A concert in Warminster on Saturday May 15th will certainly be something of a family affair. Heather Morgan is retiring after 15 years as Minister of the Town's United Church and wanted to mark her retirement with a special leaving concert. The obvious person to ask for help was her brother, Bath-based choir leader Grenville Jones. Grenville is best known as conductor of Bath Male Choir who hit the headlines when they reached the finals of the popular Saturday night BBC Last Choir Standing series and the "boys from Bath" will be singing at the Minster Church on May 15th. They will be joined by the Bangor Ladies Choir from Northern Ireland who are on a concert tour of the area that same weekend. Says Heather; "When I was planning my retirement I felt it would be wonderful to celebrate in a musical way. I have seen Grenville's choir many times and was so pleased that Bath Male Choir could fit this concert into their hectic schedule. "The concert is supported by the Warminster and District Food Bank who will benefit financially from the event. The Food Bank helps to feed local people in crisis. It has been operational since August 2009 and I am a Trustee. "Heather has also loved singing all her life and when she lived in Swindon played the organ every Sunday at St Andrew's Methodist Church where she was jokingly referred to as "Morgan the Organ!!!" In her retirement, she hopes to spend more time in her beloved garden, which she hopes will be open in the Summer to raise funds for the Food Bank.. Tickets for the concert are selling quickly. They are available from Warminster Tourist Information Centre in the Central Car Park at £12, which includes an Interval drink. Telephone 01985 218 548. Ends Heather can be contacted on 01722 790343 Grenville Jones on 07778 282934 Add Comment TWO of Bath’s leading choirs will be on parade at Wells Cathedral on Saturday afternoon February 27th singing at a service of praise organised by the Somerset Branch of the charity Help for Heroes. Organiser Fiona Rainbird Clarke asked Bath music man Grenville Jones to help with the musical input for the service, which will feature two of his popular choirs. Bath Male Choir hit the headlines through their performances on the BBC’s Last Choir Standing series singing for TV audiences of over 5 million. They are now in demand for concerts all over the UK and will sing two items during the Wells Cathedral service. Grenville’s mixed voice Bath Chorus will lead the hymn singing. They were formed last year and have many young music students in their ranks. The Bath Chorus sang with New Zealand superstar Hayley Westenra at a 1500 audience Christmas concert in Bath last December. They also sang at the Bath Christmas light switch on with Hollywood superstar Nicholas Cage. The Help for Heroes service is at Wells Cathedral on Saturday February 27th starting at 2.00pm. Doors will open at approx 1.30pm and the Cathedral is expected to be packed to capacity. ENDS A national business is backing the 45 members of Bath Male Choir who are running in the 2010 Bath half Marathon after hearing about the choir's entry last week. Hachette UK Distribution will specifically support a concert in Bath on Saturday February 6th when all the proceeds will go to the Choir's marathon total. Hachette UK Distribution have added their name to the growing list of supporters who are backing the boys from Bath who will be setting out to compete in the 2010 Bath half marathon on Sunday March 7th with a charity team target of £10,000. The concert will feature Bath Male Choir and The Bath Chorus. A number of men who sing in Bath Male Choir also sing in the Chorus and Grenville Jones conducts both groups. Alan Rakes sings in THE Bath Chorus and told his company about the efforts of his fellow singers in the Bath Chorus. Alan said: "They immediately said that they wanted to add their support. It will be a special evening and it is Grenville's birthday the following day! " Hachette UK Distribution, comprising Littlehampton Book Services based in West Sussex and Bookpoint based in Oxfordshire, is a member of Hachette UK Publishing Group. Hachette UK provides warehousing, distribution and sales ledger services for more than 70 publishers. As the UK’s largest book distributor it occupies c750k sq ft of warehouse space and will handle c90m books, UK and worldwide, in 2010. Chris Beezley sings in both the Bath Male Choir and THE Bath Chorus, he explains the background to the concert; "The ladies in the chorus and the guys who are not running wanted to do their bit to support the team. Singing at a concert seemed the most obvious way and with the wonderful help of Alan's company this should add at least £2,000 to the overall total." Tickets are now on sale from Jody on 01761 472468 priced £8 but are expected to sell out very quickly. The runners will be joined by the other 45 singing members at the start line to sing to the 15,000 other competitors as they line up in Bath's Pulteney Street on the Sunday morning of race day on March 7th. The Choir has set up a dedicated Bank account and whatever they raise will be divided equally between the National Prostate Cancer Charity and the Golden-Oldies Charitable Trust. ENDS Contact Grenville Jones on office 01761 472468 mobile 0777 828 2934 or email jonesgrenville@aol.com January 1st, 2010 - FIRST CHOIR RUNNING! 01/02/2010
It's a case of going from Last Choir Standing to first choir running for the singers in Bath's hugely popular Male Choir. They were one of the top choirs on the BBC's popular Last Choir Standing series in 2008 and on March 7 half of the members will be setting out to compete in the 2010 Bath half marathon and raise over £10,000 for charity. Amongst the runners is conductor Grenville Jones who started Bath Male Choir just 4 years ago. He reckons his choir entry is a choral first. Grenville explains; "I doubt if any other Male Choir has ever entered a team in a half marathon before, and to be represented by 45 singers has to be a world record!" At 61 Grenville admits to not being the fittest in the team but he has shed over a stone already and runs every day. He started training back in September and is determined to finish the 13 mile course. He says: "We are a choir with many younger men and some have quite a bit of running experience but also many of the lads, like me, are in serious training for the first time in years. Two of my sons, Daniel and Laurie sing in the choir and are both running. " The runners will be joined by the other 45 singing members at the start line to sing to the 15,000 other competitors as they line up in Bath's Pulteney Street on the Sunday morning of race day. "It should be quite an experience and the non runners wives and families are all going to be out on the course cheering us on," adds Grenville. "We will sing The Irish Blessing which starts, 'May the Road Rise to Meet you, May the Wind be ever at your Back.'" The Choir has set up a dedicated Bank account and whatever they raise will be divided equally between the National Prostate Cancer Charity and the Golden-Oldies Charitable Trust. They already have £1,870 listed on their justgiving website. All the runners have had shirts supplied by The Running Shop in Union Passage and many local businesses are also pledging support. Bath Male Choir were special guests of the Prostate Cancer Charity in December singing at a Christmas concert in London's St John's Smith Square. Some of the members of the Choir have been affected by Prostate Cancer. The Golden-Oldies is the charity that Grenville Jones started in 2008. It now runs hundreds of fun singing sessions for the elderly across the West Region and has attracted World-wide media interest. Many of the choir members support the charity as volunteer drivers and it has sung at fundraising concerts. "Sunday March 7th is going to be quite a day and with a concert diary already packed with bookings, 2010 is going to see Bath Male Choir once again out in front!" concludes Grenville. Ends Contact Grenville Jones on office 01761 472468 mobile 0777 828 2934 jonesgrenville@aol.com Bath male Choir will be raising money for two Charities - the target is £10,000 - The Prostate Cancer Charity - www.prostate-cancer.org.uk (Reg No: 1005541) and the Golden-Oldies Charitable Trust - www.golden-oldies.org.uk (Reg No: 1121600) To support the Choir please visit our dedicated Marathon page - click here. Sunday November 8th 2009 11/11/2009
A packed Bath Forum celebrated the fourth birthday of Bath's popular Male Choir on Saturday. The choir had to move to a larger venue for their annual concert last November following their success on the BBC Last Choir Standing series. Concerts this year have been to sell out audiences throughout the UK raising thousands of pounds for many charities including £2,000 for the South West Children Hospice, £1,000 for the Cornish Music Festival and over £4,500 for Dorothy House at a Melksham concert in October. Founder conductor Grenville Jones announced on Saturday that www.justgiving.com/bathmalechoir was now set up for people who wanted to support on line the 48 members who be running the Bath half marathon in March for the Prostate Cancer Charity and Golden-Oldies Charitable Trust. Special guests on Saturday at the Forum were Bath Gang Show, the fabulous Stockingtops, Lizz Lipscombe on jazz violin and rising star soprano, 17 year old Rebecca Reed who was introduced to the audience by her father and Bath Male Choir member Paul Reed. Other choir members introduced the items from the choir and amongst the songs performed for the first time was a Medley from Jungle Book arranged by Choir member Roy Page which bought the house down! In the second half the Choir dedicated two items to Remembrance Sunday, singing Abide with Me and Mansions of the Lord from the 2002 film, We Were Soldiers. Choir members Laurie and Daniel Jones introduced their father, Choir founder and conductor Grenville Jones who was joined by Paul Reed, Chris Martin and Eric Simms for two barbershop items. As Daniel explained his dad had come out of barbershop retirement for the night. In the 1980's Grenville was part of the local group Five in a Bar that made a number of national TV appearances. Bath Male Choir are now preparing for a prestigious concert at London's St John Smith Square on Friday December 11th. They are special guests at the big Christmas concert organised by the Prostate Cancer Charity. Bookings are pouring in for 2010, including an invitation to sing at the Bangor International Music Festival in the Spring. 16th October 2009 10/16/2009
BATH’S popular Male Choir set out for Leicester this Saturday ( Oct 24th ) for another sell out concert. They will sing with the Chanterelles girls choir who are based in the city at the 500 seat St James Church. Chanterelles are past finalists in the Radio 3 choir of the year competition. Since appearing on the BBC Last Choir Standing last year the “Boys from Bath” have been inundated with concert requests. Virtually every appearance has sold out including two shows in Cornwall last month when the Choir also were guests at the Eden Project singing for hundreds of visitors. Earlier this month their concert at Melksham was a full house. Organised by Jim and Judy Speed this raised over £4,000 for Dorothy House Hospice. Other concerts this year have raised many thousands of pounds for West Country Charities. Nearer home, local people will get their chance to hear Bath Male Choir at the 2009 annual concert in the Bath Forum on Saturday November 7th. Tickets are from Bath Festival’s Box Office priced £6 to £20 – call 01335 463362. Conductor Grenville Jones promises another great night with special guests Bath Gang Show, rising star soprano Rebecca Reed and the fabulous Stockingtops. Bath Male Choir will sing a whole new group of songs that evening. On Friday December 11th the Choir are special guests at one of London’s premier concert venues, St John Smith Square. They will sing at the Christmas Concert organised by The Prostate Cancer Charity. The Choir’s diary is already filling up for next year including a date at Wells Cathedral in February supporting Help 4 Heroes. In April they have accepted an invitation to sing at the International Choral Festival in Belfast. See www.bathmalechoir.org Ends Thursday, April 30, 2009 04/30/2009
February 9th 2009 02/09/2009
CONCERT requests are flooding in for Bath's top TV singers The City of Bath Male Choir. Since reaching the final 5 in the popular Last Choir Standing series last Autumn the choir have been in great demand. February 6th 2009 02/09/2009
THE City of Bath Male Choir, who hit the headlines last August when they reached the last five in the BBC's Last Choir Standing series, will be in concert in Portishead on Saturday March 21st at the United Reform Church, starting at 7.30pm. February 3rd 2009 02/03/2009
ONE thing is for sure: Bath will be the all-singing and all-dancing place to be over the Spring Bank Holiday this year from May 1 – May 4. |
