Visit to Oxford 2019

Oxford 12th October 2019

On a wet Friday morning in early October 44 members accompanied by partners and guests left Haverfordwest for another missionary trip across the border to England and a joint concert with Oxford Welsh Male Voice Choir. One coach From Edwards in Tiers Cross and another mini Bus of misfits under the control of our MD Sarah Sharpe (or was she the one leading them astray) made their way up the M4 or in the case of the mini bus the scenic route of the A40 to The Holiday Inn at Oxford. Friday evening saw most of the party being led around the night life of Oxford giving an occasional impromptu rendition of some of our favourite songs.

Saturday morning and a practice was arranged at the hotel to run through a few of our new repertoire that we were singing that evening. As we were finishing our practice a Bride on her way to her wedding in full wedding dress appeared and was both shocked and delighted to have Love Changes Everything sung for her as she left the hotel. It is these incidents that gives you lasting memories and makes trips like this so much fun for everyone.

Saturday afternoon we had a joint rehearsal with our hosts at Oxford Town Hall. A fabulous building with acoustics to die for. Staging was a bit novel with stairs disappearing down off the stage and some members had to be careful that they did not disappear never to be seen again. After practising out for a quick bite to eat and return to the Town Hall ready to be on stage by 7.15pm.

Concert started with a medley of Hymn Tunes played on the Willis organ which gave a wonderful start to the evening. The choirs joined together to perform two pieces, Rachie and Gwahoddiad to start their contribution to the evening. Haverfordwest’s repertoire for the first half included The Sound of Silence which was the first outing in public for this Simon and Garfunkel piece with Baritone Paul Childs singing a solo verse.

The second half again had some joint pieces and solo performances by both choirs. Oxford had some fun with My Grandfather’s Clock which had probably too much movement for us to try. This section also saw Haverfordwest give its inaugural rendition of Ti Yw Hon a piece dedicated to Sarah Sharpe a Cor Meibion Hwlffordd, Music, written by Alan Llewellyn Thomas and words by Bethan Harkin. Both we hope are here this evening enjoying our concert. We finished our repertoire with a rousing rendition of Comrades in Arms. The concert concluded with the joint choirs singing Anfonaf Angel to a standing ovation.

A few drinks were had with our hosts at the Town Hall before we returned to our hotel where as usual a few lemonades were consumed just to wet the vocal chords before we broke into song once again. The evening finished with your correspondent leaving for bed to the sound of our new Choir President Mr Brian Harries doing what only he can and entertaining the troops with his wit and jokes. Another enjoyable trip was over, only thing left was to watch with lots of nerves Wales defeat Fiji in the world cup on the Sunday morning before returning to our home town to begin organising another missionary trip.