**CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK **
NO CHOIR PRACTICES OR CONCERTS
FOR FORESEEABLE FUTURE
SITUATION WILL BE REVIEWED AT A LATER DATE
AS THE OUTBREAK PROGRESSES
Saturday 13th October saw another magnificent concert by the Choir at the Bedwas Workman’s Hall with “Treble C” a trio of young local girls, Caitlin, Clara and Connie, all still at school and college, also the “Bournemouth Concert Band” who last year celebrated their 25th anniversary. The Band was led by Simon Nicholls ex-Royal Marines Band.
September was a very busy month for the choir,
1st September a local concert at Abertridwr YMCA
Which was celebrating its 80th anniversary.
And “missionary work” on,
22th. September in Somerset at the South Brewham Parish Church
29th September near Cheltenham at Highbury.
1st. September
The choir had a new experience today. They were asked to sing at the home of an ex-Senghenydd man who has a very short time to live.
Twenty-nine of the choir drove down to Llanrumney to sing in the gentleman’s garden – a complete surprise to him. He thoroughly enjoyed the music, which he shared with many of his family and friends.
The family provided the choir with food and drink as a thank you.
Paste following link in the address bar for short video:
https://www.facebook.com/BBCWalesNews/videos/2069740403077950/
It was a truly marvelous occasion.
2018, March,
A successful St. David’s Day Concert was held at Penyrheol, the audience was treated to Welsh Cakes and Bara Brith as well as the special guest performers “Treble C”, three local young girls with beautiful voices,
Click on the link below(or copy and paste into site address) for a medley of some of the songs performed by the Aber Valley Male Voice Choir on the night.
https://youtu.be/yErNgV146h0
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Our St David’s Day Concert which was due to take place on Friday the 2nd of March has had to be rescheduled to Friday the 9th of March due to adverse weather conditions.
A little information on Saint David,
He was born on the Pembrokeshire cliffs during a fierce storm. Legend has it he was the son of Sant (aka Sanctus), king of Ceredigion and a nun called Nonnita (non). Though this has been dismissed by historians who instead say he descended from Welsh royalty.
In medieval times people thought he descended from King Arthur.
David became a monk at a young age and is said to have founded a monastery close to where he was born. This area is now known as St Davids.
The Cathedral and St David’s Bishop’s Palace are built on the site of the original monastery
A legend harks back to a battle when the men in Wales fought to protect their land from Saxon invaders. Wales was losing, both sides wore similar clothing making things confusing.
A monk noticed it was becoming an issue, so he cried out: “Welshman, you must mark yourselves so that you can better tell who is Saxon and who is Welsh.”
The monk plucked a leek from the ground and added: “Here, wear there so you will know any soldier who does not have a leek is your enemy.”
They thought it was odd, but they went along with it. Soon all soldiers had one on their helmet. The Welsh won the battle. The monk? David!
David is said to have died on March 1, 589 AD at 100-years-old
1st. September
The choir had a new experience today. They were asked to sing at the home of an ex-Senghenydd man who has a very short time to live..
Twenty-nine of the choir drove down to Llanrumney to sing in the gentleman’s garden – a complete surprise to him. He thoroughly enjoyed the music, which he shared with many of his family and friends.
The family provided the choir with food and drink as a thank you.
Follow link for short video
It was a truly marvelous occasion.
The last 12 months have been busy for the choir, with nearly forty engagements, both local and national.
Concerts range for performances in Sennybridge, Taunton, South Brewham (Somerset), Bournemouth (sharing the program with the Bournemouth & District Concert Band – next year’s annual guests), South Cerney in the Cotswolds, Cookhill near Stratford upon-Avon, with many sung locally in Blackwood, {Mayor’s charity appeal}, Ely (with the St Fagan’s Primary School) and our own Sponsored Sing, where the choir raises money to enable them to support so many charities- helping Motor Neuron Society, Ty Hafan, Bloodwise, the Forget-Me-Not Chorus (for dementia sufferers) and many more.
Next year is yet another exciting time, when the choir visits Bruton in Somerset, Cheltenham, Bradford Abbas near Sherborne, Hambleden near Henley-on-Thames, Collier’s wood in London, and Chelmsford, where the choir performs at the city’s Cathedral!
The social life of the choir is also very important with regular social evenings where the choristers and wives get together – thus bonding to make the choir a very happy one.
* NB Gents – come along and give it a try
!
On Friday 21 April, the Aber Valley MVC will be gearing up for a concert at St. Helen’s church in Caerphilly which will be in aid of the Forget-Me-Not Chorus. Starting at 7pm the concert will see the choir perform a range of music from its 2017 repertoire and it promises to be a wonderful evening of entertainment. The Aber Valley Male Voice Choir has just returned from a successful tour to sunny Bournemouth and they are looking forward to singing in front of a home crowd.
Paul Newman, Chairman of the choir is keenly anticipating this Friday’s performance. He said: “It is a brilliant cause, as the Forget-Me-Not Chorus helps to provide weekly choral classes for dementia sufferers and their carers. Having witnessed the calming effect music can have on a dementia sufferers, I am keen that we help support this cause.”
You can find out more about the Forget-Me-Not Chorus on their website: http://www.forgetmenotchorus.com
The Aber Valley MVC braved some torrential late winter weather in order to perform a wonderful St. David’s Day concert at the Penyrheol Community Centre on Wednesday 1st March. The men of the Aber Valley were joined by Joanne Griffiths, one third of local trio Serin, and up-and-coming soprano Katie Phillips.
The choir performed a range of music from its Welsh language repertoire, including classics such as ‘Myfanwy’ and ‘Tydi a Roddaist’ as well as a couple of songs the boys have been working on over the last few weeks. Some of the newly worked on pieces included the late Leonard Cohen’s classic ‘Hallelujah’ and Billy Joel’s lesser known work ‘And So It Goes’.
Joanne performed as a solo act which did nothing to diminish her outstanding voice, her rendition the timeless Welsh lullaby ‘Suo Gan’ being a particular highlight. Meanwhile, Katie, who is a student at Lewis Girls’ School, produced a polished performance – wowing the audience with an American folk song entitled ‘The Water is Wide’.
Away from the music, the audience enjoyed a plethora of Welsh cakes and sales of the choir’s CD went very well indeed!
The choir now prepares for a busy few weeks with concerts for a range of worthy charitable causes such as LATCH, the Forget-Me-Not Chorus and Breast Cancer Research. We look forward to seeing you at our forthcoming events.
The Aber Valley MVC has enjoyed a spectacular 2016. We enjoyed not one, but two international visits and performed at a dozens of concerts, fundraisers and weddings. It was a record breaking year for the choir (we have never had quite so many concerts!) and by Christmas, the choristers had earned a thoroughly deserved break. However, now we are into 2017, it is time to go again and rehearsals have begun in earnest, with the choir getting their teeth into some new pieces of music.
We will be making our first public performance of 2017 at the Twyn Community Centre, Caerphilly on Saturday 28th January from 10.30am where we will be holding a 3-hour sponsored sing. Choristers will be fundraising for the choir by collecting sponsorships for this event, so we do hope that friends of the choir can give generously. Following our sponsored sing, our next public engagement will be our ever-popular annual St. David’s Day concert at the Penyrheol Community Centre on Wednesday 1st March, at 7.30pm.
Our ‘Events’ page has now been updated with details of our confirmed engagements and keep an eye on the website and our social media (Facebook and Twitter) for all of the latest choir news. We wish you all a happy and healthy 2017 and we look forward to catching up with you soon. Blwyddyn Newydd Dda i chi gyd!
PS – Do remember that we are always on the lookout for new choristers to join us. So, perhaps you are retiring this year, or maybe you’re just looking for a new hobby, then come and check us out!
On Sunday 6 November, the Aber Valley MVC performed at a gala concert for the VAN-Guard Centre of the Caerphilly United Reformed Church. We were very pleased to perform in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association and on the night we were able to raise over £1,160 which is a fantastic sum for such an important medical cause.
Paul Newman, Aber Valley MVC Chairman was very pleased with the response from choristers and the community. He said: “The boys were on top form on Sunday and there was a great local crowd to hear us. It was particularly pleasing to see Hefin David, our local Assembly Member in attendance.” He added: “To raise such a generous sum at a time of year when there is a lot of financial pressure and charity fundraising is testament to the drawing power of the Aber Valley choir and our community’s generous spirit.”
John Wade, Honorary Treasurer of the VAN-Guard Centre thanked the choir for their efforts. He expressed his appreciation for a “memorable night” and also highlighted our bass section for particular praise on what was a fantastic Sunday evening of music.
The Aber Valley team now look forward to Remembrance Sunday in Senghenydd, singing at the URC from 10am. We have also updated our Events page with all the latest for a busy Christmas period and 2017 is fast taking shape.
The Aber Valley MVC is very proud to announce that it will be singing alongside a very special guest at its Annual Concert on Friday 21 October at St. Helen’s Church, Caerphilly.
Siobhán Owen, world renowned soprano and harpist will be flying all the way from Siberia to join the choir as it marks its 57th year. The concert will also feature piano duets from the marvellous Aurelia Jones and Harriet Jenkins.
The choir will be performing a diverse repertoire of music, traditional and contemporary including pieces that it has been working on since returning from the Loirent Iner-Celtic Festival in August.
During the festival in Brittany, the Aber Valley MVC sang alongside Miss Owen at the Stade du Moustoir in front of audiences of thousands. The boys were very impressed by the sheer power and ethereal quality of Siobhán’s singing and so to bring her home to Caerphilly, for what promises to be a magical evening of music, is a huge success.
Siobhán Owen emigrated from Llanfairpwllgwyngyll with her parents at a young age to move to Adelaide, Australia. She has performed across Australia and now brings her music to audiences across the world. She has a Celtic and folk repertoire although she has also been known to perform some jazz numbers. She has released 5 albums to dates despite only being 23 years of age.
Aurelia Jones is the Aber Valley MVC’s regular accompanist. She has been playing alongside the choir since 1982 and has performed in hundreds upon hundreds of choir concerts. She is joined by the choir’s Deputy Musical Director, Harriet Jenkins. Miss Jenkins has worked with the choir on a range of new music this summer, and she is also a fabulous pianist.
Tickets for this exciting concert are available now from Trevor Davies, AVMVC Secretary. He can be contacted on 02920 864 246 or 07443 591 381. Alternatively, for more information, you can contact Trevor via email on thed7144@gmail.com
We look forward to welcoming you all to St. Helen’s on the 21st.
On Saturday 24 September, the Aber Valley MVC was very pleased to perform its first concert of the autumn. The boys travelled over the Severn to Cheltenham, home of National Hunt racing in order to perform a concert at the Highbury Congregational Church.
The concert in aid of Christian Aid took place in front of a packed out crowd who enjoyed some fine singing and a varied programme. Musical Director, Geraint Evans was on form as usual in his conducting duties and our brilliant accompanist, Aurelia Jones was magnificent as usual. Not only did she play for the choir, but she also accompanied the wonderful soloist, Clare Robertson. The Aber Valley MVC is very fortunate to sing alongside such talent. We were also ably assisted by our Deputy Musical Director/Accompanist, Harriet Jenkins who both conducted and accompanied several numbers. The choir is extraordinarily fortunate to have such a diverse and talented musical team to support it and help it wow audiences across the U.K. and indeed the world!
The next engagement for the choir will be Friday 30 September. The choir will perform at a concert in aid of the Caerphilly Miners Centre for the Community at St. Helen’s Church, Caerphilly. Tickets are available on the door and the concert starts at 7pm. We look forward to welcoming you there.
The Aber Valley MVC is hosting an Open Rehearsal at the Caerphilly Cons Club on Wednesday 28th September, from 6.30pm.
The choir, having just returned from a successful Summer tour to Lorient, France, is looking to recruit some new members who share our love of music, singing and, of course, “wine tasting!” We are hosting an Open Rehearsal so that men with an interest in the choir can come along, listen to our practice and have a go at singing, with no obligation. It will be an excellent chance to meet choristers, both new and veteran, and ask them about their time in the choir and what they get out of it.
It promises to be a fun, informal evening where we can reach out the the local community and show them the benefits are choir can bring. We hope to see you there.
We will also be hosting another Open Rehearsal on Wednesday 30th November at Bedwas RFC.
The Aber Valley Male Voice Choir are pleased to announce that they will be performing a concert alongside soloist Clare Robertson at the Highbury Congregational Church in Cheltenham, on Saturday 24 September at 7pm.
Fresh from their return from the world’s biggest Celtic festival in Lorient, Brittany the choir will be performing a variety of music at the concert which will seek to raise money for Christian Aid’s “Healthier Futures for Women and Girls” project in Ethiopia. You can read more about this wonderful initiative here.
Advance tickets for the performance can be obtained from Highbury Congregational Church for £10.00 each. You can send a cheque payable to Highbury Congregational Church along with a stamped-addressed envelope to M. Michael, 9 Crown Drive, Bishops Cleeve, Cheltenham. GL52 8EF. Alternatively, you can contact the church on 01242 677897 (or 238838) for further information.
