Tonna Male Voice Choir

History

The Tonna Male Voice Choir evolved from a weekly "sing a long" at the Railway Tavern in Aberdulais. From this group of men with a love of singing, in keeping with the Welsh tradition, it was not long before a committee was formed, and thus the foundation for the Tonna Male Voice Choir was laid. The choirs' first Chairman was Mr Harold Bradley with Mr Clive Evans as Secretary.
An initial membership of 16 in 1968 increased rapidly and within a year the choir was some 60 strong, this necessitated a change of rehearsal room from the Railway Tavern to the Tonna Junior School. Membership continued to increase and by 1971 the choir numbers had grown to over 80, this strength of numbers continued for several years but then in common with most other choirs in the area, the declining industrial base in the area took its toll and numbers started to decline, there has been a revival of interest over recent years and the current-membership of the choir stands at 32.
The first conductor of the choir was Mr. Les Davies from Neath who was at the helm for 6 years, and who was responsible for setting the choir onto the narrow path that is the search for excellence. When he retired in 1974 his successor was Mr. Sid Jones, who held the baton for 4 years. Following the retirement of Mr. Jones ,Mrs. Mair Lewis was appointed. At this time she was most probably the youngest conductor of a male voice choir in Wales! Mrs. Lewis was the Musical Director for 18 years and together with accompanist Lianne Miller was instrumental in pushing the standards of the choir a little further along that elusive search for perfection. Next to take up the baton was Aled Maddock who remained in charge for 5 years before pressure of other commitments forced him to stand down.

Today's Musical Team

Today's Musical Team consists of Musical Director Susan Hopkins, although born in Resolven Susan now lives and works in Tonna, she has progressed "through the ranks" of the choir so to speak, she joined the choir in 1986 as assistant accompanist, and was appointed to the post of Musical Director in 2002. Susan teaches at Tonna Primary School where she is also music co-ordinator, Susan is a former pupil of Madam Eileen Gethin Jones of Tonna. Accompanist to the choir is, Elizabeth (Liz) Capra. Liz, who hails from Port Talbot, studied piano with Iverna Ward Williams, became accompanist for the Port Talbot Afan Ladies Choir, was a member of the well known Port Talbot group 'TRILOGY' for whom she used her many talents including singing, playing piano and guitar. Liz was accompanist for the Cor Meibion Aberavon, and toured with them to Canada and Holland, she is currently organist for St. Joseph's R.C. Church Port Talbot.
Of the original band of choristers we were proud that until recently there were still 3 founder members in today's choir. Unfortunately there are now only 2 founder members remaining, Keith Thomas who has been unable to attend choir since Christmas 2002 has now decided to retire from the choir. There are also several current members who joined the choir shortly after its formation, this is truly outstanding service by any standard of measurement. The committee are proud to have presented 13 long service members with their 25 year badges over recent months.

More Information

The choir made its first public appearance on Thursday 24th April 1969 at St. Catherine's Parish Hall, Melyn, Neath in a concert for Christian Aid, this tradition of supporting charity has continued to the present time with some 90% of choir concerts being for charitable purposes. The choir are proud of their achievements in having raised something of the order of £280,000 for charity over the past 39 years.
With the closure of the Tonna junior School the choir were once again forced to move "home", this time a short distance to the new Community Centre which is still the headquarters of the choir, and where it practises on Monday and Wednesday evenings, and where new members are assured of a warm and friendly welcome.
The choirs first Annual Concert was performed at the Welfare Hall in Resolven on Thursday 22nd January 1970, this venue was used for several years for the Annual Concerts of the choir, unfortunately there were no suitable buildings in the village of Tonna to accommodate such an event. A change of venue to the Gwyn Hall in Neath was made in 1972 and this is now the home for the choirs Annual Concerts.
On September lst 1971 the choir made their first Radio broadcast on the BBC Welsh Programme, "AWR GERDD", it is interesting to note that the supporting artists on this programme were also from the village of Tonna. From this first excursion into the world of radio, the choir has now made several broadcasts. The choirs first appearance on Television was in 1977 during a tour to Scotland, since then they have appeared several times, featuring on program's as diverse as "Songs of praise" and Channel 4's "Big Breakfast". The choir also recorded a series of programmes for BBC Radio Cymru which were broadcast in the Autumn of the year 2000.
With the increasing popularity of the choir, several requests were being received for recordings and so, in September 1981 the decision was taken to put the sound of the choir onto record. The making of a recording requires a substantial financial investment and fortunately a sponsor was found to finance the venture, this proved to be a successful venture because within a short time of the recording "Take me Home" going on sale, the choir were able to repay the sponsorship. The choir has since made another four recordings, this time financed completely from within the choir (valuable assistance being provided by the Ladies Section) in November 1986 the recording "Memories" was released and in May 1993 to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the choir the latest release "A Silver Celebration" was issued. All these recordings have proved popular with audiences throughout the country and the decisions to invest in these recordings have proved worthwhile. To keep up with the new technology, in September of 1999 the choir released their first CD "Unwaith Eto / Once Again" this was also released on tape, the choirs latest release is a CD entitled "KILGWRRWG", this is a joint recording with Chepstow M.V.C. and features tracks from both choirs as well as joint items.
For more information about Tonna MVC please go to:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bryan.thomas/history.htm

Profiles of Founder Members

PROFILES OF FOUNDER MEMBERS STILL WITH CHOIR
Of the sixteen people who met at the Railway Tavern in 1968 to form the Tonna Male Voice Choir, there are still 3 who are active members of the choir, an achievement of which they can be proud.


CLIVE POPE
Clive was 26 years old when he joined the choir, he is the current Secretary of the choir, a position he has held several times over the years. Clive has always sang in the second tenor section.


PHILLIP WILLIAMS
Phil was probably one of the youngest of the 16 original members, as he was only 20 years old when the choir was formed. Phil has been in the Baritone section since joining the choir.


KEITH THOMAS
Keith is now one of the oldest members of the choir, he was 59 when he joined and is now 82 years old. Keith was the second Chairman of the choir, and has sang in every section, starting as a T op Tenor, he has gradually worked his way down to the Bottom Bass where he now sings.

The Musical Team

Susan Hopkins A.L.C.M. Musical Director
Although born in Resolven Susan now lives in Tonna, she has progressed "through the ranks" of the choir so to speak, she joined the choir in 1986 as assistant accompanist, and was appointed to the post of Musical Director in 2002. Susan recently retired from a teaching post at Tonna Primary School where she was also music co-ordinator, Susan is a former pupil of Madam Eileen Gethin Jones of Tonna.

Elizabeth (Liz) Capra Accompanist
Liz, who hails from Port Talbot, is the latest addition to our Music Team, she joined the choir in July of 2005. Liz studied piano with Iverna Ward Williams, became accompanist for the Port Talbot Afan Ladies Choir, was a member of the well known Port Talbot group 'TRILOGY' for whom she used her many talents including singing, playing piano and guitar. Liz was accompanist for the Cor Meibion Aberavon, and toured with them to Canada and Holland, she is currently organist for St. Joseph's R.C. Church Port Talbot.

Joshua Stokes Deputy Accompanist
15 yr old Josh joined the choir in the Autumn of 2007, he has immense talent and has already demonstrated that he is a valuable member of the team.

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