The history of the City of Coventry Male Voice Choir is as varied as its musical repertoire, having started life nearly 70 years ago. The Choir originated from an amalgamation of the miners from Binley Colliery in Coventry joining with like-minded singers from the Coombe Social Club, forming the Binley Male Voice Choir in 1946. The original membership numbered only 10 but the enthusiasm for singing soon attracted more and the colliery workers coming from Wales to work at Binley soon had the choir growing and by the end of the first year numbers had swelled to thirty.

Progress was encouraging until 13th July 1947 when disaster struck. On that Friday, Jack Clay the Conductor and other members of the choir were killed in a tragic mining accident.

The choir immediately set about organising concerts to raise money for the disaster fund and raised considerable amounts under the new leadership of Jenkyn Morgan.

The choir went from strength to strength in the ensuing years, and regularly took part in competitions and eisteddfods as well as appearing in many prestigious concerts throughout the country. They performed with many well known soloists of the day. Although Binley Colliery closed down many years ago the Choir continued, albeit with singers now coming from more varied walks of life.

In 1992 it was decided that the name of the City of Coventry should be carried by the choir to enhance its identity. An inaugural concert was held to celebrate this change on 6 November 1992 in St Marys Guildhall, and the choir now officially carries the City emblem.

In 2006, the Choir celebrated its 60th anniversary and throughout the year held special events in recognition of this. The main focus was a concert at The John White Centre, the site of the Binley Colliery entrance. The choir also produced a commemorative CD – Solid as a Rock..

More recently, the choir has participated in Massed Choir concerts at Rugby, and Symphony Hall, Birmingham and appeared in a number of charity fundraising events including November 2009’s very successful concert for Cancer Research UK at Stratford Civic Hall.. The choir has raised several thousand pounds for charities such as Myton Hospice and those connected with cancer treatment at University Hospital, Coventry.

On 6th November 2010 we participated in the 30th Anniversary Wales Festival of Remembrance in St Davids Hall, Cardiff. We repeated the event the following year.

In 2012 and 2018 we sang at The Royal Albert Hall with other male voice and ladies choirs. The event, a Festival of Brass & Voices was a fund raiser for Cancer Research UK.