Concerts
We perform about 18-20 concerts a year in all types of venue from churches to Concert Halls, between September and June. We are self-contained with our own soloists, but we frequently share the concert stage with Brass Bands and other choirs. In recent years, we have held very successful, pre-Christmas concerts with a local primary school-Bleak Hill School- which gives pupils the experience of performing to a wider audience, as well as providing additional finance for their school funds.

Touring
Since the mid 1970s, touring has become a regular and pleasurable feature of choir life - in fact a real perk for all members and their wives. We have travelled widely throughout the UK and to many countries abroad. We have visited Germany 9 times and developed friendships in California and Chicago as a result of 3 trips. In 2003, one of our members David Dunbavin with wife, Gael, re-located to the south of France. He was able to arrange a week-long tour for a party of 45 singers and 40 wives. We sang at 4 concerts but had plenty of free time for sightseeing and enjoying the glorious weather. May 2007, saw us enjoying a long weekend in Douglas, Isle of Man participating in the Isle of Man Music Festival. In September2008, we travelled to Plymouth for a weekend away so as to take Ruth, our accompanist, "back home". We took part in a joint concert with the Laira Youth Band which was founded and is still run by her father, Tony Hollick. We also staged an impromptu sing-out the following day, at Plymouth Barbican in glorious sunshine.

Television

We have made a number of TV appearances over the years, twice on Granada Television's,'My Favourite Hymns' on Sky television preceding the Rugby League Internationals; on BBC2 at the opening ceremony of the Womens' football European Cup Finals. These have been interesting experiences for the choir giving us an insight at what goes on behind the scenes during recordings. More information.

Recordings
We have recorded in the last 30 years or so, a total of 9 music albums, featuring the wide range of music learnt by the choir and sung at concerts. In earlier years, all the albums were recorded onto vinyl records or audio-cassettes and once sold out there was virtually impossible for them to be reproduced. Now with advances in technology, we have been able to 'recover' them in a digital format to bring them out as CDs. In late 2007, we recorded a new album, entitled "Let There be Music!" We are delighted with the quality of the recording and varied selection of pieces. A rota of choir members' wives run our sales desk at concerts and usually have the complete selection of our recordings for sale. See our Recordings Page for details.

Competitions and Festivals
Competitions are very useful in allowing us to compare our standards with other choirs. We have over the years enjoyed a tremendous run of success taking first place several times in both the Northern and later, the National Male Voice championships. We have competed in the "Radio Wales" Male Voice Choir Competition where we reached the semi finals on two occasions. In September 2000, we participated in the famous Elgar Festival held at Worcester Cathedral. This was a new experience as we came into direct competition with not only male voice choirs but with ladies' choirs and mixed choirs. Winning the Male Voice Class gave us the opportunity to take part in the evening concert at the Cathedral. After a break of a few years, we returned to the International Eisteddfod at Llangollen in 2001 and 2002, achieving on both occasions a creditable fourth place. We have participated in the International Male Voice Competition in Cornwall in 2003 and in 2005 and taken first place at the Isle of Man Festival in May 2007. More recently we competed at the Golden Nightingale Competition in Bournemouth, achieving fourth place against a very strong field.