Côr Meibion Gwent Tours
Proposed tours
Early 2008 – Rome
Late 2009
New Zealand / Australia via Singapore
Tour arranged by Melody Music
With 6 Concerts in New Zealand and a Gala Concert in Sydney Opera House.
The Possible Itinery to be dicussed and finalised.
Day 1 London to Singapore
Day 2 Arrive in Singapore
Day 3 Free day to explore Singapore
Day 4 Morning leisure late afternoon transfer for flight to Christchurch NZ.
Day 5 Arrive in Christchurch transfer to Ashburton for 4 nights accommodation.
Day 6 Free day to explore Ashburton
Day 7 free day then evening transfer to Ashburton concert venue.
Day 8 free day then evening transfer to Timaru concert venue.
Day 9 Transfer from Ashburton accomadtion to Dunedin for 3 nights accommodation.
Day 10 Free day to explore Dunedin.
Day 11 Free day then evening transfer to Dunedin concert venue.
Day 12 Free day.
Day 13 Transfer to Christchurch for 2 nights accommodation.
Day 14 Free day until transfer to evening Christchurch concert venue.
Day 15 Transfer to Airport for flight to Sydney Australia, for 4 nights accommodation.
Day 16 Free day to explore Sydney.
Day 17 fre day then Gala Concert at Sydney Opera House.
Day 18 Free day in Sydney.
Day 19 Depart Sydney for Singapore for 1 nights stopover.
Day 20 Depart Singapore for UK.
Day 21 Arrive back in UK then coach transfer to Wales.
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Tour price for this 2009 tour is £ 2,310.00 pp in twin room.
Single supplements apply, notification of supplements will be made at a later date.
All air prices are based on 2008 prices and may alter if fuel prices or airport taxes rise. Flights should be booked no later than November 2008.
The entire group ( Choristers::Wives::and supporters )wil be accomodated in one Hotel at each location.
This itinerary allows for much sightseeing.extra escorted sightseeing tours can be arranged by Melody Music if required.
Melody music advises all travellers to have adequate health/travel insurance for this tour, they can also provide a competitive insurance quote from Covermore if choir requests it.
*** All passports must be in a valid state and have an expiry date at least 6 months later than the end of the tour.***
(The Gwent Choir committee has relaxed the stipulation that choristers must belong to a Gwent based choir.)
All interested Male choristers T.T.B.B who would like to go on this "21 day Trip of a lifetime" to New Zealand,and Sydney Opera House, are invited to attend the next rehearsal Sun 6th Jan 2008 at 2.30pm at the address below. ( With the permission of their parent choir of course)
contact the Secretary on this website.
Rehearsal At
Pontnewynydd Community Centre
Zion Hill Pontnewynydd Pontypool
Secretary: Alan Lewis(01633) 868470
Email: secretary@gwentmalechoir.co.uk
Tour of Australia 2003
Sydney and Brisbane
Following the successful concerts in Sydney and Wollongong, the next two days were free. This left the...
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Melbourne, Sydney and Wollongong
YolatAfter leaving Adelaide following it’s initial very successful concert at Adelaide Town Hall, the...
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Adelaide
Cor Meibion Gwent, the specially formed male choir made up of choristers from 15 male choirs and musical...
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Tour of Canada 2006
Western Canada Tour
In the early hours of Thursday 3rd of August 2006, the majority of the 57 members of Côr Meibion Gwent Male Choir left the eastern valleys of Gwent by coach on their way to Gatwick Airport at the start of their 18-day tour of Western Canada. A few choristers had travelled on an earlier flight, and were already enjoying the hospitality of Vancouver. In addition to the members there were four members of the musical team, and 60 supporters. On arriving at Cwmbrân Railway Station at 3.45 in the morning, the choristers on board the coach from the Torfaen valley were met by the Mayor Of Torfaen, Councillor Mrs Mary Barnett, her husband Gil and the chauffeur Hywel, who had taken the time and effort to wish the choristers all the best on the first leg of their long journey. Unfortunately on arrival at Gatwick one of the choristers’ wives, namely Jennifer Baggs, was too ill to travel, and together with her husband David returned back to Abergavenny. The choir would like to wish her all the best for a speedy recovery.
On board the aircraft the message had been passed to the flight crew that a Welsh male choir was present on the plane, this led to Craig James the Musical Director conducting the choir in impromptu renditions of “Speed Your Journey” and “Stout Hearted Men”. On arrival in Vancouver, mid-Friday afternoon, the choir was taken to the first of its many hotels, and was met by the early travellers. Also present were Mark Burrows and John Friendship, whom the choir last met during the tour of Australia in 2003, of Melody Music, who in addition to organising the transportation and accommodation in Canada, together with Cath Burrows who remained in Wales, acted as escorts throughout the tour.
After a good night’s sleep, and a quick guided tour around the city of Vancouver, which was in various stages of construction in preparation for the Winter Olympics in 2010 it was time for the choir to attend it’s first concert. This was hosted by the Vancouver Orpheus Male Voice Choir, and took place at the White Rock Baptist Church, which was very near to the American border, and was in aid of the White Rock Hospice Society. The modern church, which was semi-circular in shape, with a large balcony, and held 800 people, was fully booked. Côr Meibion Gwent Male Choir as at all the concerts started the proceedings with Hazel Matthews the Deputy Musical Director, and with Margaret Davies as accompanist led the choir and audience in singing the Canadian national anthem “O Canada ”.
The choir’s compere John Jolley, then introduced Craig James who took the stage and the choir sang the first section it’s standard programme, the hymn tune “Gwahoddiad”, for which John provided an organ accompaniment followed by the lively arrangement by Denis Hood of “When The Saints Go Marching In”. The next songs in this section consisted of a series of romantic songs including the hit song by Elvis Presley “Always on My Mind”, arranged by Craig James, and “How Soon”, a television theme by Henry Mancini arranged by Alwyn Humphreys. There then followed a change of musical team with Hazel Matthews returning to the stage and this time the accompanist was Barbara Davies, the choir sang “Softly As I Leave You”, this was followed by Sigmund Romberg’s “Stout Hearted Men”. Mark Burrows as tenor soloist then sang a number of songs including the Irish folk song “Mother McCrae ”, and then was backed by the men of Gwent in an impromptu solo version of Dylan Thomas’ “Evening Prayer” from the Radio Play for Voices “Under Milk Wood”.
The forty strong home choir under the baton of Musical Director Liana Bob and with their accompanist Barry Yamanouchi closed the first half of the programme, and sang a selection of well-known songs such as the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “Danny Boy”. There were however a number of new songs such as the very entertaining “Come Go with Me”, which featured some of the choristers wearing dark glasses, swaggering about the stage like the characters Elmer and Jake in the film “The Blues Brothers”, while others were in normal choir uniform. They also sang the old sea shanty “What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor”, and to conclude their first half programme, they sang an intricate arrangement of “Hallelujah”, from the movie “Shrek 2”. After the interval the Vancouver choir returned to the stage, and sang another selection of songs including “Sixteen Tons”, “Kalinka”, and the inspirational Westlife song “You Raise Me Up”, which seems to have been added to most choral repertoires. To close their programme the choir sang another song, which is in popular use, namely “What Would I Do without My Music”.
The Gwent choir then returned to the stage under the direction of Hazel Matthews, the Deputy Musical Director, and sang the Welsh hymn tune “Llef”; this was followed by the always requested “Myfanwy”, composed by Joseph Parry. Craig then returned to the podium to lead the choir in another Welsh hymn, “Tydi A Roddaist”, written by Arwel Hughes. The jazzy “Rhythm of Life” from the musical “Sweet Charity”, was the next rendition by the choir, and “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, from “Carousel”, followed. The old warhorse “Nidaros”, by Daniel Protheroe and based on the epic poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson concluded the choir’s program, and the thrilling and powerful finale of the repeated words “God Is Eternal”, was enhanced by John Jolley adding an organ accompaniment. The audience showed their appreciation of the choir’s efforts with tremendous applause. Although it was late in the evening, it was the time for the two choirs to combine for the singing of “Speed Your Journey” from Verdi’s opera “Nabucco”, and this was followed by Emrys Jones’ arrangement of “Morte Christe”, which led to richly deserved standing ovations from the assembled audience.
On Sunday the choir was privileged to sing to the visitors in extremely hot conditions on an open stage at the beautiful Butchart Gardens just outside Victoria on Vancouver Island, and on the return ferry the choir again held another impromptu concert for the passengers.
It was a very early start for the Côr Meibion Gwent Male Choir choristers on Tuesday 8th August as the group following an overnight stop in Vancouver following the return from Victoria, boarded the Rocky Mountaineer en route for Jasper via an overnight stop at Kamloops. The train travelled at a steady pace initially through the suburbs of Vancouver, and then finally it started to climb into the magnificent scenery of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. As the whole group totalled nearly 120 passengers the choir were allocated three separate carriages, together with excellent stewards and stewardesses who were in charge of distributing food, and drinks throughout the roomy and comfortable compartments, and providing a commentary on points of interest on the journey. After a full days journey through the majestic mountains, the train arrived at the small town of Kamloops where the group stayed overnight, and visited lots of establishments throughout the town, as there was no restaurant at the hotel. It was a slightly later start the next morning for the final leg on the train that has recently been voted the “Best Railway Journey in the World”, and another full day of travelling was followed by a stay in the railway town of Jasper, which had a large number of shops, restaurants and bars, for the choir to explore.
On Thursday the 10th August at Jasper the choir met the coach drivers who were to accompany the choir for the remainder of the tour, the first stop was at the Columbia Glacier, where the opportunity was available to all the passengers to walk on a moving glacier. Another overnight stop at the beautiful resort of Lake Louise followed, with a visit to the turquoise coloured Lake, and to the Chateau Lake Louise the next morning. This was followed by a visit to the busy town of Banff, and for a quick tour to see the world famous Banff Springs Hotel, and the Bow River Falls. It was then off to Calgary which was to be the choirs base for the next few nights.
After spending a free day exploring the city, the choir attended the third concert on Saturday 12th August at the town of Ponoka, which was about two hours north of Calgary. As well as the normal programme, the audience at the Ponoka United Church including many Welsh exiles, were treated to some solos firstly from John Jolley, who sang the Scottish ballad “Mary Of Argyle”, and then whilst paying the piano, he sang “You Are My Heart’s Delight”. Secondly from Craig James who sang “If I Loved You” from “Carousel”, and “Stars” from “Les Miserables“. Craig also demonstrated his musical prowess at the piano, when he played the humorous Flanders and Swann song “It All Makes Work for the Working Man to Do”, he also performed the late Ryan Davies story about the foiling of the French invasion of Wales by the redoubtable Jemima Nicholas from Fishguard. While he had the audience laughing at these songs, he then produced a huge banner, which was held by four choristers, and spelt out the name of the world famous railway station on Anglesey, which he then had the audience repeating, and finally he provided an English translation. Then for the first time Hazel Matthews treated the public to a number of solos, and these included “Can’t Help Loving Dat Man”, and “Summertime”.
After returning late from the concert, the choir and the supporters journeyed back to Ponoka on the Sunday 13th August for an afternoon Gymanfa Ganu, which was conducted by Craig, he was ably assisted in the Welsh pronunciation by Richard Davies, a fluent Welsh speaker and chorister. There were a large number of hymns sang and some were all in Welsh others all in English, and most were a combination of the two languages. Côr Meibion Gwent Male Choir sang three welsh hymns as its unique contribution to the festival, and then the choir continued on to its base for the next three nights. The culmination of the visit to Edmonton was a superb concert on Tuesday 15th August at the packed Knox Metropolitan Church, which resulted in a richly deserved standing ovation for the choir and musical team.
On Wednesday the 16th of August the choir returned to Calgary and a social evening was held at the Hotel and hosted by Melody Music. On Thursday 17th a number of the choristers and guests went on a tour to Drumheller and the Canadian badlands and also visited the Tyrell Museum, which was full of dinosaur exhibits. In the evening the choir gathered for a social Welsh/Celtic night at a local Irish bar and songs from all the Celtic countries were sung by all who attended.
Friday August 18th was the day of the final Côr Meibion Gwent Male Choir concert in Canada and it took place at the Grace Presbyterian Church in Calgary, which unusually had a round nave, and featured Laura Styler a Welsh born soloist, who sang a number if songs including “Bugeilio’r Gwenith Gwyn”. The next day the choir flew back to Britain leaving behind many new friends, and with wonderful memories of the friendly people that they met everywhere in Canada.
Tours such as this involve a great deal of administrative work behind the scenes, and Côr Meibion Gwent Male Choir would like to thank its own committee, in particular the Secretary John Blake who dealt with all the concerts, and the transportation in the U.K. The musical team of Craig James, Hazel Matthews, Barbara Davies, Margaret Davies and John Jolley all deserve praise for their hard work, which helped make the tour such a musical success. Thanks are due to all at Melody Music for organising the transportation and accommodation in Canada. The army of people in Canada, unfortunately too many to name individually, involved in staging the concerts, selling tickets, attending the concerts, organising food, venues etc. also deserve the choir’s thanks. Special thanks also to Bill Tasker for selflessly selling the choir’s CD’s throughout the tour, just as he did previously in Australia in 2003.
Côr Meibion Gwent Male Choir is holding a meeting to discuss the future of the choir at Zion Hill Community Centre in Pontnewynydd Pontypool on Sunday 3rd September at 2.30 p.m., and all interested choristers are invited to attend.