Having been born and lived in Ashby de la Zouch in Leicestershire all my life I feel very local to the choir as although the origin of the choir is in South Derbyshire ,it’s only a couple of miles over the border.

I came back to singing in 2002 after my time as a boy in the church choir from the age of seven until 17.

I also sang in the local music festivals doing solos, duets and singing in school choirs. So what better place to come back to singing then than Gresley Male Voice Choir with its fine tradition of male voice singing now entering its second century.

I spent most of my working life as a miner retiring from Daw Mill Colliery as a Shift Charge Engineer,having moved there from Donisthorpe Colliery, a South Derbyshire mine which closed in 1990. Its an honour to have been elected as chairman of the choir and I hope I can help the choir carry on this fine tradition so I can help to do justice to all the hard work that has gone before. The choir very much represents our industrial heritage, something I feel is all too often forgotten and something I can identify with coming from my working background. Things have changed over the years but I do hope we can continue to make the choir attractive to its members our supporters and our audiences.

If you enjoy singing why not come along and give us a try and I can promise you a warm welcome.