in such pieces as Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory.
For some members it will be their second trip to sing in the Royal Albert Hall and they are busy rehearsing new songs for the event which aims to raise £100,000. They were last there in 1976 and are no strangers to other top spots, having also sung in St George’s Chapel, Windsor.
The 40-strong choir, which celebrates its 40th anniversary next year, attracts members from Leigh, Wigan, St Helens, Astley and Haydock and is always looking for new voices to replace those who retire or leave.
The friendly group, as well as rehearsing and giving concerts for charity, have a number of social events throughout the year .
They rehearse every Monday from 7:30 to 9:30 pm at The Congregational Church, Hilton Street, Ashton.
Further information is available on www.parksidecollierymvc.co.uk or ring Alwyn on 01942 492588, Neville on 01744 733613 or Kevin on 01942 749755.
From the Huddersfield Examiner
Huddersfield choirs on their way to Royal Albert Hall for Festival of Brass and Voices
Oct 5 2009 By Nick Lavigueur
MORE than a thousand singers packed into Huddersfield Town Hall yesterday to warm up for a massive concert in London.
The amateur choirs held their final rehearsal in preparation for their big day at The Royal Albert Hall in London.
Members of 31 male voice choirs and 19 ladies choirs from across the north of England came together to practice for the National Festival of Brass and Voices on October 31.
A smaller rehearsal for choirs based in the south was held in Swindon last week.
In total more than 1,600 male and female voices from across the UK will sing together conducted by the Queensbury born former manager of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, William Relton.
The lucky choristers will be accompanied by the legendary Royal Albert Hall organ and champion bands Grimethorpe Colliery, stars of the film Brassed Off, and Brighouse and Rastrick. Choirs from the Huddersfield region travelling to the prestigious event include The Moorland Singers, U3A Huddersfield Ladies, Almondbury Ladies Choir, Gledholt Male Voice Choir, Elland Male Voice Choir, Denby Dale Ladies Choir, Millhouse Green Male Voice Choir and Penistone Ladies Choir.
The concert, which happens every third year, raises more than �100,000 for Cancer Research UK and was launched in Huddersfield in 1987 by former Examiner writer Ron Massey.
It was originally called �1,000 Yorkshire Voices�.
Festival chief Syd Harris, said the concert was expanded to the whole nation in 2006 in a bid to keep it alive.
He said: "This is the second time we�re doing it for Cancer Research UK.
"We try to reflect the atmosphere of the Last Night of the Proms.
"All the men sing together, then the ladies sing together and there�s some joint items."
Mr Harris said it would be a memorable day for the amateur choristers, many of whom had been rehearsing for almost two years.
He said: "It�s absolutely vibrant, it�s a wonderful place to sing and the acoustics are magnificent.
"For many of the performers it is like the local pub football team getting to play at Wembley.
"Most of them would never get anywhere near that in isolation of this big day."
Becky Elphick, from Cancer Research UK, said: "It�s going to be an amazing concert and they are raising a phenomenal amount of money."
Info: 01484 647146 or www.royalalberthall.com
If you have your sound switched on you should be listening to the choir singing "Morte Christe"
We invite our Welsh speaking friends to click here just for fun
Local author Geoff Simm has kindly donated to the choir a number of copies of his book about the colliery.
We are grateful to him for that and, apart from selling them at our concerts, are happy to publicise his work.
It’s a fascinating read about the life of a colliery from its inception, digging the very hole that men later went down to fight for coal, to its destruction.
Some say that was done by the demolition men, others say by a woman.
A great tribute to the people who were associated with this once great industry.
