Saturday, March 24th was a significant date in the Choir's calendar. Representatives from 32 choirs from all over Wales, totalling over 900 choristers, gathered in the Manchester Evening News Arena (in Manchester, obviously) for the 50th Anniversary concert of the South Wales branch of the Wales Association of Male Choirs. It was the culmination of two years' work, learning new pieces, arranging the trip, and so on, and what a wonderful experience it was. Of course, we were disappointed that the Albert Hall was not the venue, but that's another story. Of the 18 songs that the massed choirs sang, half were completely new to us and it's a great tribute to Elaine, and to Karl before her, that we reached the concert totally ready for it, given the other learning commitments we've had along the way. The young soloists who performed during the evening were all superb - it's a dead cert that Charlie Lovell Jones, Rhys Meilyr Jones, Joshua Mills and Kate Harwood will be heard of a lot in the future.

We were very pleased to confer Honorary Life Membership of the Choir on Ray Jones at the Christmas concert on December 17th. Ray, alas, no longer sings with us but he has made a major contribution over the years. He sang in the baritone section for 17 years and gave countless solo performances at concerts as well as singing duets and trio pieces with other members. Fortunately, he has agreed to come back to do solos from time to time so he is still very much on the scene.

Another busy year is over. We did a concert in Chipping Sodbury on Saturday 10th December where over £700 was raised for the local Rotary Club. This was treated as a dress rehearsal for the big one, our Christmas concert held in Chepstow Leisure Centre on Saturday 17th in front a capacity audience of about 550. It was a great success. Karl Daymond appeared in the first half as soloist and in the second half we were treated to the witty tongue of Mme Rhondda Tannoy. The main part of the evening, though, belonged to the Choir itself and many of the audience made very kind and complimentary comments about our performance which were a strong reflection on the hard work that Elaine has put in to maintaining and polishing our performance. Rose and Eileen gave of their best, as always.

On Saturday 3rd December the Christmas season-proper opened for us with an attendance at the dinner of the Classic Car Club. A special request had been received that we should burst in on the assembled company singing Calon Lan. This we were able to do and it had the desired effect of surprise and delight.  The intention was to follow that with Men of Harlech as an introduction to the main part of the programme, but, Alas! the electric piano had not been turned on and Elaine and Rose were horrified when Rose hit the keys and nothing happened  -  such are the vagaries of a live performance! The audience took it in good part and were most appreciative of our singing, treating us to a standing ovation and demanding an encore. Now it's full speed down the line to the Christmas concert on Saturday 17th with a stop at Chipping Sodbury for a pre-Christmas-concert concert on Saturday 10th. 

For the last few years we have assisted the local department store, Herbert Lewis - an institution in the town, in the kick-off to their Christmas season. This year is no exception and Elaine and Eileen took us through a few pieces from our repertoire as well as some carols to the delight, we hope, of the shoppers.

On Saturday 22nd October we went to Oxford as the guests of Oxford Welsh Male Voice Choir, along with Maesteg Gleemen. The concert was in aid of a local charity, the Mulberry Bush School, which helps children who suffer from abuse. There were about 90 voices in the combined choirs and the acoustics of Oxford Town Hall did ample justice to the sound. The tenor soloist Paul Arden Griffith performed a selection from his repertoire - what a voice!