Last Saturday Whitehaven Male Voice Choir performed their annual Christmas Celebration Concert to a capacity audience in St James' Church. The choir were ably conducted by David Proud and sung a variety of their varied and versatile repertoire. Including new pieces 'I Dreamed a Dream' from Les Miserables and an arrangement of 'The Pearl Fishers Duet' from Bizet's Opera. The choir were joined by guest soloist, contralto Louise Jones, who performed a selection from opera and operetta, also some beautiful christmas pieces including 'In The Bleak Mid-Winter', 'The Holy City' and 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas'. The nominated charity for the concert was The West Cumbria Society for the Blind.

Sunday June 8^th 2008 was a jewel of a day in more ways than one. The day was warm and balmy and Whitehaven had basked in wall-to-wall sunshine. The evening weather continued in much the same vein, but inside the Civic Hall, in the presence of the Mayor and Mayoress of Copeland, Councillor Keith and Mrs Freda Hitchen, Whitehaven Male Voice Choir and guest treated their audience to a concert of excellent music and voice.

The choir’s guest this year was a young mezzo with a strong musical pedigree. Jo Appleby, a northerner from Lancashire, treated the audience to such favourites as Puccini’s ‘O Mio Babbino Caro’(O, My Beloved Father) from Gianni Schicchi, and Dvorak’s ‘Song to the Moon’ from Rusalka with lighter renditions of ‘I Could Have Danced all Night’ from My Fair Lady and Gershwin’s ’Summer Time’ from Porgy and Bess, and ’Can’t Help Loving that Man’ from Showboat. She dazzled with her easy presentation, warm personality and superb vocal range; we could have listened to much more of her. She also added glamour!! As smart as were the choir they were beaten hands down in the dressing up stakes! She also rather bravely let it be known that her father had been to Whitehaven many years before when he played rugby for a visiting team and rather wisely didn’t say whether or not they won.

The choir were in good voice having had a difficult year, having assimilated a good number of new voices and lost some old stalwarts to illness, but it was a tribute to their professionalism that the concert went off so well. They were missing Hugh Robinson, their regular musical director, but David Proud, who only took over as stand-in four weeks ago did a wonderful job of keeping the men on task. Mention should also be made of the accompanists. Joan Johnston and Aileen Rule have long supported the choir at the piano and long may they continue to do so. Jo Appleby was accompanied by Alan Jackson, a local pianist who accompanies many of the choir’s guests, no mean feat since they most often only meet for a practice on the afternoon of the performance. We are lucky in Whitehaven to have such a profusion of talent.