Archive 2012

The Choir took part in two events on  December 1st.  The first was a slot at at Ruthin Xmas Medieval Market on the square and a large crowd assembled and with the choir on form everyone enjoyed a lovely afternoon. Later in the day the choir attended  the  Llanferres Senior Citizens Xmas party at the Druids Inn; again the choir enjoyed themselves and were very grateful to to the wonderful welcome received from the local Committee, the Druids Inn and of course the audience.

The Choir took part in  in the semi-final of J.W.Lees Pop Idol competition. The Choir sang two songs – “Let it Rain” and “The Lion sleeps tonight” with Brian and Eirlys taking the lead roles. We were very impressed  with the other six contestants and were delighted(as the photo below shows) with being selected to participate in the Finals night in Rochdale on December 6th.

The choir were invited to take part, together with Geraint Woolford to provide some entertainment at the Ruthin Forward Group’s Auction of Promises at Ruthin Castle. The evening was a great  success with Geraint and the the choir on form.

The Choir took part in a concert at Rhewl Chapel to raise funds for the local appeal towards next year’s National Eisteddfod  in Denbigh. The local appeal for the Llanynys Community needs to raise £5000 and they are over half way – the next event is an Auction of Promises to be held at the Drovers on November 30th – the Choir has offered an item –  A concert by Cor y Porthmyn  within a reasonable distance from Rhewl.

It was the first time for most of the members of the choir to sing in the chapel and they were amazed at the comfortable seating and the excellent acoustics. A lovely evening was enjoyed by all the soloists were Geraint Evans, Merfyn Evans, Robin Dowell, Eirlys Jones, Wyn Jones, Brian Hughes, Harri Owen and John Jones; Gwynfor Jones was the MC.

Dioch yn fawr i Sian Eryddon am y geiriau caredig, ac wrth gwrs y merched am paratoi y caennau ar Bara Brith bendigedig yn y Festri ar ol y cyngerdd.

The choir took part in the Gardening Club’s Food Festival in the Pavilion and a very enjoyable evening was had by all. The Choir obviously enjoys singing at home.

Hero of the night was Bov who was able to find a replacement keyboard on finding that his own  two keyboards were out of commission the previous evening.

Tuesday October 2nd, 2012 – Denbigh and Ruthin Mencap Club at Llys Erw, Ruthin

The choir enjoyed a lovely evening in Llys Erw helping to raise funds for a Christmas Party organised by Denbigh and Ruthin Mencap Club. Mrs Margaret Thomas who is the wife of our Choir Chairman welcomed the choir to the centre and thanked all those who helped make the evening a great success. An excellent supper was enjoyed by all

Rob and the Choir at Llys Erw

Arwel Jones accepting a raffle prize from Margaret Thomas

September 21st 2012 – Llangynog Village Hall

The choir was delighted to accept an invitation from the Llangynog Village Hall Committee to hold a concert in the Hall to raise funds for a refurbishment of the building. Llangynog is a lovely village nestling at the the foot of the Berwyn on the Powys side and the choir enjoyed  the coach trip across the mountain on a beautiful evening. The choir, uncharacteristically, started their repertoire in uncertain fashion but were able to pull themselves together by the end of the evening; with their last two songs, which included debutant ‘Let it Rain’, earning standing ovations. The Ladies of the Hall Committee provided a lovely supper and the evening ended in the Tanat Valley Hotel with a few beers and many a song.

Choir with soloists Eirlys and Brian

The choir in the process of demolishing their supper

The Tanat Valley Hotel

August 18th  2012 – Ruthin Flower Show

The choir sang at the Ruthin Flower Show which proved to be a very successful concert in the open air and with beautiful weather; the choir were delighted with the responses from a large appreciative audience. The guest soloist was Mr Geraint Woolford who sang ‘I Believe’ with the choir.

Mae na llun o’r côr yn  “diddanu’r dyrfa” ar tudalen 11,  rhifyn mis Medi o papur bro Rhuthun ar Cylch sef Y Bedol . Yn y run rhifyn mae yna lun o gôr Llangwm – ennillwyr cystadleuaeth Corau Meibion canol Eisteddfod Bro Morgannwg –  llongyfarchiadau iddyn nhw ac yn arbennig Ifan a Merfyn.

Part of the audience

Soloist – Geraint Woolford

The Basses in full voice

One of Dei Price’s other talents

This event  was held in the  memory of Mrs Owenna Roberts (Bod Aeron). Mr Huw Hilditch, the organiser of the event and son of Owenna, reported on a very successful evening with over £6000 raised with the proceeds going to Cancer Research.

The Marque at Brookhouse Mill

The Choir at Brookhouse

Gwynfor, Huw Hilditch, Gareth, Noel and John

This was a big night for Rob and Brian singing on home ground for the first time(officially that is); from all the kind comments we received it was a resounding success with everyone enjoying a lovely evening. All the seats in the village hall were taken and Grace on the door sold loads of raffle tickets to bolster  the Llandyrnog Sports Committee funds.

The Choir were very well looked after by their hosts with a cup of tea and a scone at the half time interval and after the concert we were treated to a lovely supper at the Kinmel Arms. Thanks to Kevin and the committee for the welcome.

Llandyrnog Village Hall

The audience at the concert

The Choir all set to sing

View of Nantclwyd y Dre from Castle Street

We  shared the stage with the local quartet – Tocsidos Blêr and the event was held outdoors in the beautiful garden of this famous house. Extra seats had to be found to seat a very appreciative audience.    The event was held under the auspices of Gwyl Rhuthun and Friends of Nantclwyd-y-Dre

Tucsidos bler

Rob Dowell and the Choir

Nantclwyd Y Dre (Nantclwyd House) is the oldest surviving timber-framed town house in Wales. dating from 1435, the house was added on to in the Jacobean, Restoration and Georgian periods, and was in constant occupation until 1984!

The house is interpreted with information downstairs on the people of the house, and upstairs and in the hall in the “seven ages” of the house. Each room represents the house in one of these “ages” – Medieval Hall House; Jacobean Mansion; Restoration Town House; Georgian Dwelling; Victorian Girl’s School; Early Twentieth Century Rectory; Modern Family Home.

Nantclwyd Y Dre is home to around 100 bats, from 3 species – Lesser Horseshoe, Long-Eared, and Pipistrelle. There is a live “Bat-Cam” in the house, showing the bats as they roost in the attics of the house, so I hope we didn’t  disturb them.

The audience in the house’s garden with black skies

The location was wonderful – Brynbella is one of North Wales most famous stately home which was built by Hester and Gabriel Piozzi in 1794 on Hester’s Bachygraig  estate in Tremeirchion. Hester was a descendant of Catrin of Berain who was known as Mam Cymru ( Mother of Wales) due to her number of descendants – she has a link with Rhewl as her 4th husband was Edward Thelwall of Plas-y-Ward who she married in 1583. The Thelwall lands included the Ruthin Castle estate – canny lady- she is laid to rest in Llannefydd church.

The house is in the style of an Italian Villa with two bows flanking the two, front wings on either side a flight of steps leading to the door, a balcony outside the windows leading to the porch and several stables and outhouses at the rear. The house faces west, above a stream  leading to the River Clwyd. Piozzi diverted the trout stream to flow near to the kitchen.

The Glazebrook family owned the House from 1944 to 1994 and the current owners are Mr and Mrs Peter Neumark. The Gardens are particularly well cared for, but the residence is not open to the public

The event was held to raise funds for the Hope House Charity and was very well attended – it was very much like a garden party and the choir had two session providing background music to the attendees. We were fortunate that the weather remained clement throughout the afternoon

The choir was able to sing their full repertoire with the following soloists : Geraint Evans, Merfyn Evans, Eirlys Jones, Wyn Jones, Brian Hughes, Rob Dowell, Harri Owen and John Jones; Gwynfor Jones was the MC. Brian Hughes for the first time took the soloist role in the Angel.

Brynbella Tremeirchion

Y cór yn Brynbella

The magnificent front view of Brynbella

The choir preparing in their own way for the concert

A very successful concert was held at the Ruthin Conservative Club to a full house. The Concert was organised by Mr Geraint Woolford and was part of the Club’s Jubilee Celebrations as well as raising funds for the North Wales Air Ambulance service – over £900 was raised for this excellent cause.. Taking part was Bryn and Bob,  Cór Y Porthmyn and Geraint Woolford, Gwynfor Jones was the MC for the choir.  Eirlys Jones, Wyn Jones, Brian Hughes , John Jones and Robin Dowell were the soloists with the choir. Mr Woolford in a letter to the Free Press thanked the entertainers taking part and reported on a total of over £900 being raised for the North Wales Air Ambulance service.

Concert Poster

The Choir at the Conservative Club

Good one of Brian Hughes

John Jones at the Cons

Robin Dowell in action

Wyn Jones leading the choir in Siarabang

A very successful concert was held in the Rugby Club for the Ty Gobaith Charity – hopefully they made lots of money. The choir was lacking a few members especially in the top tenor voice but from all accounts we turned in a good performance. Two soloists made their debut namely Rob Dowell and Harri Owen and both were extremely well received; Geraint Evans, Eirlys Jones, Wyn Jones, Brian Hughes and John Jones were the other soloists and Gwynfor Jones was the MC

At Ruthin Rugby Club

Rob Dowell on debut

Hari Owen on his debut

Some of our Supporters

A  Concert was held in Cyffylliog Church on Thursday May 10th – the proceeds of the evening going towards the upkeep of the Church. It was nice to have John Price back with us after some ill-health. The  ladies of the Church had prepared a wonderful supper for us in the Red Lion and a very enjoyable evening was had by all.

Yn rhifyn Mis Mehefin or Bedol, yn colofn Cyffylliog, disgrifwyd y noson fel un pleserus a codwyd elw teilwng at waith cynnal a chadw Eglwys Santes Fair.

The choir posing in the Cyffylliog Church

Bov with his sisters Eirlys (one of our soloist) and Hefina outside the Red Lion

The Choir were wearing their new ties and shirts in the Cyffylliog Church concert. The Choir would like to thank Gwynfor Jones and Rob and Michelle at the Drovers  Arms for their generous contributions.

The Choir held a concert in  Capel Melin-y-Wig on Friday 23rd March, 2012 in aid of local charities. It was a very enjoyable evening enjoyed by both the audience and the choir. The M.C. for the evening was Gwynfor Jones, soloist were John Jones, Geraint Evans, Merfyn Evans, Brian Hughes, Gwynfor Jones and Bov’s sister Eirlys. After the Concert the choir enjoyed some excellent refreshments in the Community Hall.

The Choir singing in Melin-y-Wig Chapel

In the Melin-y-wig column of the local Welsh monthly – Y Bedol – it was reported that an excellent concert  was enjoyed by all. Diolch yn fawr am y geiriau caredig.

The Choir went ‘international‘ on Friday, January 27th 2012 when they performed in a concert in Oswestry for the local Marie Curie Cancer Care Fund-Raising Committee. The concert was very succesful with over 150 tickets being sold.  A number of soloists took part namely John Price, John Jones, Geraint Evans, Merfyn Evans, Brian Hughes, Gwynfor Jones and Bov’s sister Eirlys.