Christmas 2023

Wow what a busy time we had in December.

It started on Sunday 10th with the Beverley Festival of Christmas.

We then had a great time singing carols in The Barrel and the Goodmanham Arms.

Then we had 3 concerts on consecutive days at Brough Golf Club, Hull Masons, and Beverley Prelude to Christmas.

The 3 most important people at the Prelude to Christmas were all ladies, our accompanist Amy Butler, our Musical Director Liz Wilson, and our guest soloist Emily Blackledge. 

We finished off with filling the Dog and Duck in Beverley for carols with a pie & pea supper. 

Sunday 19th November

We had a very well received concert for the Beverley Lions in the afternoon. As ever the stars of the show were our two soloists Eleanor and Holly.

This was a free concert for those who don’t often get out to concerts. The lions do a great job of raising money to help out with worth while causes, but they’re struggling with numbers of members, so if you can, please consider joining them.

Friday 6th October

We had fun singing in Beverley Minster for their lunchtime concert.  The concert was free, but with a retiring collection, and with such a full audience hopefully they raised plenty of money towards the upkeep of the Minster.

We had a varied programme, chosen by the choir members.  Amy Butler gave us a lovely interlude, playing By the Sleepy Lagoon by Eric Coates – the theme tune to Desert Island Discs.  Our Chairman, Nigel Clarke, also sang a couple of amusing songs, The GNU by Flanders and Swann, and Noo not GNU by John Finnemore.

Let all men sing!

Accompanied by Amy

An amusing solo

100 club

We’ve had our first draw for, what we hope, will be our 100 club. So far we have 65 numbers paid for, and the numbers keep rising.  

The first prize is £40, and there’s a second prize of £10. 

If you wish to join in, the cost is £24 for the year – that’s £2 a month.  Do get in touch at Beverleymalevoicechoir@gmail.com

Sadly we have to announce the death of a past choir member, Malcolm Wiles. Mal was a second tenor for many years, although he never returned to the choir after Covid. 

Late Summer Concerts

We’ve had a lovely couple of concerts in the warmth of late summer.

In Beverley, on Saturday 26th August, we had a very appreciative audience, although that may have been because we had a couple of very talented young ladies as our guest soloists.  Eleanor Philpott and Holly Campbell are both pupils of our musical director, Liz, and they were our absolute stars of the evening.

In Hornsea we sang for the Hornsea Lions on Friday 1st September. Despite the wet weather we had a very full audience.  This time the soloists came from within our talented choir, with Glyn Cohen and Nigel Clarke entertaining us.

Monday 31st July Choir AGM

At this year’s AGM we welcomed Ken Doran to receive his Life Membership for his many years of service with the choir.  Nick Hart (chairman) gave flowers as a thank you to Liz Wilson (musical director), Amy Butler (accompanist) and Rona Dickenson (president).  Nick also gave a fine whisky to Nigel Clarke (asst musical director) as a thank you, and also for handing over the chairmanship of the choir to Nigel.

Monday 17th July

It looks they’re fighting over the check, but in reality it’s Mark Nicholson handing over a cheque for £350 to our treasurer Phil MacMullen and chairman Nick Hart for the choir.

He ran in the London Marathon last April.

Saturday 20th May

We had a great time singing with the Gentlemen Songsters on Saturday 20th May at Toll Gavel United Church, Beverley.

We had a very varied programme between the two choirs, which went down well with the audience. 

The finale was brilliant with both choirs and full organ creating a massive musical sound.

Saturday 13th May in Willerby Methodist Church

Our audience appreciated a musical evening to escape Eurovision.  They gave a us a warm welcome, and there cries of “more” at the end.  So we gave them a rousing finale of American Trilogy, boosted at the end with their church organ.

The Big Help Out in Beverley Minster.

We sang in Beverley Minster as part of the Coronation Bank Holiday Weekend on 8th May.

The Minster was full and the seated audience was very appreciative. 

Amy Butler loved accompanying us on the Minster’s beautiful Steinway Grand Piano.

Joint concert with Humberside Police Concert Band.

We had a packed house for our first ever joint concert with the Humberside Police Concert Band on Friday 14th April 2023. 

Despite the weather – it was very heavy rain outside – extra chairs had to be brought out.

Our Musical Director, Liz Wilson was on holiday, so our Assistant Musical Director conducted the choir.  All seemed to go very well, and the audience joined in heartily with the patriotic songs.

Wedding in Sheriff Hutton, Thursday 6th April 2023.

We were given a large round of applause at the wedding of William Wardell and Olivia McLelland.

The groom’s mother said:

“It is difficult to sufficiently express our heartfelt thanks to all the members of The Beverley Male Voice Choir for making William and Olivia’s wedding day so special – what a service it was, certainly one to remember. Thank you to each choir member, to the wonderful keyboard player and of course to Liz, your director of music for filling the church with beautiful song and music that reflected the happiness and joy of the occasion.

Without fail each guest, young and old, commented on the beautiful flowers and the stunning contribution of the choir. Most importantly William and Olivia had their marriage celebrated in the best way possible, with the support of so many happy people. We really appreciate you being able to share the day with us.

As you can imagine the celebrations went on well into the night and we have been smiling ever since!”

We enjoyed taking part in the service, which was joyous and very moving.

Mr & Mrs Wardell

BACK TO CHOIR NEWS