A short history of a new choir

 

These days one is more likely to hear of the demise or amalgamation of male voice choirs than the launch of a new one. However, a group of men chose April 23 rd, St George’s Day, in the year marking the 200 th anniversary of Brunel’s birth (2006) to officially announce their intention to form a new choral group for men living on both the Cornwall and Devon sides of the Tamar River, and beyond. A group of 8 men:

Jim Christophers

Eric Cruse

Ray Hinton

Chris Leggatt

Bill Savage

Terry Pengelly

John Springham

Charles Westlake

 

gathered informally at a house in St Ive and, after some considered discussion, agreed to form the new choir. The choice of name reflected the potential recruiting area of the choir, however they did not realize at the time that they were resurrecting a previous Tamar Valley Male Voice Choir formed in the parish of Calstock after the Second World War.

 

Within a month, the inaugural group had been joined by;

 

Brian Asprey

Bob Berry

Peter Bolt

Richard Morley

Brian Nice

Jeremy Wells

 

to form a choir of 14 singers; 6 top tenors, 4 second tenors, 2 baritones and 2 bases. It had also recruited two excellent accompanists, David Crocker and Elizabeth Sidebotham.

 

Under the musical direction of Rosemary Cole, someone with first class musical qualifications and a wealth of experience, the choir began to develop an innovative repertoire of traditional, classical and popular music. The first practice meeting of the new choir took place in Callington Primary School on 9 th May at 7.45 and it performed for the first time at a Songs of Praise evening at Chillington Methodist Church on Sunday 25 th June 2006 to the acclaim of a large and enthusiastic audience.