The Mayor of Copeland's
Charity Concert - March 13th 2010
On Saturday 13th of March the Mayor of Copeland is hosting
his Grand Charity Concert in aid of Macmillan Nurses and The Calvert Trust. The concert takes place in Whitehaven Civic Hall
and features Whitehaven Male Voice Choir and The Gibside Singers. The Gibside Singers are a female choir, with a membership
drawn from a wide area, covering County Durham, Newcastle, Gateshead and Northumberland. The choir, named by permission of
the late Queen Mother and the late Earl of Strathmore (who gave permission to use the family crest dating from 1767), is one
of the North East region’s most successful and popular choirs. The choir have a busy concert schedule throughout
the North East and enjoy choral exchanges, which have taken them to Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria. The choir were privileged
to sing for HRH Prince Charles when he visited Gibside Chapel, and to sing at ‘The Festival of Brass and Voices’
in The Royal Albert Hall in 2003, 2006 and 2009 in aid of Cancer Research UK. A memorable occasion was to sing with the ‘People’s
Tenor’ Russell Watson, in Newcastle and Glasgow Arenas. The choir’s musical repertoire is extensive and
covers all styles from traditional folk to musicals, opera, classical, sacred and a sprinkling of pop. They welcome the challenge
of competition, and have won many first prizes. The choir perform in support of local humane charities. The choir
is a member of the National Association of Choirs, Their Musical Director, Doris Williams, a well known North East musician,
is a Vice-President and Music consultant for the National Association of Choirs, Chairman of the North East Group and also
directs the Newcastle Male Chorus. Their accompanist David Scott, an experienced and talented musician, is principal
organist at Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle and accompanist for Newcastle Male Chorus.
Tickets priced at
£7 and (£6 concessions) can be reserved by telephoning the Civic Hall box office on 01946 514960.
A chorus of good works
L to R: Don Messenger (Secretary),
Billy King (Chairman), Jan Jones (MNDA Chairperson), Bill Raine (Treasurer), Graeme Wishart (Publicity & Website Manager),
George Rumney (Vice Chairman) Photo courtesy of Mike McKenzie, The Whitehaven News
Whitehaven Male Voice Choir recently presented a cheque for £1100 to the North and West Cumbria
branch of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. The charity was chosen as their 2009 nominated charity, in memory of the
late Baxter Shaw, the choir’s founding Musical Director; who passed away in 2005 having suffered from the disease.
This money was from the proceeds of their sell out annual Christmas Celebration Concert, held in St Begh’s Church
and their Saturday morning Christmas sing in Whitehaven’s Tesco.
This is just a small part of the money the choir
raise every year for charities and other worthy causes throughout the country. In 2009 they performed in twenty-five concerts
and events raising over £8000 for charity. As well as taking part in the Cancer Research UK Festival of Brass and Voices
held at The Royal Albert Hall, which raised £150,000. They are in high demand for charity concerts as they perform entirely
free of charge, allowing all concert money raised to benefit the chosen charity.
FESTIVAL OF BRASS AND VOICES
RAISES £150,000 FOR CANCER RESEARCH UK
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| (c) Geoff Strong. Cancer Research UK Festival of Brass and Voices 2009 |
THE 2009 FESTIVAL of Brass and Voices, held at the Royal Albert Hall
in October last year, in which Whitehaven Male Voice Choir participated, has raised a staggering £150,000 for Cancer
Research UK.
The event, which is held every three years, saw sixty-seven choirs from around the UK, made up of
over fifteen hundred male and female choir members, perform to a packed house. They were accompanied by two prestigious and
award winning brass bands, Grimethorpe Colliery and Brighouse and Rastrick. Pre-performance and interval music was provided
by the Fochabers Fiddlers Frontline who created a truly festive atmosphere which was maintained by the choirs and bands throughout
the evening’s entertainment, which included traditional and classical music, Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus, Rule
Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory.
This was the second time the Festival organisers chose to support Cancer
Research UK and the money was raised through ticket, programme and merchandise sales.
Rebecca Elphick, Area Volunteer
Manager for Cancer Research UK, said: “The atmosphere on the evening was electric and the performance by all the choirs
was mesmerising. For me, the highlight of the evening was when after a rendition of Deep Harmony, the lights dimmed
and a minute’s silence followed – remembering all those who have been affected by cancer. Then the Royal
Albert Hall came alive again with the light of thousands of ‘twinklers’ – flashing badges worn by both the
choir members and the audience. It was truly a very moving and memorable sight.”
Added Rebecca: “On
behalf of everyone at Cancer Research UK I would like to thank all those who supported the 2009 Festival and helped to make
it so successful. This includes the choirs and their supporters, those who attended the performance and all those who
bought twinklers, programmes and CDs. However extra special thanks have to be extended to the organising committee who, through
their dedication, commitment and hard work, have organised what has proved to be the most successful Festival ever.”
“We have thoroughly enjoyed working with the organising committee over the past three years and are now looking
forward to working with them again for the 2012 Festival of Brass and Voices.”
Cancer Research UK is the
world's leading independent organisation dedicated to cancer research. With an annual spend of £333 million, Cancer
Research UK supports more than four thousand five hundred scientists, doctors and nurses in more than thirty-five towns and
cities across the UK, all working to improve our understanding of cancer and find out how to prevent, diagnose and treat different
kinds of cancer.
Thanks to research, advances in earlier detection and improved treatments have seen overall deaths
from cancer drop by more than 10% over the last decade.
For further information contact: Rebecca Elphick
on 0115 981 2523 or 07771 945 726.
News - January
2010
The Choir have now completed another highly successful year - 2009.
They performed at twenty-five concerts
and events raising over £8,000 for various local and national charities and other worthy causes. With several new members
poised to join in the New Year, the choir can look forward to the prospect of many more years of song.
In
2010 the choir have another busy concert diary. They are looking forward to the return of The Gibside Singers
in March, when they will perform alongside the choir in The Mayor of Copeland's Charity Concert. In June, soprano
Helen Massey will be gracing the Civic Hall stage as the Annual Concert guest artist.
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